A russet iron samurai helmet with small standing rivets ARMORERSaotome IetsuguDATEMid Edo period, 18th centurySIGNATURESaotome Ietsugu A russet iron (tetsu sabiji) sixty-two plate kabuto, each mounted with twenty-five small tapered standing rivets (ko-boshi) of decreasing size. The front plate, larger than the others, is fitted with two lines of rivets, while the rear one is left empty, for a total of 1.550 rivets.The typical “Saotome-byo” is visible under this lining: an extra rivet which is almost an additional signature of the Saotome armorers.The five-stage shikoro (...