tsuba

Yesterday he gave me an incredible object: a "tsuba" or Samurai sword guard dating from somewhere between 1645 and 1700.

Archive 2006-02-01 2006

Yesterday he gave me an incredible object: a "tsuba" or Samurai sword guard dating from somewhere between 1645 and 1700.

Tsuba 2006

The koshirae—blood red sago of black sharkskin, a gold-tinted tsuba—were magnificent, but even that magnificence was diminished by the blade.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

It was a storage mechanism, not a fighting or a ceremonial one and it meant no tsuba had been affixed, for the tsuba, the handguard that kept the fingers off the sharpness of the blade and caught opposing blades as they slid down toward the hands, was a fighting accouterment or—many were extraordinary works of art in their own right—an esthetic device.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

After the war, the smith remounted the blade in the civilian furniture you see now, which is why the saya, the tsuba, the same, the saego are all white.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

Their exquisite koshirae—that is, their fittings, the handle, the hilt, the tsuba, and on and on—were simply dumped.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

After the war, the smith remounted the blade in the civilian furniture you see now, which is why the saya, the tsuba, the same, the saego are all white.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

With one hand he waved the sword and Bob hit it hard with the lower half of his own blade just above the tsuba and it flew away with a clatter.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

The koshirae—blood red sago of black sharkskin, a gold-tinted tsuba—were magnificent, but even that magnificence was diminished by the blade.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009

The handguard—tsuba—was a heavy circle of iron, like an ornate coaster almost.

A Bob Lee Swagger eBook Boxed Set Stephen Hunter 2009