Tsuba
18th century (made)
| Place of origin |
The tsuba is a protective guard fitted between the hilt and the blade of a sword. Originally they were simple iron disks, sometimes decorated by piercing or hammering in low relief. Later sword guards were more often made of copper alloys, patinated to a wide range of colours and inlaid with other coloured metals. Sword guards became miniature art forms, and different schools of makers developed their own unique styles.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | shakudo (copper-gold alloy) |
| Brief description | Met, Japan, SF, KIKUGAWA ETC |
| Physical description | Sword guard, tsuba, shakudo with a rim of raised and gilded dragons. The surface with inlaid scrolling chrysanthemums in inlaid gold nunome-zogan (textile pattern) on a nanako(finely punched) ground. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | The tsuba is a protective guard fitted between the hilt and the blade of a sword. Originally they were simple iron disks, sometimes decorated by piercing or hammering in low relief. Later sword guards were more often made of copper alloys, patinated to a wide range of colours and inlaid with other coloured metals. Sword guards became miniature art forms, and different schools of makers developed their own unique styles.(04/11/2015) |
| Summary | The tsuba is a protective guard fitted between the hilt and the blade of a sword. Originally they were simple iron disks, sometimes decorated by piercing or hammering in low relief. Later sword guards were more often made of copper alloys, patinated to a wide range of colours and inlaid with other coloured metals. Sword guards became miniature art forms, and different schools of makers developed their own unique styles. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.149-1914 |
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| Record created | June 25, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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