{"id":1896,"date":"2013-04-10T10:12:45","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T14:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2015-03-09T10:16:59","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T14:16:59","slug":"mfa-samurai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2013\/04\/10\/mfa-samurai\/","title":{"rendered":"MFA: Samurai!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0<\/span>Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is renowned the world over for breadth and depth of its Japanese collection, holding as it does over 100,000 artefacts. When we heard that the MFA was going to put together an exhibit of samurai armor, we naturally assumed that it would be drawing from its archives and showcasing some of the pieces not often displayed to the public. But, we were wrong: the MFA’s\u00a0\u00a0“Samurai! Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection”<\/a>\u00a0exhibit was organized by the\u00a0Ann & Barbier-Mueller Museum<\/a>\u00a0in Dallas, in collaboration with the\u00a0MFA<\/a>, and features outstanding items from a private collection. According to Malcom Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA, “This exhibition superbly complements the Museum’s own collection of works from Japan because the MFA is weaker in this particular area.” Now to say the MFA is “weak” in any particular aspect of their Japanese collection is to say the New England Patriots is “weak” in their offensive options, but we digress.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The incredible quality of this exhibit is evident at\u00a0the entrance<\/a>. Visitors are greeted by\u00a0three suits of armor<\/a>, any one of which could’ve been the centerpiece of an exhibit on\u00a0Japanese armor<\/a>\u00a0that would’ve left its viewers satisfied. However, there are 140 more objects from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller collection awaiting inside. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by the\u00a0craftsmanship<\/a>,\u00a0details<\/a>, and\u00a0sculptural quality<\/a>\u00a0of the pieces.<\/p>\n

These are not steampunk fantasies, nor are they Hollywood’s version of the shining knight in stainless steel. These were fully functional, battle-ready,\u00a0works of war\/art<\/a>. They were passed down through the generations, and brought along with them the honor, sacrifices, and obligations of those who had worn them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While “soul of the samurai” is the sword, the “heart of a samurai” is service. The direct translation of “samurai” is “to serve.” Service to his lord, his shogun, and his emperor. To serve well, samurai must excel more than just martially, they must exel in all aspects of their life. To be samurai was to have that attitude, that way of being, in how they viewed the world and their place in it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A samurai’s life was not spartan or austere. They reveled in beauty, grace, and the constant reach for perfection. This attitude was clearly reflected in the samurai’s armor and all which went with it: helmets of lacquered metal adorned with emblems, many inspired by\u00a0animals<\/a>\u00a0and other\u00a0\u00a0nature<\/a>\u00a0motifs; weapons; horse armor; and\u00a0accoutrements<\/a>\u00a0for both battle and ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, one thing must be kept in mind when looking at the items. No matter how\u00a0ornate<\/a>\u00a0the piece or\u00a0intricate<\/a>\u00a0the design, nothing takes away from the effectiveness or functionality of\u00a0the armor<\/a>\u00a0itself. In fact, extra credit will go to those who can find the armor with the dents from musket balls (in the exhibit, not these photos).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All of the pieces are fascinating individually, but to see them assembled on a mannequin\u00a0posed for action<\/a>\u00a0was fantastic. In one of the rooms\u00a0three armored horses<\/a>\u00a0carrying combat-ready samurai in full regalia were on one side while facing the riders down on the other side were\u00a0five samurai<\/a>\u00a0in full battle armor. This is clearly one of the most dramatic stagings we have ever seen for an exhibit of this nature.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have only given you a small taste of what is in the\u00a0multi-room exhibit<\/a>. There is simply too much to see and one visit will definitely not be enough. We urge you to plan accordingly. We expect to go back at least a half a dozen times before it leaves town.<\/p>\n

The Samurai! exhibit\u00a0\u00a0opens on April 14<\/a>\u00a0and will run until August 4th. There will be special\u00a0film screenings<\/a>, “Samurai Saturday<\/a>” events, and other\u00a0related activities<\/a>during the run of the exhibition. Please check the\u00a0MFA<\/a>\u00a0calendar for times and details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is renowned the world over for breadth and depth of its Japanese collection, holding as it does over 100,000 artefacts. When we heard that the MFA was going to put together an exhibit of samurai armor, we naturally assumed that it would be drawing from its archives and showcasing some of the pieces not often displayed to the public. But, we were wrong: the MFA’s\u00a0\u00a0“Samurai! Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection”\u00a0exhibit was organized by the\u00a0Ann & Barbier-Mueller Museum\u00a0in Dallas, in collaboration with the\u00a0MFA, and features outstanding items from a private collection. According to Malcom Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA, “This exhibition superbly complements the Museum’s own collection of works from Japan because the MFA is weaker in this particular area.” Now to say the MFA is “weak” in any particular aspect of their Japanese collection is to say the New England Patriots is “weak” in their offensive options, but we digress. The incredible quality of this exhibit is evident at\u00a0the entrance. Visitors are greeted by\u00a0three suits of armor, any one of which could’ve been the centerpiece of an exhibit on\u00a0Japanese armor\u00a0that would’ve left its viewers satisfied. However, there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[244],"tags":[661,662,350,348,390,663],"class_list":["post-1896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rainydaydestinations","tag-armor","tag-barbier-mueller","tag-japanese-sword","tag-katana","tag-mfa","tag-samurai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/FullGearArmorBig.jpg?fit=1029%2C683","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7F1GW-uA","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1898,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions\/1898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}