FAMILY DAY

Join The Samurai Collection on the first Saturday of the month for Family Day! Each month a new aspect of samurai art and culture is explored. Enjoy family-oriented guided tours and art activities from 1-3PM. Free to the public. 

The helmet is an essential component to a samurai’s attire. The HACHI (helmet bowl) could be made from many small plates of iron riveted together, or from large iron plates hammered into fantastic shapes. Decorations would be added to the front and sides to identify a warrior’s family, protect the samurai from harm, or display their wealth and privilege.

 A mask of iron would be worn with a helmet to protect the warrior’s face. Sometimes layers of colored lacquer would be applied to the surface for a dramatic effect, and mustaches of animal hair would be worn to add more character. 

What would your helmet look like if you were a samurai? Use our helmet template to make your own helmet and mask or learn to make an origami samurai helmet with our easy origami instructions. 

One of the most important materials used by samurai armorers was iron. Iron is hard and strong and protected a samurai from any weapon used by their enemies. To make a suit of armor unique, armorers would sculpt iron plates with a variety of tools—hammers, chisels, forms, and molds—to create different shapes and textures in the metal.

Plate shaping could be done by hammering a plate over top of a form to create a design, or by hammering a plate from the back into a mold to create a distinct shape in the metal. This technique, called USHIDASHI, allowed an armorer to maintain the thickness of the metal in their new sculptural design because it was shaped from the underside.  

Try your hand at being an ironsmith with these activities! Create your own USHIDASHI by shaping a plate from the back in a home-made mold or emboss a beautiful design into shiny metal.

Samurai armor is flexible so the warrior can move in battle. Iron plates are linked together with cloth covered in KUSARI, or chainmail. Chainmail is made from small iron rings linked together in various patterns. During the Edo period (1615-1868) samurai would sometimes wear full suits made from chainmail that could be folded for easy transportation.   

In these activities, you can make your own chainmail: SO GUSARI, a traditional type of Japanese chainmail, and NANBAN GUSARI, chainmail that was introduced to the Japanese by Europeans in the late seventeenth century.