Sword Guard (Tsuba)
Not on view
This tsuba is shaped to resemble Bodhidharma (Japanese: Daruma) smoking a pipe and wearing a large robe, with only a small part of his body exposed which bears the inscription "Watch out for fire!" Due to a usually dense urban layout in major towns and materials used for residential and non-residential construction, fires were a permanent threat throughout the history of Japan. Thus, much was done to remind people to be careful when handling fire and so we see written and pictorial warnings on many objects of daily life.
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