Database: Kabuto

Kabuto is the helmet of Japanese armor. Among the first to arrive in Europe is the one presented by the Tenshō embassy to Philip II of Spain in 1584, preserved in the Royal Armory of Madrid and partially destroyed in a fire in 1884. On the occasion of this new chapter of Assassin's Creed, it has been reproduced from its digital model, historical inventories of the royal collection, and nineteenth-century photographs. Its reconstruction allows for a better documentation and understanding of the fascination it must have caused due to the exoticism and expressiveness of a world radically different from the European one in which Philipp II lived.

The kabuto is a war helmet, it is was also used as a representational object along with the rest of the armor with which it was associated. It is made of pieces of steel or iron hinged together with silk threads or rivets, but its exterior could be richly decorated, mainly with lacquers of various colors. Same as contemporary Western helmets, kabutos were the most important element of the armor, the most valuable one. They could also be considered precious objects in their construction and decoration, reflecting the social position of a samurai of daimyō.

The embassy sent to Philip II was the first one to arrive in Europe. Its purpose was to present these Catholic princes to Philip II and to the Pope. It was organized by Alessandro Valignano, Jesuit General Visitor of the East Indies missions, as proof of the success of the Jesuit missions in Japan and as an instrument to foster mutual relations with Europe.