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Mokkō-shaped tsuba with five Sparrow Dancers
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 1st half of the 19th century
- Material and technique
- iron, with engraved decoration, gold and silver nunome-zōgan decoration, and inlaid with shibuichi; shibuichi kozuka-hole plug, partly gilded
- Dimensions
- 8.5 x 8 cm (height x width)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › iron,processed material › metal › gold,processed material › metal › alloy › silver alloy › shibuichi,
- Technique index
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covered › metallized › gilded
- 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.11249
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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. 1249
Glossary (4)
kozuka, nunome-zōgan, shibuichi, tsuba
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kozuka
The handle that holds the small knife called the kogatana.
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nunome-zōgan
Decorative application of metal sheeting (generally of gold or silver) where the iron ground is first cross-hatched and the metal burnished on.
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shibuichi
alloy of copper and silver, patinated to a dull grey-green 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)
Mokkō; thickened rounded edge; decorated in slight engraving, gold and silver nunome, and incrustation of shibuichi with a group of five Sparrow Dancers; at the back a clam with seaweed; grooved plug to kodzuka-hole, half plain shibuichi, half gilt (diagonal division). Signed: Kakushōken [Japanese text] Yoshi?- ... ([Japanese text] ? ...) with kakihan [Figure]. (Unrecorded.)
F. V. Dickins Collection. The design is based on a drawing in the Hokusai Mangwa.
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