A SWORDSMITH'S TSUBA

Details
A SWORDSMITH'S TSUBA
MOMOYAMA PERIOD (1573-1600), SIGNED KUNIMITSU

The round iron plate is carved with a circular wide groove and a thin parallel line. There are six pairs of half-circles at the rim. The rim cover is made from shakudo and the ryo-hitsu are plugged in lead--height 7cm., thickness 3.5mm.

Lot Essay

This tsuba resembles a type of Kamakura-bori manufactured in the mid-Muromachi period, which was larger and not mounted with a rim cover. There are at least nine or ten swordsmiths who signed Kunimitsu and who worked in the Momoyama period. It is not possible to distinguish which of them is the artist of this tsuba. Swordsmiths of this period made tsuba as gifts for the patrons who commissioned a sword from them.