Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image portrays a dark brown tsuba, a type of Japanese sword guard. The guard features a central oval cutout with a teardrop-shaped hole in the middle. The surface displays a relief design depicting a tree on the left and a monkey on the right. The monkey is shown on all fours, with its head bowed down. There are vertical lines on the tree and some leaves on the branches. There are also several Japanese characters inscribed on the right side of the oval cutout. The background of the image is plain white.