This type of pierced tsuba was very popular in Kyoto in the early Edo period. It was adopted by the Owari sukashi school, but the Owari examples tended to have a thicker plate. When the design was adopted by the Akasaka school of Edo, it was distinguished by an even thicker plate. Other differences between the three schools are the slight iron bones found in this example (and indeed all Kyoto school sukashi tsuba), the more pronounced bones in the Owari examples and the absence of bones in the Akasaka school works.