SIGNED JOSHU JU SAOTOME IENAO WITH INSCRIPTION SHAKUTEI KANIN TENNO, EDO PERIOD (17TH CENTURY)

This helmet has thirty inscriptions of the Japanese guardians Sanjuban-shin [Thirty guardians] on alternate plates of the bowl, such as 'Atsuta Daimyojin', 'Kasuga Daimyojin', 'Sumiyoshi Daimyojin'. Each of the guardian is known as a Japanese local Shinto God. The number thirty derives from the number of days in a month. Thirty days being the old Japanese calendar. These gods are allocated one day each to protect the whole land. Atsuta Daimyojin, for example, is the guardian from the Owari region, the Western part of Aichi prefecture, and works on the first day of the month. On the fifteenth day Kasuga Daimyojin from the Kasuga region, the Northern part of Fukuoka prefecture, protects the country. It was believed that in this way these Shinto Gods could successfully protect the whole of Japan continuously.