A JAPANESE HINENO-STYLE ZUNARI KABUTO BACHI ('HEAD-SHAPED' HINENO HELMET BOWL), EDO PERIOD 1600-1700, with five heavy steel plates with flat tsuke-mabezashi (fore plate), maedate (fore-crest) fitting, and koshimaki (lower rim) pierced with holes for fitting a shikoro (neck protector), with tehen no Hachimanza (opening at the top of the helmet), 17 cm high The Hineno-style helmet bowl was simple to make and with heavy plates provided excellent protection, especially in combination with the close-fitting Hineno-style shikoro (neck guard). The Haruta school of armourers focussed mainly on the production of helmets with the oldest recorded example of their work being a late fifteenth century helmet signed by Haruta Michichika, now preserved in the collection of Oyamazumi Jinja, one of Japan's most important Shinto shrines and which has superb collections of swords and armour.