LONDON - Visitors to the British Museum's highly popular samurai exhibition probably thought they were looking at a national symbol made in Japan.
Yet, if they scratched beneath the surface, they would have found that the well-known image of the warrior figure had been shaped by centuries of overseas influence, whether that be through religion, technology, literature or movies.
The samurai have gone on to symbolize and shape global perceptions of Japan.
"The samurai are uniquely Japanese, but not purely Japanese. They didn't develop in a vacuum," said Oleg Benesch, professor of modern history at the University of York who, along with Rosina Buckland, Asahi Shimbun curator of the Japanese collection at the British Museum, has been leading a research project into the samurai's global reach.
At a recent conference in London, academics from around the world presented new research on the samurai and their international reach.
These studies helped to conceptualize the recent exhibition, attracting 175,000 visitors. It aimed to challenge the samurai stereotype, revealing how it has evolved up to the present day, best shown in games, anime and manga.
Over the past 1,000 years, the samurai class developed and shifted in its roles. For several centuries they were fearsome warriors clad in striking armor.
From early on, they were heavily influenced by interactions with China and Korea. From the mid-1500s, contact with European powers had a broad impact on culture and warfare, and there were high-ranking samurai converts to Christianity.
However, after 1615, battles ceased and the male samurai took up civilian jobs.
The exhibition claims that during the Edo period (1603-1867) under the Tokugawa shogunate, half of the samurai class was comprised of women, who had the important roles of running the household and raising children, adding that high-ranking women in the shogun's court often wielded significant influence.
The samurai class was abolished in the late 19th century and by the early 20th century had become a truly global icon, thanks to Japan's victory over Russia in 1905, according to Benesch.
It is at this point, says Buckland, that the concept of the samurai "started to be pulled in so many different directions...generated primarily from outside of Japan."
Britain and the United States had initially respected the samurai and compared them to chivalrous medieval knights, with the notion of bushido, or the way of the warrior, well known via Western literature.
However, this view shifted in the 1930s as the samurai became a militaristic and nationalistic symbol of Japan, seen as emblematic of the cruelty meted out by the country's soldiers during World War II, said Benesch.
After 1945, the samurai's international image was rehabilitated and often shaped by the West.
Akira Kurosawa's movies were influenced by Western and gangster movies and the works of William Shakespeare.
In turn, the samurai fed into Italian Westerns and the Star Wars movies, such as Darth Vader's samurai-inspired helmet.
Benesch said many contemporary representations are now, ironically, being developed in China where, historically, the samurai had very negative associations. Overseas contributions have also pushed boundaries with female and black samurai.
Speaking about the exhibition, Buckland said, "I hope the exhibition has encouraged people to question the stereotype...and that can be true in Japan as well. For example, I have had quite a few Japanese come up to me and say they didn't realize that half the samurai class were women."
Benesch added, "I think there was some discomfort in Japan with us talking about the violence of the Japanese invasions of Korea in the 1590s and World War II in the exhibition.
"It's difficult, controversial and uncomfortable at times, but I think it is really important that it gets discussed."
