A large and perfect Mino Tsuba in a precious dark black Shakudo. This piece carries the history of the Mino province, today’s southern Gifu region which has been a strategic area for sword and Tosogu production due to its proximity to Kyoto and its direct connection to the main trade routes. During times of conflict in Kyoto and especially during the Nanbokucho period Mino served as a refuge for people from Kyoto and thus benefitted from what we would call today a ‘brain drain’. Due to this influence from Kyoto, Mino works show the elegant and ornamental noble Kyoto style. Mino was also the origin of Goto Yujo, the first Master of the Goto school and it kept being the production place of high class Tosogu till the early or mid Edo period.
The Tsuba here is astonishing not only due to its elaborate execution with these deep carvings around the rim, highlighted with beautiful small gold inlays, Nanako inside the vines, waves in the background behind the dragons… but also due to its perfect state of preservation. We can easily see that this Tsuba must have been made at the end of the Momoyama period to the beginning Edo period, when the Mino workers were at the height of their skill, but no individual signatures were yet used.
It is especially for pieces like this that I enjoy my passion for these works of art, and I am happy I can add to the preservation of such items, if only for a short time sometimes.