Hand-guard (tsuba) for a sword, copper with gold and silver depicting sailing boats and Mount Fuji, one of the holes plugged with copper-gold alloy (shakudo), 19th century, Japan.
fittings
the nonist, now searching recorded history for some semblance of truth.
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Tsuba with design of bamboo | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The body of this tsuba is comprised of carps. Most are swimming in a clockwise direction around the tsuba. Their scales are highlighted with gold gilding. Carps are a felicitous motif and a symbol of longevity.
Yoshioka Terutsugu Tsuba K0067 A fine ubu tsuba by Yoshioka Terutsugu, the seventh master of the Yoshioka Inabanosuke line. A lovely red copper tsuba with a Hosokawa mon in shakudo honzogan, the surface finished in fine nanako. 7.52 cm x 7.12 cm x 3.8 mm. He was the adopted son of Kiyotsugu, Haynes H 03381. He became head of the family on December 26, 1774. Upon the death of Kiyotsugu in 1802, he became the seventh master. He was a retainer to the Tokugawa Bakufu, and received a stipend of 100 koku of rice. He died at the age of 89. Ref. Haynes H 09654.0. Wakayama Vol. I, pages 111 -113.
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Obverse side reveals similar lack of decoration on both the Fuchi as well as the Tsuba. The holes in the tsuba are more visible here. Weirdly most do not go all the way through! Makes you wonder if the maker gave up because of the thickness of the Tsuba!
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Choshu Hagi Ju, Yaji Sakunoshin Tomohisa Saku Active period around Genroku (1688-1704). Added to the collection of David W. Easley.
Darrell Peart
Tsuba with design of ropes and anchors. Japanese Edo period mid-19th century
Tsuba in the form of a butterfly | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tsuba with design of an iris plant Japanese, Edo Period, Late 18th–early 19th century By Inoue Michitaka, Japanese, MFA
Tsuba with design of moon and clouds
