Sword Guard (Tsuba) with the Carp and Seaweed Motif (藻鯉図鐔)
1868 (Keiō 4, 5th month)
Japanese

One side of the plate is engraved to resemble running water, the side onto which a large shakudō carp has been inlaid via suemon-zōgan, and seaweed via kinzōgan. The reverse has a polished finish and shows at the bottom left a yellow water-lily (kōhone) and towards the right the name of artist, Kansai, in prominent seal script characters highlighted in gold nunome-zōgan. The rim is undercut and interpreted as dote-mimi. According to tradition, Kansai (寛斎, 1841-1918) was a student of the eighth and last master of the Iwamoto (岩本) School.