Iron tsuba of round form decorated with design of moon, stars, cloud, snowflake, gorintō, and Genji-mon in negative openwork (in-sukashi). Raised tubular rim (dote-mimi). Deep black patina, traces of lacquer. Naka-daka type of plate (thicker in center, getting thiner towards the rim). Visible gap between the rim and the plate. Dimensions: Height: 91.7 mm; Width: 90.8 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 2.5 mm, plate before rim: 2.2 mm, of the rim: 5.6 mm. At least Mid Muromachi period, 15th century, but possibly earlier. In 'Silver Book', commenting tsuba №34 Sasano writes: "The technique used to create the rim is the same used for the peak (koshimaki) of helmets (kabuto) during the Kamakura and Nanbokucho periods." On the other hand, the abundance of sukashi elements points towards later times, perhaps late Muromachi or even Momoyama period. "Gorintō is a grave stone composed of five pieces, piled on one the other, representing, from the bottom upward, earth, water, fire, wind, and heaven, respectively" [Nihon Tō Kōza, Volume VI, Part 1.  AFU, 1993, p. 6. / LIB-1554]. A romantic description of the piece may look like this: The air is scented (incense symbol); it's a graveyard, marked by gorintō; a winter (snowflake) evening or night (moon, stars); mist is rising from a ravine towards moon. I did not manage to find a katchūshi piece of this design, only a few Kamakura-bori tsuba: While the upper tsuba is dated end of Muromachi, the lower is attributed to the 17th century - Momoyama or early Edo period, though the author put this attribution under question. Deciphering of the strangely shaped opening to the left of nakago-ana is sometimes "a conventional scroll", and sometimes - a fern or bracken. I think mine is a cloud or mist, but I don't have any material evidence proving this understanding and came to conclusion by context only. It may easily be a dinosaurs playing ball. The fact that this thing always accompanies the Genji-mon, or incense symbol, it may be a scent itself.

Iron tsuba of round form decorated with two boar's eyes (inome) and two dragonflies (tombo) in small openwork (ko-sukashi) outlined with brass wire. The plate also decorated with 2 to 5 concentric circular rows of brass dots (nail heads) in ten-zōgan. Center of the plate outlined with the inlaid circular brass wire. The inlaid metal is of red-ish hue, so it may be copper, and not brass. The surface has remnants of lacquer. Ōnin school. Mid Muromachi period, middle of 15th century. Dimensions: Diameter: 90 mm, thickness: 3.2 mm. Notes regarding design: "According to various sources, the dragonfly (tombo) is emblematic of martial success, as various names for the insect are homophones for words meaning "victory". The dragonfly is also auspicious because references in the Kojiki and Nihongi link it in both name and shape to the old kingdom of Yamato."  [Merrily Baird. Symbols of Japan. Thematic motifs in art and design. Rizzoli international publications, Inc., 2001, p. 108]. "The dragonfly (tonbo), was also called kachimushi in earlier times, and due to the auspicious literal meaning "victory bug" of the characters of this word it became a popular theme on sword fittings." [Iron tsuba. The works of the exhibition "Kurogane no hana", The Japanese Sword Museum, 2014, p. 13]. Two other cutouts - in the form of what in European tradition symbolizes the heart, on the top and in the bottom of tsuba disc - may have two different explanations. The most usual one, inome - "Heart-shaped pattern, which is said to go back to the shape of a wild boar's eye" [Markus Sesko. Encyclopedia of Japanese Swords. Print and publishing: Lulu Enterprises, Inc., 2014.]. This understanding is shared by Robert Haynes [Robert E. Haynes. Study Collection of Japanese  Sword Fittings. Nihon Art Publishers, 2010.] and elsewhere, with an exception of Okabe-Kakuya [Okabe-Kakuya. JAPANESE SWORD GUARDS. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In cooperation with the department of Chinese and Japanese art; - 1908, p. 14], who provides the illustration of inome-shaped cut-outs with the following explanation: " The tsuba shown in Fig. 13 approaches a square form with rounded corners and is perforated with Aoi decoration. But this book was written long time ago, when people even at MFA might not know enough... The same interpretation of the said heart-like symbol (aoi leaf) is given at Helen C. Gunsaulus. Japanese sword-mounts in the collection of Field Museum. // Publication 216, Anthropological Series, Volume XVI; Chicago, 1923; p. 54: "This mokkō-formed tsuba recalls the aoi form, perforated as it is with the four aoi leaves." It is possible that the "wild boar's eye" theory was developed by later scholars.   There is also a theory, supported by Graham Gemmell, saying that: “In simple terms Onin works are decorated Ko-Katchushi tsuba. … But, not content with iron alone, they began to decorate it with what was, in the early Muromachi period, a rare and valuable metal, brass. The Onin workers cut the design into the iron, using narrow channels, cast the brass, piece by piece, and then hammered it into the iron plate as though they were putting together a jigsaw. When complete the tsuba would be black lacquered exactly as the plain iron ones had been, the brass shining dully through it in a way that fulfilled the goal of shibui or restrained elegance.” [Tosogu. Treasure of the samurai. Fine Japanese Sword Fittings from The Muromachi to The Meiji Period, by Graham Gemmell. // Sarzi-Amadè Limited, London, 1991. An exhibition held in London from 21st March to 4th April, 1991]. The following illustration from Helen C. Gunsaulus. Japanese sword-mounts in the collection of Field Museum. // Publication 216, Anthropological Series, Volume XVI; Chicago, 1923; pp. 43 supports the idea. Helen C. Gunsaulus' description of the dragonfly emblem is as follows: "This motive, the dragon-fly  (akitsu), is generally accepted as a symbol of the kingdom of Japan, and the origin of the idea is traced to the legend recounted in the Kojiki and Nihongo of the Emperor Jimmu's view of the island from mountain top. He is said to have thought the kingdom looked like a dragon-fly touching its tail with its mouth. From this it received its name Akitsu-shima... etc."  

Iron tsuba of mokko form (quatrefoil) decorated with a pair of cherry blossoms (sakura) in small openwork (ko-sukashi) and inlaid in brass (suemon-zōgan) with designs of waves, distant pines, chrysanthemum flowers in halves, tendrils and leaves, lightning or thunder symbol (inazuma), flying geese and family chrests (mon): two interlocked rings (wachigai) on the face, and three encircled stripes (maru-no-uchi-ni-mitsuhikiryo) - kamon of the Kikkawa clan  - on the reverse. Hitsu-ana outlined with inlay of brass wire. Surface treated with lacquer. Copper sekigane. Though some consider this type of tsuba to resemble Heianjo school, “...the brass trim around the hitsu-ana is a characteristics of Ōnin work” [Japanese sword guards. Onin – Heianjo – Yoshiro. Gary D. Murtha. GDM Publications, 2016; p. 27.]. The Ōnin origin is reinforced by scattered ten-zōgan elements here and there through the plate. It is possible that the tsuba was initially of round form and later trimmed to mokko shape. Mid Muromachi period; 15th century. Dimensions: Height: 87.2 mm; Width: 87.9 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 3.6 mm.

Iron tsuba of round form decorated with chrysanthemums, pine cones and needles, pampas grass, vines, cherry blossoms, and wild geese in brass inlay (suemon-zōgan) and pierced with designs of water clover (denjiso) and half bellflower (or karahana) to the left and to the right of nakago-ana as well as double bars above and below nakago-ana (possibly with the meaning of number 2 or ordinal 2nd). Most probably the sukashi elements here are the family crests (mon). Unsigned. Ōnin school. Muromachi period; 15th or 16th century. Height: 82.1 mm; Width: 80.9 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 2.4 mm NBTHK # 2003827: Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu Kanteisho (特別保存刀装具鑑定書) - "Extraordinarily Worthy of Preservation".

Iron tsuba of round form with design of butterfly (left) and dragonfly (right) in openwork (sukashi), outlined with brass wire. Thin plate also decorated with five concentric circular rows of brass dots (nail heads) in ten-zōgan; brass wire outlines of the center of the plate. School: Ōnin ten-zogan. Late Muromachi period, 16th century. Diameter: 88 mm, thickness at seppa-dai: 3.1 mm. Another tsuba of similar design, Tōshō school, is illustrated in this collection; see TSU-0353. Reference to the design has been found at "Japanese Swords and Tsuba from the Professor A. Z. Freeman and the Phyllis Sharpe Memorial collections". Sotheby's, London, Thursday 10 April 1997; p. 18, item 37: "pierced with two large formalised butterflies...".

Iron tsuba of round form with design of diamond-shaped family crest (waribishi-mon) in openwork (sukashi). Bevelled, raised rim. Kozuka-hitsu-ana plugged with tin or lead. Ko-Katchushi school. Early Muromachi period: Early 15th century (Oei era). Size: Height: 89.3 mm. Width: 89.0 mm. Rim thickness: 4.3 mm. Center thickness: 2.9 mm. Provenance: Sasano Masayuki Collection, № 41: "In this tsuba, a family crest incorporating four lozenges sits upright on the right side of the nakago-ana. The straight lines of the lozenge add substance and power. Initially, the crest creates confusion regarding the age, yet the overall impression is one lacking in vigor and probably dates rather later than Nanbokucho period".