Koboshi kabuto black lacquered samurai helmet with standing rivets from Haruta School

Black lacquered samurai helmet with standing rivets

Haruta School

Momoyama to early Edo Period, 16th-17th Century

A 62-plate koboshi-bachi [helmet bowl with small standing rivets] of typical tenkokuzan form, with 30 pointed rivets on each plate decreasing in size towards the top, with the exception of the larger front plate, with three lines of rivets and the small one on the back which is left blank, for a total of 1,890 rivets.

The visor (mabizashi) is of high quality, embossed with simulated eyebrows, stylised as bamboo leaves, and brow wrinkles; a tsunomoto is fixed on the upper part of the visor to hold a maedate (front ornament). The neck protection (shikoro) of hineno shape with small fukigaeshi on the front is typical of the period.

Even if unsigned, the tenkokuzan shape of the bowl (bachi), lower in the center and slightly higher on the back and some other features such as the number and arrangement of rivets, suggest an attribution to the Haruta school, one of the oldest armor schools of Japan.

Kabuto for sale. Price on application. Please include item stock number: kab-1368