| Characters openwork depicts waka poems, gods' names, Buddhist words, Chinese poetry, etc. The characters on this tsuba are illegible, but it is thought to be an eight-character waka. An eight-character waka is made up of the first five characters (5) and the next three characters (7) of a tanka (a 31-character set of 5-7-5-7-7). It is said that the meaning and scene of the entire tanka are hinted at in the first eight-character waka. The thin, delicate joints and iron condition suggest that it was made in the mid-Edo period. The unusual shape of the nakago-ana hole is also intriguing. |
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