Orchid Tsuba
The earliest Tsuba were generally flattened disks made of bronze or copper.
They were superceeded by the Chinese style cross guard between the 6th and 9th
centuries only to be returned to favor as plain iron disks with minimal decoration
in the 12th century.
The early iron(tetsu) tsuba was made by armourers who were able to apply their
skills at making plate to good effect. Notice there are no cutouts for the kosuka
and kogai.
Decoration if any was simple and generally confined to a simple punched or
forged indentation. The handle side was generally more decorated than the blade
side. The round silver mon (familycrest) on this example is a later addition.
(The mon indicates that this was a sword of the Ogasawara Clan.)
The rounded square shape is known as kaku gata. The iron would be patinated
to a pleasing black color which preserved it from further oxidation. Or it would
sometimes be allowed to rust to a degree before being stabilised to a russet
color. |