Armor of the Yokohagidō Type,Nanbokuchō period, 1333–1392 (helmet); mid-Edo period, 18th century (suit). Iron, gold and copper alloy (shakudō), gold, silver, lacing, fur, silk, lacquer, leather, bronze, and wood. © Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection

For seven centuries, the samurai ruled Japan. Starting in the late twelfth century, when powerful families seized control, the warrior class known as samurai (“those who serve”) alternately fought for power or enforced peace. During the era of the shogunate, power resided not at the imperial court but with the supreme military commander, the shogun. 

The samurai lived by a code that valued honor, loyalty, bravery, and willingness to die. Theirs was a culture of fearsome contradictions: expert archers and swordsmen, they were also poets and scholars who were schooled in literature and the arts. They were subordinate to their individual daimyo, who oversaw many Japanese provinces. This suit of armor belonged to a daimyo. The shogun and daimyo, who comprised the governing military nobility, were also “samurai,” as the term came to denote skilled, educated, and refined warriors.