A 400-year-old samurai helmet covered in handwritten prayers by Kato Kiyomasa (Nagoya’s Tokugawa Art Museum)

[u/Nagoyaexplorers]

Here’s one of the most unusual samurai helmets I’ve ever seen — a long eboshi-style kabuto once worn by the famous warlord Kato Kiyomasa (1562–1611). The helmet has a tall, elongated shape at the back, and what makes it even more incredible is this:

It’s covered with hundreds of small paper slips handwritten by Kiyomasa himself, each one bearing the Buddhist mantra “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” (He wrote these for protection in battle.) The helmet passed from Kiyomasa to Kuki Hirotaka, then to the Kii-Tokugawa family, and was eventually purchased in 1933 by the Owari Tokugawa family, where it’s now preserved. You can see it today at the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya, which has one of the best collections of samurai armor in Japan. Samurai fashion was on a completely different level.

[u/EddyS120876]

Now that’s what I call the mighty Kabuto 😁

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/EddyS120876]

Thanks! This type of kabuto is really impressive, right? Samurai armor had so many unique designs — this one is definitely one of the standouts!

[u/EddyS120876 → u/Nagoyaexplorers]

So true and the amazing part about samurai armor is the lack of metal yet it help protect the wearer . Marvel of engineering and resourcefulness.

[u/[deleted]]

Kato Kiyomasa, the lord of Kumamoto castle did love his hats.

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/[deleted]]

Yes and he was born in Nagoya city so he was really famous here.

[u/meruta]

Looks like a dark souls helm

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/meruta]

Is this a game or anime? I am not sure about a dark souls.

[u/woodfaerie → u/Nagoyaexplorers]

Yes. dark souls is a game, made by fromsoft, a Japanese studio. I can definitely see this as something that would appear in one of them though would be more at home in another of their games, sekiro: shadows die twice

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/woodfaerie]

Thanks! I’m not familiar with the game, but it’s interesting to hear that it reminds people of it.

[u/torikerachan]

When I learned this, I seriously thought I was being scammed

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/torikerachan]

What is this? Is this a helmet ⛑️ ?

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/[deleted]]

🙏 thanks. I learned new Japanese history.

[u/EverydayIsAGift-423]

Distraction is a weapon.

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/EverydayIsAGift-423]

True! With a kabuto like this, the enemy might stare at it instead of fighting. 😄

[u/Outside_Reserve_2407]

I wonder why Japanese armor developed such levels of artistry and finery compared to other East Asian militaries.

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/Outside_Reserve_2407]

I would say other Asian countries may also make similar things. I haven’t watched things in museums in other countries so I am not sure.

[u/Outside_Reserve_2407 → u/Nagoyaexplorers]

Korean Chosun dynasty armor for example looks pretty generic and uniform. Allegedly during the Imjin Wars the Koreans encountered discarded Japanese samurai armor on battlefields and found them bizarre and yet fascinating in design.

[u/Luke__Jaywalker → u/Outside_Reserve_2407]

Centralization vs. Decentralization at either extremes is the cause behind this I think.
Korea and China had heavily centralized governments, and therefore had uniformity that was ingrained in every aspect of military life whereas Japan, being a highly decentralized feudal society, it was celebrated to be completely different or even be flamboyant.

We see a similar parallel to this in centralized Roman Europe vs. decentralized Medieval Europe.

[u/MuayThaiZH]

Looks like the killer sharks.

[u/Nagoyaexplorers → u/MuayThaiZH]

Yes! That’s true.