Investigating the Samurai

Samurai: More than a warrior is an incredible new exhibition that brings to life over 800 hundred years of Japanese history and culture, through the story of the samurai.

With over 100 objects and artefacts , including full suits of armour, this exhibition is an immersive, interactive experience for students of all ages.

Workshops are available to complement the themes and content of the exhibition. In a pre or post exhibition workshop, students will use replica objects, critical and creative thinking and historical questions to further investigate the samurai and their changing roles in Japanese society. 

Students will experience 

• Immersive environments and reconstructions 

• Interactive, hands-on experiences  

• Incredible artefacts and objects, including full suits of armour 

• Critical and creative thinking, and historical thinking 

Students will learn 

• How to use historical sources, including replica objects  

• To interpret and analyse material evidence. 

• To create and ask historical questions 

• Who the samurai were and how they became Japan’s ruling warrior class 

• About samurai identity and practices 

• About the birth of the Shogun and how this shaped Japan 

• About the spiritual world, including different belief systems, the supernatural and natural world 

Students will be provided

• A booklet to guide and prompt discussion and reflection through the exhibition.

Students will need

• Please bring a pencil in order to complete the booklet activities during the exhibition visit.

Hero image: Photograph by Brad Flowers. © The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas.