|
Date: |
|
Description: | This tetsu, kaku maru gata, kaku mimi tsuba has a takabori design of a tiger amongst bamboo with takazogan inlay of gold. The hira has tsuchime. The kogai hitsu-ana has ategane and the nakago ana has tagane ato. A tiger amongst bamboo is emblematic of the pliable tree giving way to the strong tiger. The tiger is also the personification of the male principle. In Japanese mythology when aged 500 years a tiger turns white and the kanji for king appears on its forehead. Tigers appear regularly in Japanese design often accompanied in some way with leopards; the leopard being the embodiment of the female character. Both these creatures appear in designs used in the Ninomaru Palace of Nijo Castle in Kyoto. The castle was built for Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1602 at the very beginning of the Edo Period. It is almost certain that designs favoured by the military leaders of Japan would influence tosogu makers during the ascendency of the regime.
Tsuba, iron, gold inlay with tiger and bamboo. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Rights holder: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Subjects: | Weapons Decorative arts Japanese Decorative Art Japan | Source: | Black Country History | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
|
|