Another estate find--helmet

[MichaelZWilliamson]

From my friend's estate. Appears to be hardened, lacquered leather. As found in the attic.

 

 

 

 

 

[uwe]

It’s a Kaji-kabuto with “hidari mitsudomoe mon” on the fukigaeshi. 
Nice find!

[Bugyotsuji]

But that eye-loop screw is an abomination!!! 

[b.hennick]

It looks like a fireman's helmet.

[MichaelZWilliamson]

8 hours ago, uwe said:

It’s a Kaji-kabuto with “hidari mitsudomoe mon” on the fukigaeshi. 
Nice find!

Thanks.  Can you elaborate those terms?  And the estate will be selling it, as it did most of the swords.

[uwe]

Hi Michael,

 

sorry for my shallowness.

A kaji kabuto is simply spoken a firemans helmet, worn by samurai while performing this spezial duty.

 

The sketch below should introduce the main terms for kabuto:

 

NB:- Kabuto sketch from the Watanabe Collection book by Trevor Absolon and David Thatcher

 

 

 

And now the mon. Mon means basically family crest. Unfortunatly this particular crest was used by many, many families over the centuries.

 

 

So it will be almost impossible to pin down the "original owner"...sry!

 

 

[MichaelZWilliamson]

Okay. So this is 20th century, I assume?

That's a neat bit of history.

[Bugyotsuji]

More likely 1800s, late Edo I’d guess.

[MichaelZWilliamson]

Very cool.  Thanks for the info. I need to figure price range and where to sell it.

[Jon Masutatsu]

15 hours ago, uwe said:

Hi Michael,

 

sorry for my shallowness.

A kaji kabuto is simply spoken a firemans helmet, worn by samurai while performing this spezial duty.

 

The sketch below should introduce the main terms for kabuto:

 

 

 

And now the mon. Mon means basically family crest. Unfortunatly this particular crest was used by many, many families over the centuries.

 

 

So it will be almost impossible to pin down the "original owner"...sry!

 

 

Hi Uwe,Great to see you use the kabuto terminology sketch from the Watanabe Collection book by Trevor Absolon and David Thatcher! (Without  permission).

[YOJIMBO]

11 minutes ago, Jon Masutatsu said:

Hi Uwe,Great to see you use the kabuto terminology sketch from the Watanabe Collection book by Trevor Absolon and David Thatcher! (Without  permission).

[Brian]

If there are any copyright issues, they can send them to me via email or pm and I'll remove them. Small excerpts used for educational and non-commercial purposes are hopefully not an issue, and are internationally permitted. But a reminder that an attribution would be proper on posts like that, and I'll edit and add.
If it needs to be removed, drop me a message.

[uwe]

Thanks for the add Brian!

 

[MichaelZWilliamson]

As a professional writer with 9 WSJ bestsellers, I can confirm that excerpts for review, critique, or education are perfectly okay.

[Ken-Hawaii]

How does one value such a find?

[MichaelZWilliamson]

I found one on an auction site in better condition and reduced my asking price from that one. They seem to be quite scarce.

[IanB]

Michael, As Uwe has said, it is what is described as a fire-fighting helmet. They are of lacquered paper so as not to transmit the heat, and had a cape attached to the brim that fastened across the face leaving only the eyes exposed. The cape was usually of woollen cloth since it was more fire resistant than cotton or hemp. They seem to have been worn by the senior person supervising the fighting of a fire, as well as being worn as protection to the head and face when escaping from a burning building. I have a ladies version, again made of woollen cloth, that is shaped like an eboshi or court cap in black, with a cape in red decorated with folded paper cranes. Again, these would be worn to protect the hair and face when escaping from a fire.

Ian Bottomley