Sword Guard (Tsuba) with Fence and Flower (c. 1615–1868): Art, History and Details

Sword Guard (Tsuba) with Fence and Flower (c. 1615–1868) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

An inscription on one side of this sword guard states that the maker went by the first name of Masafusa, and worked in the historical province of Musashi. This area includes modern Tokyo.

Object facts

• Title: Sword Guard (Tsuba) with Fence and Flower
• Date: c. 1615–1868
• Culture: Japan, possibly Edo period (1615-1868)
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: iron
• Dimensions: Diameter: 7 cm (2 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1915.91

A detail from the museum

The signature could be that of Itō Masafusa, or added later by someone else as an attribution.

Collection credit

Gift of J. H. Donahey

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.