The Samurai treasure in the Royal Armoury

The so-called Tenshō embassy had its origins in the evangelising work performed in Japan by the Society of Jesus which, backed by the Portuguese crown, encouraged a few members of noble families to convert to Christianity. This delegation departed from the port of Nagasaki in 1582 with the aim of meeting the king of Portugal and arrived in Lisbon in 1584 after a two-and-a-half-year journey. It was promoted by Father Valigniano, the Society of Jesus’ Visitor in Japan, and was headed by four Catholic noblemen called Mancio Ito, Miguel Chijiwa, Julián Nakaura and Martín Hara, who were accompanied on their arrival in Spain by the Jesuit Diego de Mesquita.  The purpose of the trip was to establish direct contact with the West, to boost the spread of the 
Faith on their return, and to secure the pope's support for the Society's missionary work.
After travelling to Madrid, they were received by Philip II of Spain, who had also been king of Portugal since 1580. On arriving, they presented him with two suits of armour and various arms, which were sent to the guardajoyas (the room where treasures were housed) in the Alcázar palace in Madrid and stored there as exotica. During their stay in Madrid, Philip II instructed the young Japanese men to pay a visit to the Royal Armoury as it was a symbol of dynastic prestige. On returning to Japan, they provided a detailed description of this visit.

Ten years after their arrival, the suits of armour were transferred to the Royal Armoury, where they enjoyed prominence, following Emperor Charles V’s personal arms and the military trophies in importance.
Their incorporation into the Royal Armoury was prompted not only by the fact that they were arms, but also by the very nature of the collection as an extension of the so-called Cabinets of Curiosities where exotic and exclusive objects were kept. This gift reinforced the Royal Armoury’s collection as one of the finest examples of the dynasty's international prestige, as it housed the arms of the monarch and his ancestors, a variety of diplomatic and family gifts, military trophies and rare items.
Nevertheless, appreciation for these suits of armour, and in particular for this kabuto, varied over the years. In Philip II's day they were valued not only for their diplomatic nature, but also for their exoticism and exclusivity. Over time, they came to be increasingly misunderstood – to the extent that at the end of the eighteenth century they were described as ‘ridiculous’ and in the mid-nineteenth century as extravagant objects suitable ‘for scaring children’. Today, however, they are considered treasures of Spain’s historical heritage on account of their extraordinary historical and artistic value.

The incorporation of this kabuto was recorded in the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century inventories of the collection. Although these documents are not always accurate – the ambiguity of certain descriptions sometimes makes it impossible to distinguish some suits of armour from others with certainty – they and later testimonies give us an idea of its original appearance and illustrate its splendour.
They list two kabuto helmets. One, lacquered in red, survived with few modifications until the nineteenth century, enabling us to analyse the appearance of this kabuto thanks to a drawing and a description in the book on the Royal Armoury that Queen Isabella II commissioned from Achille Jubinal and Gaspard Sensi in 1838.
In addition, we also have the last description of it prior to the fire of 1884. Published by Antonio Martínez del Romero in the 1849 catalogue of the Royal Armoury, it matches the photographs Jean Laurent took of its armour around 1860.
These documents were therefore crucial in the reconstruction of the kabuto, even though they are contradictory regarding some details.

The reproduction of Philip II's kabuto is the result of a complex process based on studying the historical records of the collection and creating a 3D model. This process provided very valuable information about the standard of craftsmanship of sixteenth-century Japanese artisans, as well as key indications on how to reconstruct areas that are no longer visible.

In 1849 the kabuto was described as resembling ‘a shaven head’, with a red lacquered surface, two eyes depicted on the visor and ‘a large bristle tuft’ on the nape of the neck. This description is compatible with the use in some Japanese armour of yak or horse hair, though it differs from the appearance of sealskin referred to by Philip II's armourers who compiled the inventory. All this is consistent with the photographs taken around 1860 by Jean Laurent. However, the 1838 drawing is different in that the crest of the kabuto does not appear to be shaven but has a certain volume. Actually, as was found during the reconstruction process, this would have been an optical illusion caused by the considerable height of the crown of the kabuto, whose tautly pulled hair looks like a crest when viewed from the side, even though in reality it is not.

Given the discrepancies between inventories, it was decided to use horsehair for the crown of the kabuto, undoubtedly the most hypothetical aspect of its reconstruction, although it could have been made of yak hair, pulled taut in the manner of the traditional Japanese hairstyle. This choice was also aesthetically and constructionally coherent with the crest or tuft that surmounted it according to the side view in the 1838 drawing and the presence of animal bristle or hair noted in 1849. This treatment does not seem incompatible with its definition as a shaven head, as suggested by the frontal view in Jean Laurent’s photographs and the remains of possible degraded hairs that can be seen in it.

The 3D model of the original was constructed after taking hundreds of photographs of the object from multiple angles. And its materialisation consisted of a 3D metal print made by selective laser sintering (SLS) of stainless-steel powder. All subsequent work was based on historical sources, employing a completely artisanal process similar to that of its original creators.

To round off this project, the company Ubisoft has included this exclusive piece in the Codex of Assassin's Creed Shadows, making it accessible to players all over the world and helping to preserve and disseminate historical and cultural heritage.
The reconstruction of this kabuto has enabled us to come very close to its original appearance, revealing an object with an extraordinary nature and finish that are difficult to imagine. It is also a good example of how digital technologies are increasingly essential as tools for proposing new reinterpretations of cultural artefacts, as well as for recovering and showcasing a cultural legacy which, in this case, links and is shared by two increasingly interconnected cultures: Eastern and Western.