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Tsuba with Buddhist invocation and a poem
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 18th century (1701 - 1800)
- Material and technique
- iron, with polished surface (migaki-ji), and hira-zōgan (flat inlay) in silver and sentoku; shakudō ryōhitsu plugs, with nekogaki engraving
- Dimensions
- 9.4 x 8.8 x 0.5 cm (height x width x depth)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › iron,processed material › metal › alloy › sentoku,processed material › metal › alloy › copper alloy › shakudō
- Technique index
- Object type index
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arms/armour › koshirae › kodogu › tsuba
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
- Accession no.
- EAX.10167
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Further reading
Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 167
Glossary (3)
sentoku, shakudō, tsuba
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sentoku
A kind of brass made from an alloy of copper, zinc, and tin.
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shakudō
alloy of copper and gold, patinated to a dark blue-black colour
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tsuba
Japanese sword guard.
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Publications online
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The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)
Polished surface inlaid on each face with silver and sentoku (on the front in seven large characters the Nichiren invocation, see no. 67 [EAX.10067]; on the back five similar characters in a curious semi-cursive style); the ryōhitsu plugged with shakudō diagonally "cat-scratched".
Japan Society's Loan Exhibition, London, 1905, no. Q120, pl. 19.
The inscription on the back is part of a Chinese poem and reads:
[Japanese text]
Zhi tou wan chong guan, "Passing through a myriad barriers". The rest of the text is as follows:
[Japanese text]
Bu zhu qing han yue, "The pale cold moon stayed not her course."
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum