The Greatness of the Samurai Captured by Miniature Art at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design
Exhibition opening at 4 pm on Friday, 30 January 2026
Friday, 30 January, at 4 pm, the Museum of Applied Arts and Design (Arsenalo St 3A, Vilnius) of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art opens an exhibition Greatness in Humility. Artistic Elements of Japanese Swords, Prints and Miniature Sculpture. The visitors of the exhibition will encounter miniature artistic forms as keepers of the greatness of ancient Japan’s culture across its social and material strata.
“This exhibition invites to stop and contemplate things which are often passed by unnoticed. The artistic elements of the Japanese swords, the prints and miniature sculpture pieces speak of the greatness hidden in minuteness, precision and silence. It is a story of the form as a receptacle of discipline, aesthetics and spiritual balance. It is rightly said that the greatness of a samurai comes not from the sharpness or ornateness of the sword, but from the honour that guides his hand”, says Džiuljeta Žiugždienė, director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA.
The samurai world in miniature – an exhibition of the Kyiv collection in Vilnius
The Japanese art works from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv presented at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design exhibition reflect the material world of the samurai caste of the Edo (Tokugawa) period. A part of this collection has already been featured by the exhibition Samurai Treasures at the Palanga Amber Museum of the LNMA to become the most visited 2025 event of the LNMA’s entire programme.
The artefacts, selected from over -700 piece-rich collection, enlighten on the art of sword decoration, on the subtleties of woodcut printing and the exquisite art of miniature sculpture pieces. The display is enriched by the colour woodblock prints, evocative of the town culture of the Edo period and featuring celebrated warriors, epic heroes as well as kabuki actors embodying samurai.
The samurai is an elite Japanese warrior caste, often times compared to the European knights. The title means “serving the others”, while the very samurai class established itself over time as one of the main political and military forces in the country. In the exhibition, their world emerges through material items – the artistic elements of the Japanese swords and the miniature sculpture pieces netsuke. The sword was an inherent part of bushido, the way of warrior, while the netsuke were used as accessories of male and female wear, emphasizing the status and individuality of the owner. Due to their superb craftsmanship, they came to be valued as collector items.
Kenbu – a living samurai tradition passed on via movement
The opening of the exhibition will be announced by choreographed strikes of a sword – in a performance of kenbu, traditional Japanese sword dance expressing, by dance movements and swordsmanship, the soul of the samurai and their way of life. The performance involves the katana and the naginata (Japanese polearm weapons), spears, fans and umbrellas; each movement is performed with absolute physical and mental concentration so it is executed with precision, gracefulness and meaning. The roots of the sword dance kenbu go back to the court dancing of the Nara period (710-794) and the Heian period (794-1185) and the ritual dancing of the Shinto shrines.
The performance at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design will be presented by Masanori Ogawa, master of the Araki Munisai-ryu Ogawa Dojo School in Poland. Master Masanori Ogawa comes from a Samurai-tradition-fostering family in Himeji; he started learning the martial disciplines as early as he started walking, now he passes on the Japanese martial aesthetics and the spirit of the samurai philosophy to the younger generations. Master Masanori Ogawa notes that the traditions of the martial arts and poetry recitation help to preserve the bushido spirit, while even a short sword dance can communicate a deep historical and cultural meaning. The performance will also feature some members of the school, his wife Anna Ogawa, an enduring fosterer of Japanese culture, qualified in iaido and kendo, as well as Katarzyna Fedoruk-Łosicka, Bartłomiej Konopa and Jakub Rudziński. The performance is also included into a special programme celebrating 35-year-anniversary of the Lithuanian-Japanese diplomatic relations.
The Japanese artwork from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv will be on at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA until the 20th of April. The exhibition programme will be expanded by tours and educational events in support for the exhibition visitors to grasp the greatness condensed in the miniature figurines. Event information is posted on the LNMA website and social media.
Project leaders:
Director General of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art Dr Arūnas Gelūnas
Director General of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts Julija Vaganova
Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA Džiuljeta Žiugždienė
Curators and coordinators: Sigita Bagužaitė-Talačkienė, Katerina Baranovska, Olha Hončarenko, Regina Makauskienė, Skaistis Mikulionis, Olha Novikova, Eglė Jagminė, Mažvydas Truklickas, Julijus Balčikonis, Julija Samailova, Anastasija Macelo
Architect Ūla Žebrauskaitė-Malinauskė
Designers: Marius Žalneravičius, Edita Namajūnienė
Projection Designer Vladas Balsys
Translators: Džiulija Elena Fedirkienė, Ruslanas Skrobačas
Copy Editor Ieva Puluikienė
Organisers: The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv
General Sponsor Novalda stiklai
Main Sponsor GlasLT
Sponsors: UAB AD Rem, CLS Brokerage Company, UAB Bunasta, UAB Nova Post Lithuania, BTA
Patron Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in the Luhansk Region Robertas Gabulas
Conservators: Rasa Bieliauskaitė-Mikolaitienė, Rimvydas Derkintis, Paulius Zovė
Special thanks to:
Ambassador Valdemaras Sarapinas
Ambassador Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė
Ambassador Olha Nikitchenko
Valdas Dovydėnas, Tadas Gečauskas, Rita Grochovskienė, Tomas Ivanauskas, Giedrius Jackūnas, Renata Kanarskaja, Romas Klapatauskas, Mirijana Kozak, Narimantas Savickas, Vladimiras Ševerdovas, Darius Zaura, Andrius Šulskis, Povilas Ruškus, Agata Voleiko, Serhij Burlačenko, Liubomyr Demjančiuk, Lesia Rožak, Andrij Černeha
- Purchase an e-ticket for this exhibition
- Book a guided tour by phone +370 5 212 1813, +370 5 262 8080
- Plan your visit to the Museum of Applied Arts And Design
3A Arsenalo st, Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 212 1813;
+370 5 261 25 48; +370 5 262 80 80.
tddm@lndm.lt
