Tsuba and Other Sword Fittings

Two commas (tomoe 巴), two nuts (konomi 木の実)

Owari school (尾張) iron sukashi tsuba, Owari Province, Momoyama Period, ex-Steven Waszak. A tomoe is thought to be an auspicious motif that may have had religious origins, a family crest i nthe Edo Period, and to protect against thunder and lightning. When three large commas (mitsu tomoe) decorate the large wooden mallet carried by Daikokuten, one of the seven Gods of Good Luck, and the barrel drums associated with Faijin, the god of thunder and lightning. Konomi symbolize good luck and hard work. The Japanese nut tree is revered in Japan and can be found around temples. The species is millions of years old, and the oldest living specimen in Japan is over a thousand years old. 

Hollyhock (aoi 葵), leaves alternating with buds (life-death-rebirth)

Kinai school, possibly Rokudai Takahashi (died 1821), mid-Edo Period, ex-Masayuki Sasano collection with his hakogaki (commentary). The kanji for Kinai appears on the outside of cover (not shown). Carved with great skill in 3-dimensional rendering. The alternating aoi leaves (12 and 6 o’clock) and and buds (3 and 9 o’clock) represent the cycle of life-death-rebirth.

Dharma Wheel (kuruma 車 ), Noble Eightfold Path

Ono (小野) school iron sukashi tsuba, Owari Province, late Momoyama to very early Edo Period (circa 1615), a transitional period when Ono guards were thought to have emerged. They are thought to be heavily influenced by the Kanayama school which were also produced in Owari Province. It is 7 mm thick at the rim, but the central motif and elements of the paired half-quatrefoil hitsu-ana are lowered by 3 mm to create a powerful appearance. Tekkotsu of all kinds are abundant throughout and are inspiring when appreciated mounted on my practice iaito (see below). The typically heavy Ono tusba shifts the balance point closer to the handle (tsuka) and the slimmer profile prevents bruising at the base of the dorsal side of the right thumb when handling a long blade like mine (30″ or 2.5 shaku). Total weight of the sword with the tsuba is 1.030 kg–quite a nice heavy weight for advanced iaido appoaching the weight of a Masakuni Dotanuki style sword (~1.2 kg) of the Bakumatsu Period (late Edo). It is said that such a sword could cleave a man in two.

Hot spring pattern (Yuwakimon)

Kanayama (金山) school iron sukashi tsuba, Owari Province, Momoyama Period. The meaning of the motif in negative silhouette has been interpreted in numerous ways including namako (sea cucumber), hat (kasa), mountain path (Yamamichimon 山道文, Fukushima Masanori’s military flag), and hot spring (Yuwakimon). I chose the Yuwakimon pattern because this tsuba has a lively flow of curves in the composition that is mesmerizing and evocative of Wabi Tea and Zen Buddhist aesthetic principles including wabi, sabi, and mono no aware. For me the aesthetic image of steam rising from a hot spring or tea bowel is also an especially powerful evocation of yugen (mystery). Beyond the globular tekkotsu (see below), there is variation in thickness going around the rim (mimi) and a slight thinning from the rim to the massive seppai dai (Ko-Shoami influence), which exaggerates the rustic spirit of the overall effect. Ito Sanpei san’s interpretation is mountain path (http://katana.mane-ana.co.jp/yuwakumonsukashi.html), based on his extensive commentary about a similar tsuba in his collection.

Wickerwork, clematis, and karakusa (ajiro, tessen, karakusa no zu)

Very rare and possibly only fully signed tsuba by Kazunori Obu-ju (尾府住一則), a student of Shodai Norisuke (則亮) (1781-1852) and contemporary of Nidai Norisuke (1817-1883). It was likely made in the 1840s or 1950s, respectively, when Shodai and Nidai were producing carving that extends over the rim in daki-moyo style. Another example of a nearly identical tsuba in Owari To Mikawa No Tanko (page 69) only has the mei Kazunori (一則) on the left. [Sold 3/11/25: $400]

Seven wonders of Buddha (Shippo 七宝), clouds (Kumo 雲) or mist (Kasumi 霞)

A small tsuba (65.7 x 62.2 mm, 6.0 mm at mimi, 5.4-5.5 mm at seppai-dai) with rounded corner, slight dishing, and a massive seppa-dai is difficult to attribute to a single category. Shoami may be the most fitting attribution because of the shape of the seppa-dai and since this tradition continued to be widely active through the Edo period. There are no tekkotsu and the iron quality and forging appear to be more likely mid-Edo. The primary motif in positive silhouette is 七宝 (shichi-hō or shippō) that resembles itomaki (spool), but is symbolic of the Seven Treasures of Buddha that appear in Buddhist scriptures, which can guide any zen practice such as iaido: “hearing the correct teaching, believing it, keeping the precepts, engaging in meditation, practicing assiduously, renouncing one’s attachments, and reflecting on oneself.” The secondary motif in negative silhouette is clouds (kumo) or mist (kasumi). Kasumi can mean ephemeral beauty, tranquility, delicate charm, and mystery. Kumo can symbolize impermanence, change, beauty of empty space, and the divine. They elude to the Japanese Wabi Tea and Zen aesthetics that emphasize the transient nature of human existence, which would be meaningful for a warrior class such as samurai.

Menuki depicting Zen koan “Catching a catfish with a Gourd” (Hyotan Namazu 瓢箪ナマズ)

The work is shakudo of “Catching a Catfish with a Gourd” that was first depicted by the painter-monk Josetsu in 1415. This depiction is said to be the oldest ink painting in Japan. It is designated as a national treasure and is held by Taizō-in, a sub-temple of the Myōshin-ji complex of Zen Buddhist temples in Kyoto. It was painted by order of the fourth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimochi. The motif of this pair of menuki is a Zen koan: “How can you catch a catfish with a gourd?” ([瓢箪でどうすれば鯰が捕らえられるか?). “In Japanese mythology giant catfish is responsible for causing earthquakes, just by moving its huge body. Kadori Myojin is a god responsible for calming it down. He is doing that by rubbing gourd against the giant body of the catfish. This interpretation of catfish and gourd seems to be most popular in western publications. However there is one more interoperation and this one is more common in Japanese publications. Zen Buddhism has a practice called Koan, it raises a simple but challenging question which results in multiple answers, for example “How to capture a catfish with a gourd”. This particular one was asked by Ashikaga Yoshimichi, the fourth Shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate. It brought answers from 31 leading Zen monks. Catching a slippery catfish fish with an unsuitable utensil such as a smooth and rounded gourd would be so difficult as to be almost impossible, but illustrates the impossibility of using logical rationalization to understand Zen. It can be viewed as Zen humour, or as a koan, designed to provoke the viewer into new ways of thinking or seeing. In other words If one is not a zen practitioner, this theme’s meaning is to force people to think and find original answers and new approaches. In modern Japan phrase “Gourd and catfish” is used to express something elusive.

Kuruma Bamboo (take 竹) and Bracken Shoots (warabite 蕨手)

Modern cast iron replica of an Ono (小野) school iron sukashi tsuba, Owari Province, Early Edo. The seller attributed this guard to Owari, but it is clearly Ohno. It was purchased as a fitting for a modern katana that I fashioned starting with just a blade and habaki, and with the theme of bamboo for all of the fittings (see right). This very substantial tsuba has the features shared with Kanayama and other Owari Province tsuba of the earliest period of Ono tsuba production (circa 1600-1615) between late Momoyama and the beginning of Early Edo periods. This includes a thickness of 7.0-7.8 mm at the mimi and a weight of 116 gm. However, it may have been produced in the later years of the Early Edo because of historical circumstances of early Christianity in Japan. This Ono tsuba may contain hidden Christian iconography that is cleverly disguised within the composition of a well-known Buddhist symbol known as the kuruma (see below). The bamboo joints (take 竹)) that appear above, below, and on either side form a cruciform symbol. An identical tsuba is in the Miki Sawada Memorial Museum in Oiso-cho, Naka-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture and was the subject of an article in the Asahi Shimbun on “Hidden Christian Tsuba.” Tokugawa put a total ban on Christianity in 1614 and the great Martyrdom took place in 1622 (if you were Christian, you were executed on the spot; over 6,000 were killed that year), so that persecution must have been extreme. Hidden Christians (Kakure Kirishitan) would not have dared display Kirishitan Ikenie (Sacrifice for the Christian Faith) tsuba in their original composition reflecting the Portuguese Jesuit “rays of light” (shakoh) motif evident in arts and crafts in Japan starting in the late 16^th century. Increasingly, the Ikenie tsuba became softened and then hidden in increasing likeness to a clock gear until the tokeishi tsuba proper replaced any form of the Ikenie tsuba. The alternating bamboo joints and bracken shoots (warabite 蕨手) of this Oho tsuba comprise the Kuruma or Dharma Wheel, a pictorial representation of the Noble Eightfold Path or Eight Right Paths, of Siddhartha Gautama (commonly known as the Buddha), and of walking the path to enlightenment. It is an ancient symbol, appearing since the time of early Buddhism in India. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi (meditation). Through this practice one seeks to end ignorance and the cycle of rebirth. In essence this Ono walks in a valley between two religious traditions and would have been meaningful to Japanese Christians. It displays a hiddenness that is a testament to the enduring power of religious faith and the persistence of personal and political protest even in the face of persecution and the threat of death.