Samurai Helmet

Russet iron 32-plate samurai helmet with vertical ridges (tetsu sabiji san-ju-ni ken suji tate-bachi kabuto). The surface of the helmet bowl is rusted and in generally poor condition. A five-stage fixture (tehen-no-kanamono) sits atop the helmet bowl and is made up of alternating gilded and shakudo (patinated copper and gold alloy) metal chrysanthemum designs. A damaged and deformed metal visor (mabizashi) is attached to the helmet bowl with three flattened rivets with chrysanthemum base washers. The visor itself is undecorated and the underside is painted with red lacquer. A large gold ring is attached to the back of the helmet. The intact helmet lining (ukebari) is made of blue cloth with a light brown and orange, deteriorated, helmet cord attached. A five lame, ko-manju style neck guard (shikoro) is attached to the helmet bowl with four rivets, each with a chrysanthemum base washer. Each iron lame is wrapped with leather and then coated with black lacquer. Lames are connected to one another with blue silk lacing in the sugake-odoshi style. The bottom lame also showcases a row of tweed lacing above the bottom row of faded orange lacing in a cross knot pattern. Two forward-facing wings (fukigaeshi) would have originally been attached to the top lame but are no longer present.