SAMOURAÏ, 1000 YEARS OF JAPAN'S HISTORY

From 28 June to 9 November 2014, Samurai, 1000 years of Japanese history, at the Château des Ducs de Bretagne - 44000 NANTES.

A source of fascination for more than a century and a half, when Japan opened up to the West in the last days of the Edo regime, the samurai is now part of our imagination. His figure, his story, and especially his myth, have invaded our gaze to the point of often reducing any subject on Japan to the historical posture of the character. But what do we really know about this warrior, when does he appear, and what was his place in a history of Japan that we do not understand well?

In Japan, from the arts to the business world, what place still keeps these warriors of the Middle Ages, while in the West, their code and their posture invade the cinema and the imagination?

Through these questions you will be able, beyond the simple presentation of the history of a warrior class, to discover the Japan of yesteryear and to understand part of our fascination for this elsewhere.

The exhibition brings together a multitude of objects, some never before seen, from the traditional samurai armor to the costume of Darth Vader. The representation of these warriors - explored through traditional arts, martial arts, cinema and manga,… - draws a portrait of Japan from yesterday to today.

General Commission: Bertrand Guillet - Chief heritage curator, director of the Château des ducs de Bretagne
Associate police station : Xavier Durand
Scientific director : Pierre-François Souyri. Former director of the Franco-Japanese House in Tokyo, Pierre-François Souyri is currently a professor at the University of Geneva where he teaches Japanese history. He has stayed in Japan on several occasions and is the author of Nouvelle Histoire du Japon, published by Perrin in 2010.