Tickets

Courtly Elegance and Military Might

14.09.2010 to 09.01.2011


With the rise of the military nobility (or samurai) under the leadership of a shogun, a new form of governance emerged in 12th century Japan which from then on developed in conflict with the traditional authority of both the Emperor and the court aristocracy. The vying between these two elites was to have a profound impact on the history of Japan right up to the formation of a modern state in the second half of the 19th century and also found its visual expression in numerous works of architecture, sculpture and painting.