Samurai Helmet

Russet iron 32-plate samurai helmet with vertical ridges (tetsu sabiji san-ju-ni ken suji tate-bachi kabuto). A six-stage fixture (tehen-no-kanamono) sits atop the helmet bowl and is made up of gilded metal and shakudo (patinated copper and gold alloy) metal chrysanthemum designs. The protective metal visor (mabizashi) is attached to the helmet bowl with three large, flattened rivets and two smaller rivets on the sides. The visor is undecorated save for the gold molding (fukurin) around the rim. The underside of the visor is painted with red lacquer. A large, decorative, orange bow (agemaki) is attached to a metal ring on the back plate of the helmet bowl. A large, metal, butterfly crest is attached to the crest holder (haraidate dai), possibly representing the Ikeda family of Okayama or possibly the Taira clan. The intact helmet lining (ukebari) is made of orange cloth with an orange helmet cord attached.

A five lame, hineno style neck guard (shikoro) is attached to the helmet bowl with four rivets, each with a chrysanthemum base washer. Each lame is coated with lacquer formed into "false scales" (kiritsuke kozane) to give the appearance of individual scales. The top lame is painted with brown lacquer, while the lower four lames are coated in black lacquer. Lames are connected to one another with dark blue silk lacing in the kebiki-odoshi style. Two forward-facing wings (fukigaeshi) emerge from the top lame of the neck guard. Each fukigaeshi is covered with printed leather and has a metal butterfly crest, possibly that of the Ikeda family or the Taira clan, mounted. Unlike the visor, the fukigaeshi possess a different, twisted, rope-like molding (nawame fukurin) around the edges. Rivets on the neck guard do not match rivets on visor, suggesting the neck guard may not be original to the helmet bowl. Lacing that attaches the helmet lining and cord to the helmet sticks out through the back and sides of the helmet. This lacing does not match the lacing on the edges of the neck guard, again suggesting that it may not be original. The lacing does match the face guard, 83-44-5.