The gallery specializes in authentic samurai arms and armor. The primary goal of our business is to change the somehow “romantic” perception of the samurai world by approaching the study of Japanese war equipment from an art-historical perspective.
As specialists in particular disciplines of Japanese antiques, the Giuseppe Piva Japanese Art gallery is the ideal partner for collectors seeking original samurai armor and swords, netsuke, Buddhist sculptures, lacquers, and folding screens. We invite you to embark on a captivating journey through the world of Japanese art and heritage, and we look forward to serving you with our unparalleled expertise and passion.
Giuseppe Piva is a third-generation antique dealer specialising in Japanese art. He worked for ten years in his father’s gallery before founding, in 2005, the gallery that bears his name in Milan, building his business on a historical and artistic approach to the study of samurai armour and weapons, as opposed to a purely romantic interpretation of the Japanese warrior world.
He curated the exhibition *Samurai: Works from the Koelliker Collection and the non-European collections of the Castello Sforzesco*, presented at Palazzo Reale in Milan and Palazzo Fortuny in Venice, with an accompanying catalogue published by Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta (2009). He is also the author of *Le armature dei samurai* (Luni Editrice, *Stupor Mundi* series, 2020) and *Tsuba – Masterpieces from the Luca Dolci Collection* (Milan, 2026).
A 7th dan kyoshi in both kendō and iaidō, he combines commercial and art-historical expertise with high-level martial arts practice, a rarity outside Japan. He is a member of the executive committee of the Association for the Study of Japanese Armour, Nihon Katchu Bugu Kenkyū Hozon Kai (NKBKHK), as well as of the Japanese Armour Society.
