This suit of armor bears the crest of the powerful Ikeda family ... Photo: Brad Flowers For nearly 700 years, samurai were Japan’s social elite, skilled not only in combat but also in politics ...

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gifted President Trump a golden samurai helmet during their first face-to-face meeting ...

Samurai “clearly understood the functional requirements of armor,” Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, who with his wife, Ann, is the most important collector of samurai regalia outside Japan ...