Ornate kabuto from the Glenbow Museum collection

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Kabuto

Kabuto (兜, 冑) is a large helmet used with traditional Japanese armour as worn by samurai. It features a strong plate of the forehead to protect the men (forehead, which is a classical target in Japanese arms), plates on the rear of the helmet to protect the neck and sometimes even the back, and a crest of the clan (mon). Ornate Kabuto, with mempo from the collection at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada. ... Ornate Kabuto, with mempo from the collection at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada. ... The Glenbow Museum is Western Canadas largest museum, with over 93,000 square feet of exhibition space in more than 20 galleries, showcasing a selection of the Glenbows collection of over a million objects. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Jump to: navigation, search A hoplite wearing (only) a helmet, breastplate greaves and a shield. ... Jump to: navigation, search Japanese samurai in armour, 1860 photograph. ... In Japanese arms, men is the target constituted by the forehead. ... The chrysanthemum (kiku in Japanese) is the mon of the Japanese Emperor. ...

A Kabuto helmet was often molded from leather, then layered with metal plates that would flare out near the neck, providing a scoop-like shape.

They are used on the battlefield not only to protect the body but also to show off one's power and status. For this reason, many different types of showy conspicuous armour were produced especially during the Heian and Kamakura era/794-1333.

Kabuto were sometimes very heavy, which explains some figures in hand-to-hand martial arts: appropriately placed, a hit under the jaw could snap the neck of an opponent (variant of tsuki). Tsuki is one of the five strikes in kendo (along with men, do, hidari kote and migi kote). ...

Kabuto culture

Kabuto were a prominent and important part of the equipment of the bushi, also on the symbolic level. This explains the number of expressions, sayings and codes related to them. A few examples follow: Japanese samurai in armour, 1860 photograph. ...

• Katte kabuto no o o shimeyo ("Tighten the string of the kabuto after winning the war"): don't lower your efforts after succeeding. Could be compared to not to rest on one's laurels.
• kabuto o nugu ("to take off the kabuto"): to surrender.

Nowadays, smaller-sized Yoroi and Kabuto are bought and kept by Japanese people as a personal interior collection or a seasonal home decoration item displayed during the Boys' Festival/May 5 for expressing the hope that each boy in the family will grow up healthy and strong.

Kabuto in the West

The kabuto is the inspiration for the helmet of Darth Vader. Vader’s helmet, armour and robe is highly reminiscent of samurai armour. The helmet that Vader also uses as a breath mask is taken directly from the mempo mask and Kabuto helmet of a feudal samurai. Vader also wore an under-robe of black that resembled long, flared out pants, called hakama. This was also a garment worn in feudal Japan. Warriors often wore wide-cut pants that grazed the floor, hiding the movements of their feet from the enemy, thereby preventing the opponent from judging your next move in a sword fight by seeing the placement of your feet. Jump to: navigation, search Darth Vader (41 BBY–4 ABY) is a fictional character in the Star Wars films. ... Hakama worn by an aikidoka (left of the picture) An Edo-era kamishimo outfit, consisting of a kataginu (a sleeveless jacket with exaggerated shoulders) (left) and hakama (centre). ...

The word may be a cognate of the Indo-European *kaput - meaning "head." Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ...