24 
House & Garden 
SWORD-GUARDS OF FEUDAL JAPAN 
Tsuba of Samurai Glory That Find Their Way from Nippon 
to the Collector’s Shelves—Their History and Adornments 
GARDNER TEALL 
A Japanese short sword 
in a sheath of black lac¬ 
quer inlaid loith gold. 
S MALL objects beautiful to con¬ 
template, exquisite in work¬ 
manship, intrinsically valuable and 
at the same time rich in historical 
associations have attracted men of 
all ages. Little wonder it is that 
the collector of the objets d’art of 
the Japanese craftsmen finds in 
them an ever refreshing delight. 
The tsuba, or sword-guards of 
Japan, are famed for their work¬ 
manship, beauty of design and his¬ 
toric interest, while their rarity is 
not such as to discourage the col¬ 
lector. A few years ago, indeed, 
these remarkable examples of the 
skill of the old-time Japanese 
metal-workers could have been 
picked up in the Japanese shops 
in America and Europe for a song. 
Though the price has advanced 
somewhat precipitously, fine speci¬ 
mens of sword-guards may still be 
had at far from prohibitive prices, when one 
considers that almost every tsuba can be 
counted a supreme example of the metal¬ 
worker’s art. There are no two genuine 
Japanese sword-guards precisely alike. Each 
is distinctly an original and unique object, 
into whose fashioning has gone the best ef¬ 
fort of those tirelessly patient and conscien¬ 
tious craftsmen of the Flowery Kingdom. 
The Sword Laid Aside 
Feudal Japan has disap¬ 
peared, and with it the need 
of the old armourers’ art. 
Fifty-eight years ago a noted 
Japanese official sought in 
vain through Yedo — now 
Tokio — for a countryman 
who might prove to be con¬ 
versant with the English 
language, a fact that gives 
one a suggestion of the 
rapidity with which the old 
order of things has been 
thrown off and the new 
taken on. It was just forty 
years ago that an imperial 
Japanese edict abolished the 
wearing of swords. Cham¬ 
berlain says that “the people 
obeyed the edict without a 
sword-guards were thrown into 
the melting-pot. Later when Euro¬ 
pean, American and Japanese con¬ 
noisseurs came to rescue the tsuba 
from oblivion, the native crafts¬ 
men, still possessors of a recent 
heritage of skill, fell to making 
sword-guards for the market. 
A^et even these late 19th—and one 
must suspect 20th—Century tsuba 
are often beautiful, ingenious and 
interesting enough to be desirable 
acquisitions on their own account. 
Arms and Adornment 
Marcus Huish, in his book 
“Japan and Its Art,” said: “It can 
readily be imagined that in a coun¬ 
try where internal wars were con¬ 
stant, where private quarrels grew 
into family feuds, where the ven¬ 
detta was unhindered by law and 
applauded by society, where the 
slightest breach of etiquette could only be 
repaired by the death of one of the parties, 
and where a stain of any sort upon char¬ 
acter necessitated suicide by a sword thrust, 
attention was very early directed towards 
obtaining perfection in the only article of 
defense or offense which a Japanese carried. 
Nor would it long remain unornamented in 
a community where artistic instincts were 
universal, and jewelry and 
other ornaments were not 
worn. . . . Personal orna¬ 
ments illustrate better than 
anything else the individual¬ 
ity of their wearer, and col¬ 
lectively the taste of the na¬ 
tion. Especially is this the 
case where the article in 
question is worn as a privi¬ 
lege, is held in respect, is 
handed down as an heirloom, 
and is the subject of the 
most carefully prescribed 
etiquette. Not only the 
manufacture but the adorn¬ 
ment of the sword was for 
centuries a profession re¬ 
served to artists of the high¬ 
est attainments. The orna¬ 
ment lavished upon it illus¬ 
trated religious and civil life. 
This shoivs the position 
at the hilt of the tsuba 
or sword-guard. 
blow being struck, and the curio shops at 
once displayed heaps of swords which, a few 
months before, the owners would less will¬ 
ingly have parted with than with life it¬ 
self.” 
It is clear that, as a result of this edict, 
a vast number of swords were brought into 
the market. Naturally enough, as collectors 
had not then discovered the tsuba, countless 
I 
The two round cuts above are the 
front and back of an IWi Cen¬ 
tury landseape tsuba 
Front and back of a rare l%th 
Century guard of brass and 
bronze with inset coins 
Bronze and gold have been 
worked into a landscape design 
of the IWi Century 
Both front and back of the tsuba 
below are copper and gold. 18th 
Century 
Views of a rare enameled 19tE 
Century guard. Enameled in full 
color and rim damascened 
An early 19<7i Century guard, an 
excellent example of Nanakoji 
or fish roe surface 
