Original Item: Only One Available. This is a wonderful example of the classic Japanese Type 90 Tetsubo (鉄帽 - "steel cap") army helmet, also colloquially called the tetsukabuto ( 鉄 冑 "steel helmet") by Japanese troops.

Features include:
- Original metal star applied to front.
- Complete three pad leather liner, with all 3 pads still intact with heavy wear and some dry-rotting as shown. The string still loops through most of the pads. The liner is still connected at the three pins but is barely connected to the third. The pillows are all missing. The Kanji character 大 for Large is perforated into the liner band.
- Original fragments of chinstrap, strap is entirely gone minus this fragment.
- Original paint with very heavy wear, showing the "blue" manganese steel underneath the helmet. The liner fittings have oxidation as well.
- Approximate size is 7 1/4 (58cm).
- Kanji character 大 for Large is faintly painted at rim.

A very nice condition helmet, with some of the original paint, with the expected heavy wear and chips from service. These helmets are continuing to become harder and harder to find on the market, especially once with complete liner systems. This example is worthy of any WWII collection.

The Japanese Type 90 Helmet
The Imperial Japanese Army was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1871 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of War, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Military (Army) Aviation, became the third agency with oversight over the army.

During wartime or national emergencies, the nominal command functions of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ), an ad-hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff, the minister of war, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the inspector general of military aviation, and the inspector general of military training.

The Japanese Tetsubo, also colloquially called the tetsukabuto ("steel helmet") by troops, was a mainstay of the Imperial Japanese Army from its creation in 1932. Its construction from inferior chrome-molybdenum steel limited its ability to protect the wearer from gunfire or shrapnel.