Samurai-era artworks and arms go on display

Bridge at Fukui by Katsuhsika Hokusai is part of the exhibition

A collection of rarely-seen Japanese artefacts and artworks is to go on display.

The exhibition focusing on samurai-era Japan at Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley will feature pictures from masters such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige as well as a sword dating back to 1200AD.

The main feature of the exhibition will be a collection of woodblock prints, which are known as ukiyo-e or "pictures of the floating world".

Much of the collection was assembled by prominent Bradford businessmen involved in the city's booming textile trade during the 19th Century.

The ukiyo-e works portray landscapes and pictures of actors, courtesans and warriors, in the latter years of the Edo period, from 1780 to 1867.

These include prints of several female warriors and Saigo Takamori, who became known as the last samurai.

Some of the arms and armour on display come from the collection of Col HA Foster, who was managing director of John Foster Ltd at Black Dyke Mills in Queensbury.

The mills made and supplied wool, which Col Foster took to Japan on his yacht Portia where he developed an interest in the country's history.

His collection was donated to Bradford Council's Museum Collection in 1923 when he moved home with his new wife, who did not share his interest.

The display includes weapons which are more than 800 years old

The other major donation is from father and son George and Ronald Priestman, who provided nearly all of the ukiyo-e in the gallery.

The Cliffe Castle exhibition is part of a collaboration between the BBC and the British Museum, which marks the release of BBC Arts series Civilisations: Rise and Fall, which begins in November.

The exhibition will run from 8 November to 1 March 2026.

Many of the treasures in the exhibition were collected by industrialists

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