Samurai Helmet

Fireman's hat (kaji kabuto). Paper mache hat crafted to emulate the appearance of a 24-plate hat with vertical ridges. Each ridge is made of built up paper mache and likely was painted gold, though now the ridges have a brown appearance. Surfaces of the "plates" between the ridges alternate between black lacquer and gold (now brown) from plate to plate. A five-stage fixture (tehen-no-kanamono) sits atop the apex of the hat with the three lowest tiers designed to look like chrysanthemum flowers. A wide prong (maedate tsunamoto) is attached to the front of the hat, above the visor, and serves as a mount for a now missing crest. The visor (mabizashi) is split into an upper section painted gold and a lower section painted with black lacquer. The lower section also has a raised scroll design which would have likely been painted gold, though now has a brown appearance. The edge of the visor forms three wide scallops. Five similar wide, scalloped edges decorate a rim protruding from the lower edge of the entire hat bowl. These scallops around the rim feature the same raised scroll design as the visor. The hat lining (ukebari) is missing but there are holes where a cloth neck protector (hikeshi shikoro) would have attached. One forward-facing wing (fukigaeshi) is attached to the left side of the hat bowl with a loop of wire and a silk cord. A second fukigaeshi is detached and two silk cords would serve to attach it. Each fukigaeshi is lacquered black and bears a painted, circular, solid crest which would have likely been painted gold, though now appears brown.