Kabuto
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Template:Lang (兜, 冑) is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors that, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan.
Note that in the Japanese language, the word Template:Lang is an appellative, not a type description, and can refer to any combat helmet.
Every year on Children's Day, May 5, Japanese households display miniature kabuto and samurai armor in keeping with the tradition of Tango no Sekku. In feudal times, real samurai armor, kabuto, and tachi were displayed.<ref name="yurai">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="kiso">Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Japanese helmets dating from the fifth century have been found in excavated tombs. Called Template:Lang (attached-visor helmet), the style of these kabuto came from China and Korea. They had a pronounced central ridge.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Lang, now known as samurai helmets, first appeared in the 10th century Heian period with the appearance of ō-yoroi. Until the early Muromachi period, Template:Lang were made by combining dozens of thin iron plates. Generally, only daimyo and samurai at the rank of commander wore Template:Lang ornaments called Template:Lang (立物), which were shaped like a pair of hoes. In the middle of the Muromachi period, as the number of large group battles increased, ordinary samurai wore Template:Lang in the shape of a hoe, the sun, the moon, or their flag on their Template:Lang to show their courage or to distinguish friend from foe.<ref name ="fcm092">変わり兜展. Fukuoka City Museum</ref><ref name ="ntw11362">変わり兜 Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum "Nagoya Touken World"</ref>
In the Sengoku period in the 16th century, when the scale of war increased and the guns called Template:Lang became popular, the armor styles called Template:Lang and Template:Lang became outdated. As a response to the popularity of Template:Lang, the armor style of Template:Lang (Template:Lang) was created. Template:Lang were made by combining three to four pieces of iron plates. These were more bulletproof than the conventional style and could be mass produced. The Template:Lang became more eccentric and huge. Some were made of iron, but for safety reasons on the battlefield, they were often made with molded, lacquer-coated paper. In the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Template:Lang had a simple, bold design in accordance with the popularity of Momoyama culture.<ref name ="fcm092"/><ref name ="ntw11362"/><ref name ="fcm513"/>
In the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate defeated the Toyotomi clan in the Summer Siege of Osaka. Japanese society became more peaceful and medieval armor styles were revived. Template:Lang- and Template:LangTemplate:Nbhstyle Template:Lang were made again.<ref name ="fcm513">甲冑に見る江戸時代展5 武士と武人の甲冑像 Fukuoka City Museum</ref> Ornamental kawari kabuto ("strange helmet") were made during this time that had "figures of animals, [kami], or various other objects mounted on top of them".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Kabuto during this time were made "from materials including iron, gold-copper alloy, lacquer, leather, silk, wood, gesso, bone[,] and gesso binder".<ref name=":0" />
The kabuto was an important part of the equipment of the samurai, and played a symbolic role as well, which may explain the Japanese expressions, sayings, and codes related to them. For instance, Template:Lang translates literally to "Tighten the string of the kabuto after winning the war". This refers to not reducing one's efforts after success; an equivalent saying in English would be "Don't rest on your laurels".<ref>勝って兜の緒を締めよ weblio国語辞典</ref> Template:Lang (lit. "to take off the kabuto") means "to surrender".<ref>兜を脱ぐ weblio国語辞典</ref>
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Template:Lang. Muromachi period, 15th century, Tokyo National Museum, Important Cultural Property
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Template:Lang. Azuchi–Momoyama period, 16th–17th century, Suntory Museum of Art
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Template:Lang, attributed to Sakakibara Yasumasa. Edo period, 17th century, Tokyo National Museum, Important Cultural Property
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Template:Lang with octopus. 18th century, Edo period. Stibbert Museum
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Fancy Kabuto with Tokugawa Clan Crest and Design of Butterflies and Dragonflies. Edo period, 18th century. Tokyo Fuji Art Museum
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Template:Lang style Template:Lang with a medieval revival style. Edo period, 19th century, Tokyo National Museum.
Parts of the kabuto
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The basic parts of the kabuto include:
- Template:Lang, a dome composed of overlapping elongated plates called Template:Lang
- Template:Lang, a small opening at the top of the Template:Lang, usually fitted with a Template:Lang (an ornamental grommet, often resembling a chrysanthemum)
- Template:Lang, a brim or visor on the front of the Template:Lang
- Template:Lang, a cloth lining inside the Template:Lang
- Template:Lang, mounting points for attaching crests
- Template:Lang, a ring at the back of the Template:Lang for securing a Template:Lang (helmet flag)
- Template:Lang, wing-like or ear-like projections to the sides of the Template:Lang
- Template:Lang, a suspended neck guard composed of multiple overlapping lames
- Template:Lang (chin cord), often used to secure the Template:Lang (facial armour)
A typical Template:Lang features a central dome constructed of anywhere from three to over a hundred metal plates riveted together. These were usually arranged vertically, radiating from a small opening in the top. The rivets securing these metal plates to each other could be raised (a form known as Template:Lang) or hammered flat (a form known as Template:Lang); another form, called Template:Lang, had the rivets filed flush. Some of the finer Template:Lang were signed by their makers, usually from one of several known families, such as the Myochin, Saotome, Haruta, Unkai, or Nagasone families.Template:Citation needed
A small opening in the top of the Template:Lang, called the Template:Lang or Template:Lang (seat of the war god, Hachiman), was thoughtTemplate:According to whom to be for passing the warrior's top knot through. Although this practice was largely abandoned after the Muromachi period, this opening may have been retained for purposes of ventilation or simply as an artifact of how the plates were riveted together.<ref name=ThomasIto>Template:Cite book</ref> The Template:Lang was usually decorated with Template:Lang, which were rings of intricately worked, soft metal bands often resembling a chrysanthemum.<ref name=ThomasIto /><ref name=RattiWestbrook>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Lang and Template:Lang were two helmet forms that did not usually have an opening at the top.
Template:Lang incorporated a suspended neck guard called a Template:Lang, usually composed of three to seven semicircular, lacquered metal or oxhide lames, attached and articulated by silk or leather lacing, although some Template:Lang were composed of 100 or more small metal scales in a row.<ref>The Encyclopedia Americana: a library of universal knowledge, Volume 15 p.774</ref> This lamellar armour style, along with Template:Lang (mail armour), was the standard technology of Japanese body armour, and some Template:Lang were made of mail sewn to a cloth lining (a form called Template:Lang).
The Template:Lang was secured to the head by a chin cord called Template:Lang, which would usually be tied to posts or hooks on the Template:Lang (facial armour) or simply tied under the chin.
Template:Lang are often adorned with crests called Template:Lang or Template:Lang;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the four types of decorations were the Template:Lang (frontal decoration), Template:Lang (side decorations), Template:Lang (top decoration), and Template:Lang (rear decoration). These can be family crests (mon), or flat or sculptural objects representing animals, mythical entities, prayers or other symbols. Horns are particularly common, and many kabuto incorporate Template:Lang, stylized antlers.
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Various Template:Lang shapes:Template:Ordered list
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Many wavy shaped Template:Lang plates form a Template:Lang. A colourful Template:Lang can be seen at the top.
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Lacquered iron Template:Lang (neck guard)
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The Template:Lang can be seen to both sides of the Template:Lang (brim), and the Template:Lang (cord) secures the Template:Lang (facial armour).
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Maedate, Template:Circa–1894, from the Oxford College Archives of Emory University
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Various Template:Lang (front crests)
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Template:Lang (mounting point for front crest)
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Template:Lang (mounting point for side crest)
Types of kabuto
Suji bachi kabuto
Template:Lang is a multiple-plate type of Japanese helmet with raised ridges or ribs showing where the helmet plates come together; the rivets may be filed flat or they may be left showing, as in the Template:Lang.
Hoshi-bachi kabuto
Template:Lang (star helmet bowl) with protruding rivet heads, have large rivets (Template:Lang), small rivets (Template:Lang) and a rivet with a chrysantemoid-shaped washer at its base (Template:Lang). Template:Lang could also be Template:Lang if there were raised ribs or ridges showing where the helmet plates came together.
Hari bachi kabuto
Template:Lang is multiple-plate Japanese Template:Lang with no ribs or ridges showing where the helmet plates come and the rivets are filed flush.
Zunari kabuto
The Template:Lang is a simple, five-plate design.
Tatami kabuto
A great number of simpler, lightweight, folding, portable armours for lower-ranking samurai and foot soldiers (Template:Lang) were also produced. These were called Template:Lang armour, and some featured collapsible Template:Lang (also called Template:Lang), made from articulated lames.<ref name=RattiWestbrook /><ref>Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan - Page 279 Asiatic Society of Japan - 1881.</ref><ref>Arms and Armor of the Samurai Ian Bottomley, Anthony Hopson Random House Value Publishing, 1993 p.92</ref> Template:Lang did not use rivets in their construction; instead, lacing or chain mail was used to connect the pieces to each other.
Kaji kabuto
Template:Lang were a type of helmet worn by samurai firemen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Jingasa
Template:Lang were war hats made in a variety of shapes, worn by Template:Lang (foot soldiers) and samurai, which could be made from leather or metal.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Kawari kabuto, or strange helmet
During the Momoyama period of intense civil warfare, kabuto were made to a simpler design of three or four plates, lacking many of the ornamental features of earlier helmets. To offset the plain, utilitarian form of the new helmet, and to provide visibility and presence on the battlefield, armorers began to build fantastic shapes on top of the simple helmets in Template:Lang (papier-mâché mixed with lacquer over a wooden armature), though some were constructed entirely of iron. These shapes mimicked forms from Japanese culture and mythology, including fish, cow horns, the head of the god of longevity, bolts of silk, head scarves, Ichi-no-Tani canyon, and axe heads, among many others. Some forms were realistically rendered, while others took on a very futuristic, modernist feel.
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Template:Lang, a type of Template:Lang which used papier-mâché mixed with lacquer for the elaborate decoration (the shell) on an iron bowl, beginning of the Edo Period, 17th century . Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas (Texas)
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A Kofun period (fifth century) early Template:Lang made of iron and gilt copper, from Ise Province
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Template:Lang (chrysantemoid-shaped washer at the base of the rivet). This is also a Template:Lang, as it has raised ridges.
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Template:Lang type, constructed from hardened leather (Template:Lang)
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See also
- Zischägge, a similarly shaped European helmet
References
External links
Template:Helmets Template:Japanese (samurai) weapons, armour and equipment