If you’re anything like me—a shy scrawny dork who grew up in rural Rogers County watching shows like Power Rangers, Pokemon, and Dragon Ball Z and playing video games like Tamagotchi, Grandia, and Suikoden—you may have at some point felt that the country of Japan has somehow been marketing to you for basically your entire life.
You may have, in full earnestness, once (or twice) attempted to shoot a power blast out of your palms as a pre-teen, as I did; you may have hung scrolls of Japanese characters on your wall as a teenager, as I did; you may have a story of a half-hearted attempt to learn the various kanji and hiragana as a college student, as I do; you may have visited the country and read books on its history as an adult, as I have.
If any of these ring true, you may be, like me, a perfect viewer for Philbrook’s SAMURAI: Armor from the Collection of Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller. SAMURAI offers a mind-boggling array of samurai paraphernalia from the bulk of the 2nd millennium AD, tracing the samurai’s evolution through the multiple power struggles between the Imperial Family and the various Shogunates, past the forced end of Japanese isolationism due to American intrusion in 1853, and into the Meiji Restoration and the modernization of Japan.
As a window into historical Japan and the ethos of Japanese craftsmanship, as well as a display of art and aesthetics, it’s a massive accomplishment, and deserves to be visited and savored. Around every corner, I found something to gasp about.