Samurai Helmet

Black-lacquered iron five-plate head-shaped samurai helmet (tetsu kuro urushi nuri go ken zunari kabuto). The three primary plates of the helmet bowl are finished with a rippled texture (tataki nuri) and lacquered black. The protective metal visor (oroshi mabizashi) is of a style unique to zunari kabuto. The plainly lacquered visor attaches to the front plate and the base band (koshimaki) of the helmet bowl with no exposed rivets. The tan helmet lining (ukebari) is attached but damaged.Two forward-facing wings (fukigaeshi) emerge from the top lame of the neck guard. The fukigaeshi are painted with black lacquer and a gold crest on each wing. The family crests (mon) are of two vertical hawk feathers within a circle of the Kikuchi clan. A five lame, hineno style neck guard (shikoro) is attached to the helmet bowl with four rivets. Each lame is made of a single iron plate (ita-mono) coated with black lacquer and connects to the next lame with alternating green and orange silk lacing in the sugake-odoshi style. The bottom lame is covered with gold leaf over a rippled tataki nuri textured black lacquer finish. Mask attached, see CG2016-1-58.2.