The Koboshi Bashi Kabuto is a helmet worn by Japanese samurai as part of their armor (yoroi).
The Koboshi Bashi Kabuto is made of iron. It belongs to the category of multi-plate helmets, with its helmet bowl consisting of up to 120 pie-shaped parts. There are two other variants of this helmet, the Suji Bashi Kabuto and the Hari Bashi Kabuto, which have slight differences.
Unlike the other variants, the individual plates of the Koboshi Bashi Kabuto are equipped with ridges or edges along the plate borders and are secured with a large number of rivets with slightly elongated heads.
These rivets serve to attach the decorations and provide additional protection against sword strikes, as the force of a blow is absorbed by the rivets. On the top of the kabuto, there is a button-like structure (called Tehen-No-Kanamono in Japanese) that is used to secure the plates.
The additional ornamentation of the helmets can vary greatly. Generally, the helmets are equipped with side guards (Fukigaeshi), a neck guard (Shikoro), a helmet crest (Maedate), and a fastening band (Shinobi-O-Noh) to secure the helmet to the head.
Face masks (Menpo) were often worn with this type of helmet. The helmets were often painted in different colors, serving both decorative purposes and to protect the metal of the helmet from the effects of weathering.