National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

It is now believed that Nobuie was a craftsman specializing in tsuba (handguards) in Owari no Kuni during the Azuchi Momoyama period. The handguards of Nobuie feature unique beauty found in the color of iron rust, the texture of iron at tsuchimeji (joint) and the rough and thick shape. This is a round tettsuimeji handguard with openwork of a big mitsudomoe pattern (a pattern of three curled tadpole shapes inside a circle) and small mitsudomoe and chrysanthemum patterns carved in high relief on the ground. This tsuba is in a thinly rimmed square style, over which some iron mounds called tekkotsu are scattered, showing a nice iron color. It had been handed down to the Kuroda family.