Sword guard (Tsuba) With Phoenix Motif (鳳凰図鐔)

Japanese

Not on view

This iron tsuba shows a phoenix in auspicious clouds on the obverse and a pine, clouds, and waves on the reverse. In Japanese mythology, the phoenix (hōō) is said to appear only very rarely and then usually to mark the beginning of a new era, e.g. the birth of a virtuous ruler.

Sword guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) With Phoenix Motif (鳳凰図鐔), Iron, gold, copper, copper-gold alloy (shakudō), copper-silver alloy (shibuichi), Japanese

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.

Obverse

Sword guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) With Phoenix Motif (鳳凰図鐔), Iron, gold, copper, copper-gold alloy (shakudō), copper-silver alloy (shibuichi), Japanese
Sword guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) With Phoenix Motif (鳳凰図鐔), Iron, gold, copper, copper-gold alloy (shakudō), copper-silver alloy (shibuichi), Japanese

This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.