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Tsuba with dragonflies and autumn plants by a stream
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 19th century (1801 - 1900)
- Material and technique
- iron, with hammered-up edge, and inlaid with gold and silver
- Dimensions
- 7.7 x 7.1 cm (height x width)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › iron,processed material › metal › gold,
- 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.10915
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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. 915
Glossary
tsuba
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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)
Delicate modelling with incrustation and inlay of gold and silver; autumn plants and dragonflies by a trickling stream, with wreaths of haze over all; at the back is also the inscription in raised characters: [Japanese text] edge heavily hammered up. Signed: Isshō [Japanese text] Nakagawa [Japanese text] Katsuzane [Japanese text] with kakihan [Japanese text].
The inscription may be read Heizei kuni ni muku iru no kokorozashu yoshi nanji abu wo kamu no kō and translated: "Always striving for the good of the country, your merit, [o dragonflies], is to bite the horsefly". The dragonfly is emblematic of Japan.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum