Goodbye Samurai!

It has been a priveldge for Bowers Museum to host Art of the Samurai: Selections from the Tokyo National Museum. Over 18,000 visitors came to see first hand the exquisite craftsmanship evident in each of the objects on display. Those who didn’t get a chance to see the exhibition can still purchase a copy of the catalog from our gift shop that bears the same title – it beautifully pictures and describes each object that was included in the exhibition. After viewing Art of the Samurai our visitors overwhelmingly agreed that the exhibition gave them a stronger appreciation for samurai culture and clearly understood that samurai were a highly cultured class of people, who in addition to the art of battle, mastered and surrounded themselves with other forms of art.

These images show representatives from the Tokyo National Museum as they prepare each object for shipment. As with every exhibition, specially trained handlers traveled with the exhibition to examine the condition of each object before placing it into its display case. The same team of museum professionals returned at the end of the exhibition to once again check the objects' conditions and pack them in special archival materials and packaging built to each object’s specifications. The man dusting the katana sword is wearing a mask to keep any moisture he may exhale away from the iron blade in an effort to prevent corrosion. Assembling and dissembling the rokumaido gusoku style armor was a careful and time consuming process as there are many components to the overall garment including the two crescent shaped wakidate on both sides of the helmet. All images and text under copyright. Please ask Collection Department for permission to use.