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Paper short abstract

This paper traces the samurai's enduring role as a diplomatic symbol from the 1860s onward. By examining martial arts instruction and the circulation of objects, I show how samurai iconography was deployed to advance Japan's interests abroad, contributing to the samurai's current global popularity.

Paper long abstract

Members of the samurai class formed the vast majority of Japan's leadership and overseas missions in the late Tokugawa and early Meiji periods. Even after the samurai were abolished in the 1870s, former samurai continued to hold prominent roles in government, the military, and business. In other countries, the samurai continued to be seen as emblematic of Japan, and reached a global peak of popularity during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. This was used by both state and private actors to promote Japan's culture and interests abroad, with samurai swords and armors frequently given as diplomatic gifts, while martial arts instructors became celebrities who trained foreign elites. This talk explores how samurai-related objects and activities were a key component of formal and informal diplomacy in Imperial Japan, and how these helped to lay the groundwork for the rehabilitation of the samurai image after the Second World War into the global icon it is today.