CURATION: SAMURAI

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This 2026 blockbuster exhibition at the British Museum explored the history, development, and impact of the samurai from their origins at the beginning of the last millennium to the present day. As the Project Curator, I worked across all the museum departments, and with external stakeholders, to deliver this innovative exhibition. The project brought together over 300 objects and digital assets to tell a story spanning 1000 years of history.

To deliver such a complex narrative, the exhibition space was split into three sections. The first part told the story of the samurai's origins, when they erupted onto the battlefield as mercenaries fighting on behalf of courtiers. Through displays of armours and weapons, alongside paintings and ceramics, we explored the evolution of these warriors as they began to become a consolidated warrior class by the end of the 16th century. The second section of the show examined the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), known as "The Great Peace". During this period there was no conflict, instead the samurai were government officials. Through an examination of textiles, woodblock prints, paintings, and books we unpack the lived experiences of the samurai and how their contemporaneous wider public perceived them. There was a close look at the popular representations of famous historic warriors as the antecedents to the samurai. The final section explores the fragmentation of the samurai image after the warrior class was abolished between 1868-76 during the turbulent restoration of the Emperor. Initially the image of the samurai gained traction through nostalgia before becoming a propaganda tool in the early 1900s. We explore the use of the samurai image by both Japan's allies and enemies during the Second World War. Following the war, there was a brief period where military imagery, and therefore representations of samurai, was banned under American occupation. Then, during the post-war, samurai imagery returns in popular media: manga, anime, film, TV, fashion, and videogames. The exhibition closes with a section dedicated to the most contemporary interpretations of samurai, notably including newly commissioned artwork by Noguchi Tetsuya, a dress made especially for the exhibition by the French couture house Lanvin, and the latest samurai videogame Nioh 3 (released 6th February 2026). 

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Loans for this exhibition came from museums and private collections internationally, including from Japan, Italy, France, and the United States of America. ​​​