Hello all,

I have come across pictures of what I can only describe as an armored head band, does anyone have any info on these?

I haven't seen much on these. I've seen them called hachimaki (headband) and hachigane (which, technically speaking, might only mean the armour plates, but I've seen used for the whole thing, whether correct or not). Hachigane is also used for other types of forehead armour.

I have seen their function described as:

1. Police armour, Edo period. See, e.g., http://www.e-budokai.com/weapons/armor.htm (this text appears to be from Don Cunningham's Taiho-jutsu.

2. Secret armour for duels, Edo period. Obviously only for examples where the plates can't be seen.

They are also described, less plausibly IMO, as

3. Ninja armour.

I don't have any info on thicknesses, weights, etc. I don't know whether they were ever worn with a helmet, as additional forehead armour - all of the usual stories have them as the only head armour being used.

Hmmm, so it sounds like these are only Edo period then?

I remember seeing one of these in " The Seven Samurai " movie: Basically covering the forehead and a bit of the frontal sides of the head.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Samurai

This clip of the movie trailer shows one at the end in a big close up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnRUHtSgJ9o

It seems like the most productive period when you're looking for this kind of defence would be the late Edo period, especially between the Black Ships (Commodore Perry) and the Meiji Restoration. This was an era of widespread urban warfare (or brawling) between the various pro-Western, anti-Western, pro-Shogun, and pro-Emperor factions, and the hachimaki appears to have been regarded as a useful defence that wasn't as cumbersome as a helmet, especially when one had to duck past low doorways and the like.