Tsuba - Owari Musashino at night - Japan

This tsuba can be read convincingly as an Owari sukashi tsuba with the motif of Musashino at night: autumn grasses, a moon, and a bat rendered in a highly stylised openwork composition.

The side and lower openwork corresponds well to Musashino grass in the conventional poetic sense of wind-swept autumn field grasses. The upper section, with its wing-like spread and circular perforations, supports the reading of a bat moving across the night sky, while the curved open elements contribute to the sense of a moonlit nocturnal scene rather than a purely abstract design.

Under that interpretation, the composition is not merely decorative but evokes a familiar seasonal and literary image: Musashino by night, with moon and grasses, animated by the presence of a bat.

On period, early Edo seems entirely reasonable. The strong iron plate, bold sukashi treatment, and relatively powerful, uncluttered design are all compatible with an earlier Owari manner, rather than a later, more refined or mannered Edo interpretation.

Dimension: 69,0 mmx 70,8 mm x 5,0 mm (4,8 mm), 61,1 g