Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868

Sashimono (Personal Flag) of Sakakibara Yasumasa (Momoyama period, 17th century, Silk and gold leaf, Tokyo National Museum, Important Cultural Property). From the exhibition Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. "...Drawn entirely from public and private collections in Japan, the majority of objects date from the rise of the samurai in the late Heian period, ca. 1156, through the early modern Edo period, ending in 1868, when samurai culture was abolished. The martial skills and daily life of the samurai, their governing lords, the daimyo, and the ruling shoguns will also be evoked through the presence of painted scrolls and screens depicting battles and martial sports, castles, and portraits of individual warriors."