Sakura & Crane Tsuba
This sakura and crane tsuba is the hand guard of a Japanese sword. It served
several purposes.
The tsuba balanced the sword. And it protected the hand of the sword holder
from an attack by an enemy as well as from gliding into the sword blade. The
third purpose was a more refined one. The Japanese tsuba developed into a kind
of a status symbol for the sword owner. Thus the Japanese sword tsuba became
an elaborate piece of art - far beyond its practical use. Over the years, artists
used many different metals.
They manufactured tsuba from copper, yamagane ( a dark impure copper), brass,
sentoku (a yellowy or dark brown brass), iron, shakudo (a mixture of copper,
gold and whatever else was available which resulted in a purplish black patina)
and shibuichi Although the iron was an early development, it reemerged later
as artists, such as Goto Ichijo, rebelled against the overly ornate and structured
form which the tsuba gained. |