Sword Guard (<i>Tsuba</i>) Depicting Dragon Between Waves (波龍図鐔)

The image shows a circular metal object with a black background and gold and black designs. The object is a sword guard, round in shape. The center has a large oval hole with a teardrop-shaped cutout in the middle. There are two smaller oval holes on either side of the center. The background of the object is black with a textured pattern. There are swirling black waves around the edge. Three gold dragons are depicted: one at the top, one on the bottom, and one on the left. The dragon on the left is rising from the waves. The bottom dragon faces right. The top dragon faces left. There are also some gold dots scattered around the object. Some kanji characters are etched vertically on the right side of the center oval hole.