As a tie-in to last year’s Art of the Samurai exhibition, the MMA offered a miniature of HONDA Tadakatsu's antlered kabuto (三つ椏鹿角兜). Initially, I believed this to be the Met’s latest entry in its 1/8th scale helmet series. Not so. . . This "miniature" is 1/4 - 1/3 scale(!!!). Imposing does not quite describe it. It is done fairly well, though admittedly somewhat light on detail, especially at first glance. Be that as it may, is it ever an eye-catcher! And with a moderate-to-fair amount of work, it can be a proverbial show-stopper.

My first step was to remove the sturdy ball-and-socket/pivoting stand. I then attempted to remove the maedate, and succeeded in doing so without mishap. This allowed me to proceed with the hollowing-out of the hachi.

So what have I learned to date? The kabuto is cast in a lightly-filled polyester resin: this is a less-saturated, less dense cold-cast porcelain. The kabuto is cast in four pieces: the hachi, the two wakidate and the maedate. The level of finishing is very high: the kabuto appears to be cast in one piece! As much as I would like to be able to remove the wakidate, there is really no compelling reason for me to do so, and any attempt could result in seriously damaging the hachi.


(click to enlarge)



I would point out that the "raw" surface in the second image was the former attachment point of the maedate. This will obviously be restored with the attendant L-shaped bracket/s that will allow for the maedate to be mounted (and removed!) as on the actual helmet.

More to follow. . .


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