“Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace,” a new, interactive...
Samurai life during Japan’s Great Peace is focus of Yale Peabody Museum exhibition
March 23, 2015
A Kawarikabuto helmet — a 17th- to 19th-century Samarai helmet — was designed in such a way as to identify a commander during battle; to allow a general to know who among his men performed particular feats of bravery; and to look impressive in ceremonies.
“Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace,” a new, interactive exhibition opening at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, will bring to life the many-layered history of the samurai and those they ruled.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, March 28 with a program titled “Swords & Stories: A Celebration of Japan and Its History,” to be held 11 a.m.–3 p.m. The program will feature martial arts demonstrations, Japanese drumming, and calligraphy and sword drawing, along with games, crafts, and a scavenger hunt. At 11 a.m., Betty Baisden will present a puppet show titled “Roxi and the Samurai.” Upcoming events related to the exhibition include public lectures, guided tours, a fall film series, and origami and calligraphy workshops. The exhibition will be on view through Jan. 3, 2016, at the museum located at 170 Whitney Ave.
In the exhibition, visitors will encounter swords and imposing armor — and learn that most were made at a time when war had passed from memory into legend. The weapons’ primary function was not to protect their owner or fell foes, but to justify the inherited privileges of warriors who had not fought a battle in generations. In the 1500s, samurai nearly destroyed the Japanese state with their incessant wars. But after 1615, they presided over 250 years of peace, the longest that any large society has known.
Supported by a grant from Connecticut Humanities, “Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace” features a collection of objects from across Yale, many of which have never been seen by the public. At the core are over 150 objects from the Yale Peabody Museum’s Japanese Collection. Other artifacts come from the Yale University Art Gallery, the Sterling Memorial Library, the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, and several private collections. Touch screens and dynamic projections complement these three-dimensional objects.
Heading the curatorial team is Fabian Drixler, associate professor of history at Yale University. He is joined by William D. Fleming, assistant professor of East Asian languages and literatures and theater studies; and Robert George Wheeler, the Harold Hodgkinson Professor Emeritus of Engineering and Applied Science and a faculty affiliate in anthropology at the Peabody. The three Yale faculty members have also produced an illustrated exhibition catalog. Designed and published by the Yale Peabody Museum and distributed by Yale University Press, it covers well-known facets of Japanese history from new and sometimes quirky perspectives. Like the exhibition, it is designed to be engaging and accessible to the general public while offering experts the results of new research.
Additional support for the exhibition was provided by the Council on East Asian Studies; the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; The Japan Foundation, New York; the 2014-2015 O. C. Marsh Fellows; and presenting media sponsor WSHU Public Radio.
Photos: “Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace": A new exhibition at the Yale Peabody Museum