Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark brown sword guard with rounded edges. The guard is roughly shaped like a rounded square with concave sides. It features two oval-shaped cutouts, one larger and on the left side, the other smaller and on the right side. The cutout on the right is covered with a gold-colored metal plate adorned with a pattern of small bumps arranged in rows. A landscape scene is etched along the bottom edge, depicting what appears to be rolling hills or mountains. The background of the image is plain white. Sword Guard (Tsuba) by artist unknown.