Samurai Helmet

Russet iron 22-plate samurai helmet with vertical ridges (tetsu sabiji ni-ju-ni suji tate-bachi kabuto). A russet iron four-stage fixture (tehen-no-kanamono) sits atop the helmet bowl, each tier shaped like chrysanthemum petals. Three applied ornamental strips (shinodare) originate from the tehen-no-kanamono and extend down the front of the helmet in the shapes of arrows. Two more shinodare extend down the backplate of the helmet bowl. The protective metal visor (mabizashi) is attached to the helmet bowl with four large, flattened rivets. The visor is covered with stenciled leather and has plain molding (fukurin) around the rim. The underside of the visor is painted red. The intact helmet lining (ukebari) is made of blue cloth with the blue helmet cord attached.

A five lame, etchu 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 brown lacquer and connects to the next lame with dark blue silk lacing in the sugake-odoshi style. The bottom lame also showcases a row of tweed lacing above the bottom row of green lacing in a cross knot pattern. Two forward-facing wings (fukigaeshi) emerge from the top lame of the neck guard. An additional metal plate has been attached to the fukigaeshi, making them especially wide. The inner section is covered with stenciled leather, as well as four ridged, bullet-shaped rivets. Each fukigaeshi has a metal crest mounted which shows three circles, representing stars, within a larger circle (丸に三つ星). The negative space between the circles of the crest is filled with a raised dot texture. The outer sections of the fukigaeshi are covered in brown lacquer and repeat the same lacing pattern of the lowest lame of the shikoro.