DEADLY ELEGANCE

In a utilitarian age, it is hard for us to imagine that the accoutrements of war could be beautiful. But for the Japanese in the age of feudalism, arms and armor were the subject of intense artistic effort. Aesthetics permeated every aspect of Japanese life, and war was no exception. Within the realm of military life, the samurai warrior class in particular developed its own particular artistic traditions and material culture. Today, the surviving objects that were created for the samurai are avidly collected both in Japan and in the West, testaments to a bygone age of deadly elegance.

One of the top collectors of samurai-related material in the West is Peter Janssen, a German who) more than 30 years ago and in the years since has amassed some 4,000 objects dating from the Kofun period of Japanese history to the Meiji period (6th century–19th century). Besides weapons and armor, his collection also comprises objects and artworks that relate to samurai culture, such as paintings and woodblock prints depicting samurai, textiles, tea utensils, and Buddhist sculptures. In 2017 Janssen founded the Samurai Art Museum in the Villa Clay neighborhood of Berlin, in order to share his enthusiasm with the public. As his collection continued to grow, Janssen decided to expand his museum to a larger facility in Berlin’s central gallery district, with a new presentation that includes immersive installations, enhanced by new technologies, that guide visitors through samurai experiences from the battlefield to the tea ceremony. Called the Samurai Museum Berlin, it opens on May 8.