Details
AN AWA-SHOAMI TSUBA
EDO PERIOD (CIRCA 1650), ATTRIBUTED TO HIRATA UJINAO (FL. MID 17TH CENTURY)
The brass plate with copper colored patination is decorated with gold damascene depicting the nine luminaries crest (kyuyo mon) with tendrils of scrolling grasses on either side. The squared edge with heavy gold inlay and the large hitsu-ana are filled with shakudo plugs--height 7.5cm., width 6.9cm., thickness 4.5mm.
Wood box inscribed by Kazutaro Torigoye, dated September 29th, 1965.
Literature
For an almost identical example, except for the hitsu-ana, see Oeder (n.d.), no. 270, p. 33.
For another tsuba by Ujinao, see Torigoye (1965), p. 95, bottom.
One Hundred Masterpieces (1992), no. 55.
