Sword fittings include tsuba, kozuka, kogai, fuchi-kashira, and other kodogu.
English translation of the book indicated above Nihon Tō Kōza, Volume VI, Part 1 by Harry Afu Watson, AFU Research Enterprises, Inc., 1993. Tsuba in question illustrated on page 14 and described as follows: " Tsuba mumei Ōnin. Tetsu ji maru gata ko-sukashi tsuchime shitate shinchū suemon ten zogan maru mimi. Brass suemon". My question remains: why such a text is called 'translation' while it looks more like transliteration of romanization? 
7-U17. Ron Hartmann Collection.
Kanazawa in Kaga was a centre of fine metal work during the whole of the Tokugawa period. At first the inlayers of Fushimi following the Daimyo Maeda went to Kanazawa, then some of the Gotō masters proceeded from Kyoto for short periods to work for the Daimyo, so that their influence was strongly impressed upon Kaga work..." A somewhat look-a-like tsuba is illustrated at plate XXVIII, Kaga Inlay, №653 with the following description at page 52: "Shakudō, inlaid with five insects in gold: crickets, praying mantis, grasshopper, in the style of Takagawara Ujitsugu.According to M. Sesko, Ujitsugu was a master from Katsuki and Kaneko School in Kaga, son of Ujihira. Ujihira's father Ujiyoshi died in 1802. This brings us to the mid-19th century, instead of mid-18th or earlier. On the other hand, a very much look alike specimen at MFA collection (ACCESSION NUMBER 17.1061) has the with the following description: Edo period. Late 18th–early 19th century. Murakami School. Main material: shakudo; other metals: gold; decorative technique: iroe hirazogan.
MFA # 17.1061
Iron tsuba of round form inlaid with brass and shakudo (suemon-zōgan) with a design of tendrils, leaves, double gourds, and folding fan with two wild geese on the face and the same design only with a fan with two interlocked rings (wachigai) on the back. Design is supplemented with a round family crest (mon) of three fans in openwork (sukashi). Hitsu-ana and the mon are outlined with brass rope. Copper sekigane.
Some attribute such tsuba as belonging to Heianjō or even Yoshirō School, and date them to Momoyama period. I keep this piece under Ōnin rubric, late Muromachi, but this is just a question of personal preference.Some inlay is missing, some repaired; traces of rust. Otherwise - decent condition.
Late Muromachi period (1514-1573). Size: 77.4 x 77.1 x 3.8 (center), 3.2 (rim) mm
Iron tsuba with hammer marked surface and design of a plum and cherry blossoms to the right of nakaga-ana in openwork (sukashi). Raised rim, typical to katchushi school. The thickness of the plate provides for later Muromachi period making.
Late Muromachi period (1514-1573). Size: 85.8 x 85.0 x 3.6 (center), 4.1 (rim) mm; weight: 136 g.
 Kiri-mon |
 Katakura-mon |
Size: 75.0 x 74.4 x 3.6 (center), 5.0 (rim) mm.
The plant Marsilea (paddy plant, denjiso), common names include water clover and four-leaf clover because the long-stalked leaves have four clover-like lobes and are either held above water or submerged. In The elements of Japanese design by John W. Dower, this motif is listed under the numbers 634-35 Paddy Plant (denjiso). Obviously, as a four-leaf clover it is an auspicious symbol. The four leaves radiate out as the shape of the kanji 田 (romaji 'ta'), which means 'rice paddy'. This symbol may be used as a family crest (mon), and this would be the most probable explanation of the sukashi on this tsuba.
Iron tsuba in a form of an eight-petalled blossom (lotus) form, petals separated by linear low-relief carving, both hitsu-ana filled with gold plugs, the surface decorated with tsuchime-ji, rich grey-brownish patina, niku from 4 mm in the centre to 6 mm at the rim. Strong (futoji-mei) Nobuie [信家] signature to the left of nakago-ana. Attributed to the 2nd generation of Nobuie masters (Nidai Nobuie).
Size: outer diameter 84 mm, thickness at centre: 4 mm, at rim: 6 mm. Wight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
The gold plugs are likely a later work.
Merrily Baird in her book "Symbols of Japan" [Merrily Baird. Symbols of Japan. Thematic motifs in art and design. Rizzoli international publications, Inc., 2001] provides the following explanation of the Wheel-of-the-Law symbol: "The Wheel-of-the-Law or Golden Wheel (rimbo, kinrin) has its origins in India, where it is known as chakra. [...] In Buddhist practice, it has been represented with eight spokes, reflecting the eight-fold path to overcoming worldly desire, and it signifies that all illusions will be crushed by the faith's enlightenment. [...] The Wheel-of-the-Law is an attribute of such deities as Senju Kannon, the Thousand-Armed Kannon, and Dainichi Nyorai, the all-illuminating solar figure who is the principal deity for Shingon Buddhism. From the Edo period on, the wheel also has been used in a secular manner", e.g. on family crests.
Haynes Catalog #6, lot 30.
Haynes Catalog #9, lot 143.
Caldwell Collection, #13.
Fuchi-kashira made of Shibuichi carved and inlaid with shakudō, gold, silver, and copper with the design of spider holding a fly on the fuchi, and other insects (ant-lion, wasp, and ant) on the kashira.
Fuchi: 35.1 mm. Kashira: 38.7 mm. Main material: Shibuichi. Other metals: shakudō, gold, silver, and copper. Decorative technique: iroe taka-zōgan.
Thin six-lobed iron plate of brownish color is carved on each side with a groove that follows the rim and a concentric grooves around the center of the plate, also carved with six thin scroll lines (mokkō or handles, kan) that follow the shape of the rim. Mokume surface treatment. Hitsu-ana possibly added at a later date, and kogai-hitsu-ana plugged with gold. Silver sekigane.
Signed: Kunihide [國秀]. Higo school, 1st generation swordsmith.
Mid Edo period, ca. 1800.
Would be possibly attributed to Kamakura-bori school revival of the 19th century.
References: Nihon Tō Kōza, Volume VI / Japanese Sword / Kodōgu Part 1, page 231: Enju Kunihide, a tōshō from Higo: "...forging of the jigane is excellent, and there are also pieces with mokume hada."
Haynes Index Vol. 1, p. 741, H 03569.0: "Enju Kunihide in Higo province, died 1830, student of Suishinshi Masahide. Retainer of the Hosokawa Daimyō, etc."
Additional Information from Markus Sesko: This tsuba indeed is made by Enju Kunihide, who in his later years signed the HIDE [秀] character as HI [日] and DE [出], as here:
Size: 77.4 x 74.9 x 2.7 mm
Similar pieces are:
1. In this collection № TSU-0341: Kamakura-bori tsuba with mokkō motif. Muromachi period, 15th - 16th century.
2. Dr. Walter A. Compton Collection, 1992, Christie’s auction, Part II, pp. 14-15, №16: “A kamakurabori type tsuba, Muromachi period, circa 1400. The thin, six-lobed iron plate is carved on each side with a wide groove that follows the shape of the rim, and with six scroll lines and a single thin circular groove. […] The hitsu-ana was added at a later date, circa 1500-1550. Height 8.3 cm, width 8.6 cm, thickness 2.5 mm. The tsuba was initially intended to be mounted on a tachi of the battle type in use from Nambokucho to early Muromachi period (1333-1400)”. Sold at $935.
3. And another one in Robert E. Haynes Catalog #9 on page 24-25 under №23: “Typical later Kamakura-bori style work. This type of plate and carving show the uniform work produced by several schools in the Muromachi </em period. Some had brass inlay and others were just carved as this one is. The hitsu are later. Ca. 1550. Ht. 8.8 cm, Th. 3.25 mm”. Sold for $175.
Small iron tsuba for a dagger (tantō), of quatrefoil form (mokkō-gata), with raised rim (mimi), decorated with flat brass inlay (hira-zōgan) to form an abstract design alluding to the mushroom of immortality (reishi). Opening (hitsu-ana) to the left of nakaga-ana probably cut later and fitted with shakudo sekigane. Maker's signature on seppa-dai: Koike Naomasa (小池 直正).
Momoyama period: End of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. Dimensions: Height 53.7 mm; Width: 45.5 mm; Thickness at centre: 3.5 mm; at rim: 4.9 mm. Other examples of signed Koike Naomasa work in this collection: TSU-0346. Reference: The closest example in literature is in Compton Collection (II): №11 with the description: “A Koike School tsuba, Edo period (circa 1625), signed Koike Yoshiro. Sheet-brass flush inlay of cloud forms and wire inlay creating the same shape. Koike Yoshiro Naomasa worked from the Keicho to the Genna periods (1596-1623). He arrived in Kyoto from Kaga.” [Japanese Swords and Sword Fittings from the Collection of Dr. Walter Ames Compton (Part II) / Sebastian Izzard, Yoshinori Munemura. — Christie's, New York, October 22, 1992]. See: Yoshirō tsuba.
The design was popular among the tsuba makers. We find one in the Alexander G. Moslé collection [Japanese Sword Fittings from the Alexander G. Moslé Collection; Sebastian Izzard LLC, 2004, page 90, №123] signed Nagatsune with kaō: Tsuba with cormorant fisherman, moon, and boat. Squared-oval shibuichi plate, slightly raised rim, engraved, pierced, and inlaid with soft metals in relief. 6.7 x 5.8 cm.
Alexander G. Moslé collection №123.
Another reference: Lundgren Collection, 1990, page 86 №207: Sword guard with design of ushō (person who fishes with cormorants). Signed by Nagatsune. Ichinomiya school. 6.45 x 5.95 x 0.40 cm. Polished shibuichi taka-bori relief, gold and silver inlay. Edo period, 18th century.
Lundgren Collection №207:
"Early signed example of the work of Koike Naomasa. The kiku shape iron plate is well finished. The flush inlay is brass, for the scroll work on both sides, with the leaves and kiri mon in brass, copper and silver with strong detail carving. Some of the inlay goes almost over the edge, which is goishi gata. The large hitsuana are plugged in lead with starburst kokuin surface design. [...]The face is signed in deep bold kanji: Koike Naomasa; the back is signed: Izumi no Kami, on the right and Yoshiro on the left. There are one or two small pieces of inlay missing. Sold by Sotheby London, Oct. 27, 1981, lot 368. Height = 86 mm, thickness (seppa-dai) = 3.75 mm, (edge) = 4 mm."Another similar example presented at: "Tsuba" by Günter Heckmann, 1995, №T55 — "Designation: Koike Naomasa. Mid Edo, end of the 17th century. Iron, hira-zogan in brass, copper, silver and shakudo, katakiri-bori. Tendrils and leaves. 87.0 x 78.0 x 4.0 mm." Reference: Japanische Schwertzierate by Lumir Jisl, 1967, page. 13. [SV: Actually, his tsuba is signed Izumi no Kami Yoshiro on the back; and Koike Naomasa on the front, exactly as Robert Haynes's tsuba. Dating this tsuba Mid-Edo, 17th century may be considered a misattribution]. More details regarding the Yoshirō tsuba.
Iron tsuba of oval form with the design of two immortals (Gama Sennin with the toad upon his head and Tekkai Sennin with his iron crutch) beside a waterfall carved in low relief with a high relief effect (takabori) and with details inlaid in gold. A waterfall carved on the reverse. Nakago-ana is plugged with copper sekigane. Unsigned. Allegedly, Mito School.
Edo period, ca. 1700.
Size: Height: 87.0 mm; Width: 82.8 mm; Thickness: 4.4 mm; Weight: 179 g.
No longer available.
Yamagane (bronze) tsuba (kagami-shi, or mirror-maker) with the design of a star (round opening), tomoe (comma), and suhama in openwork. Surface cast and chiselled with the design of foliage, vines, blossoms, pine needles, and fruits on both sides.
The end of Early Muromachi period (1393-1453), circa 1450. Size: 83.7 x 84.1 x 3.6 (center), 4.1 (rim) mm; weight: 135.5 g. KANTEI-SHO (鑑定書) - APPRAISAL [translated by Markus Sesko]. No 463341 Tomoe-suhama-sukashi hana-karakusa no zu tsuba (巴洲浜透花唐草図鐔) ‒ Tsuba with stylized comma and bay inlet openwork and a flower and arabesque décor Unsigned: Kagami-shi (鏡師) Round shape, yamagane, hammer blow finish, cast, negative openwork design, round rim. According to the result of the shinsa committee of our society, we judge this work as authentic and rank it as Hozon Tōsōgu. July 1, 2011 [Foundation] Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, NBTHK (日本美術刀劍保存協會)
Signed: Nobuie [信家] / 62
Probably the work of Shodai Nobuie (c. 1580).
Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 2002993 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated January 15, 2016. NOBUIE TSUBA by Steve Waszak The iron tsuba made by the two early Nobuie masters are regarded as the greatest sword guards ever made across hundreds of years of Japanese history. Only a small handful of other smiths' names are even mentioned in the same breath as that of Nobuie. Despite the well-deserved fame of the Nobuie name, virtually nothing is known with certainty about the lives of the two men who made the pieces carrying this name. They are thought to have been men of Owari Province, with the Nidai Nobuie also spending time in Aki Province at the end of the Momoyama Period. Two Nobuie tsubako are recognized. The man whom most consider to have been the Shodai signed his sword guards with finer and more elegantly inscribed characters than the smith seen by most as the Nidai. The term used to describe the mei of the Shodai is "hanare-mei" or "ga-mei," while that used to characterize the signature of the Nidai is "futoji-mei" or "chikara-mei." These terms refer to the fineness and grace of the Shodai's signature and the relatively more powerfully inscribed characters of the Nidai's. The Shodai is thought to have lived during the Eiroku and Tensho eras in the latter part of the 16th century, while the Nidai's years are considered to have been from Tensho into the Genna era. This locates both smiths well within the Golden Age of tsuba artists -- the Momoyama Period. Nobuie tsuba are esteemed and celebrated for the extraordinary beauty of their iron. The combination of the forging of the metal, the surface treatment by tsuchime and yakite married to powerfully expressive carving, the masterful manipulation of form, mass and shape, and the colour and patina of the iron makes Nobuie sword guards not only unique in the world of tsuba, but the greatest of the great. The sword guard here is a Shodai-made masterwork, done in mokko-gata form, a shape the early Nobuie smiths mastered to a degree unmatched by any others. The expanding of the mass of the tsuba from the seppa-dai to the mimi, increasing by 50% from the centre of the guard to the rim, creates a sense of exploding energy, which is then contained by the uchikaeshi-mimi, yielding a lightning-in-a-bottle effect of captured energy. The hammering the master has employed to finish the surface is subtle and sensitive, achieving a resonant profundity, and the deep blue-black colour -- augmented by a lustrous patina -- leaves the tsuba to positively glow in one's hand. In this piece, Nobuie has used a motif of several kamon, or family crests, each carved only lightly on the surface in a loose ring around the nakago-ana. Due to the shallow depth of this carving, together with the tsuchime finish of the plate, the effect is to leave the kamon with a sort of weathered appearance, recalling the prime aesthetic values of sabi and wabi, which had great circulation in the Tea Culture so ascendant in the Momoyama years. However, the effects of sabi and wabi expressed in the treatment described above are amplified and deepened by the color and patina of the iron, thereby adding yet another aesthetic value -- yuugen -- which is linked with the abiding mystery of the universe and one more — mono no aware — which alludes to the pathos of life's experiences and transitory nature. In short, this Nobuie tsuba joins poetry with power and therein exemplifies the unrivalled brilliance of Nobuie workmanship.
100 selected tsuba from European collections. Catalogue by Robert Haynes and Robert Burawoy, 1984, page 16, №5.
Japanese Sword Fittings. Collection of G.H. Naunton, Esq., by Henri L. Joly, - 1912; №9.
Gary D. Murtha's tsuba on page 61.
Thin iron tsuba of round form pierced with six three-leaf wood sorrels (katabami) in ko-sukashi and inlaid with brass decoration along the rim. Kozuka-hitsu-ana probably cut at a later date.
Late Muromachi or Momoyama period, 16th century. Dimensions: 78.0 x 77.7 x 2.5 mm.
Iron tsuba of mokko form decorated with arabesque (karakusa) in low relief carving. niku from 4.0 mm in the centre to 5.1 mm at the rim. Strong Nobuie [信家] signature (futoji-mei) to the left of nakago-ana. Hitsuana plugged with pewter.
Size: H: 88.2 mm, W: 83.6, Th(c): 4.0 mm, Th(r): 5.1 mm Weight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 229324 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated 22.12.2010
Thin iron plate of round form and black color carved in sukidashi-bori with design of rocks, waves, clouds, temple gates (torii), mountain pavilion and 5-storey pagoda on both sides, alluding to Todai-ji temple in Nara. Hitsu-ana pierced later. Very narrow very slightly raised rim. Copper sekigane.
Late Muromachi period, 16th century. Dimensions: 88.7 x 88.0 x 2.4 mm (seppa-dai), 1.8 mm (base plate).Reference: “Art of the Samurai” on page 232, №140: ”Kamakura tsuba with Sangatsu-do tower and bridge. Muromachi period, 16th century. 83 mm x 80 mm. Unsigned. Tokyo National Museum. The mountain pavilion and bridge carved in sunken relief on the iron tsuba – both part of Tōdai-ji, a temple in Nara – are detailed in fine kebori (line) engraving. As a result of the chiseling used to create the relief, the ground of the piece is relatively thin".
Size: H 71.9 x W 71.1 x Th (centre) 5.5 cm.
For information regarding this type of tsuba see the article 'Kirishitan Ikenie Tsuba by Fred Geyer at Kokusai Tosogu Kai; The 2nd International Convention & Exhibition, October 18-23, 2006, pp. 84-91.
 IHS emblem of the Jesuits |
 茗荷 Myoga or Japanese ginger |
TSU-0282: Ko-kinko yamagane tsuba with waves and rabbit motif.
