Sword guard (Tsuba) With Cherry Blossom Motif (桜透鐔)

Japanese

Not on view

This shakudō tsuba shows a three-dimensional openwork design (nikubori ji-sukashi) of a blossoming cherry tree, with the pistils and stamens highlighted in gold. The rim is decorated with a gold inlay of interlocking swastikas (sayagata).

The artist Masanaga (正永) was the founder and first generation of the Bushū Itō (武州伊藤) School. His first name was Jin’emon (甚右衛門), also listed as Jingo’emon (甚五右衛門), and he died in the twelfth year of Kyōhō (享保, 1727). His school worked on a hereditary basis for the Shogunate.

Sword guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) With Cherry Blossom Motif (桜透鐔), Copper-gold alloy (shakudō), gold, copper, Japanese

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Obverse

Sword guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) With Cherry Blossom Motif (桜透鐔), Copper-gold alloy (shakudō), gold, copper, Japanese
Sword guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) With Cherry Blossom Motif (桜透鐔), Copper-gold alloy (shakudō), gold, copper, Japanese

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