An iron tsuba of oval form decorated with a water plantain (omodaka) carved in low relief and water drops inlaid in gold.

Signed: Bushū jū Masamitsu.

Bushū-Itō school.

Height: 71.8; Width: 67.3; Thickness: 3.6; Weight: 96 g.

Mid to late Edo period; 18th-19th century.

There were several tsuba artists with the name of Masamitsu. The one who worked with iron and spelled [正光] is mentioned at Markus Sesko’s ‘Genealogies’ on page 106 in Akasaka School of Edo section as Masamitsu Gorōbei , student of Tadatoki, 4th generation Akasaka master. The name is not mentioned at Torigoye/Haynes ‘Tsuba. An Aesthetic Study’ in the list of Bushū-Itō family masters on page 181.