Japan: A History in Objects

A history of the Japanese archipelago through its material artefacts over fifteen millennia.

This spirited visual account of life in the Japanese archipelago spans over 15,000 years, revealing the stories behind an intriguing selection of objects from the British Museum Collection. It explores the history of the region through artefacts, from the lengthy prehistoric record, through the rise of Buddhism and a military elite in Japan’s classical and medieval periods, to the economic and cultural developments of the early modern and modern eras.

Ancient flame pots and jewelry, textiles and armour, folding screens and contemporary manga provide glimpses of the lives of farmers and merchants, medieval warriors and modern women. A wide range of ceramics and sculpture, metalwork and lacquerware, paintings, prints and textiles provides a rich and compelling portrait of a society and culture that occupies a special place in the imagination of its citizens and visitors.

About the Author

Angus Lockyer is a historian of modern Japan, who taught Japanese, East Asian and global history at SOAS University of London. He collaborated on the redesign of the British Museum’s Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries (2006) and was a co-curator of the British Museum exhibition Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave (2017). He currently teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.