Sword Guard (<i>Tsuba</i>)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark brown metal sword guard with rounded shape; three openings. Left and right openings shaped like a cloud or kidney; teardrop-shaped opening in center; two circular openings at bottom edge. Opening on left has engraved Kanji characters. Sword guard has textured surface with short dark lines emanating from center; some areas appear lighter or darker brown. Edges have smooth border. Displayed on a white background. Sword guard by artist: <i>Miyamoto</i> <i>Tsune</i>-<i>masa</i> from the <i>Sword</i> <i>Guard</i> (<i>Tsuba</i>).