From this month onward into spring, Wereld Museum in Rotterdam runs the exhibit “Samurai”.
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The Samurai exhibition transports the visitor to feudal Japan where warlords, the Daimyo, fought each other by employing the services of fearsome samurai warriors.
Impressive armour, spectacular helmets and swords that were deemed to be the “soul of the samurai” illustrate the highly developed warrior culture. War banners, nobori, of the Kitamura collection which are painted with family coats of arms and protective mythological figures, identified the samurai on the battlefield.
The code of ethics, Bushido, imposed a lifestyle of honour, loyalty and respect within the warrior class. The samurai elite devoted themselves with equal dedication to various arts: calligraphy and the tea ceremony and they wore delicately crafted netsuke and Inro lacquerwork. The mystical No theatre, the official form of theatre among the samurai, uses animated masks to depict legendary warriors who came back from the dead to the battlefield. A surprising element is the Dutch influence on the samurai warrior equipment, caused by the special bond between the two countries.
On the occasion of the Samurai exhibition, a substantial, richly-illustrated catalogue has been edited by curator Bas Verberk with a contribution by Dr. W. van Gulik.
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Text quoted from this webpage. The exhibit runs from 1 October 2012 until 24 March 2013.