Kabuto

Kabuto, the Samurai Helmet

The helmet was the most difficult part of a samurai armor to make and was usually the work of a master armorer, who could eventually sign the piece.

Helmet bowls (bachi) are classified depending on how they were built. There are several kabuto types, but a high-rank samurai would often have on his armor a multi-plate kabuto (suji-bachi and koboshi) or a kawari kabuto, a helmet with a spectacular or unusual shape.

Regardless of their shape, almost all samurai helmets were fitted with a frontal decoration called maedate and a neck guard (shikoro), at the end of which there were two wing-like projections named fukigaeshi.

The samurai helmets for sale are listed above. Select a thumbnail to access description and image gallery.