When thinking of a Japanese helmet box one probably has an image of a lacquered box. The concept of “Japanning” dates to the 17th century when Europeans would imitate Asian lacquerwork. Ironically much of the lacquering was actually not Japanese in origin, but rather Chinese. However the Japanese version – called urushi – did remain popular through the 19th- and 20th- centuries. So when one things of a Japanese box for a helmet it again like conjures the image of such a box. During the 1930s and into the early 1940s it wasn’t such a lacquered box that one might use for transporting a sun helmet. It was more likely a cardboard box. Continue reading →