tsuba (sword guard), unknown maker from Japan

Artwork Overview

tsuba (sword guard)
tsuba (sword guard)
tsuba (sword guard)
1700s, Edo period (1600–1868)
tsuba (sword guard) , 1700s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Where object was made: Japan
Material/technique: relief; copper; cast iron; brass
Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial
Accession number: 1928.2385
Not on display
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Label texts

Archive Label 2003: Rabbits, according to folk tradition, are believed to live on the moon. This tradition, which came to Japan from China and to China from India, holds that rabbits pound rice cakes while in residence on the moon. Rabbits also mix the elixir of immortality as they stand under lunar cinnamon trees. In this tsuba a pair of rabbits looks heavenward toward a sliver of a moon, a suggestion of immortality that would have been reassuring to the bearer of the sword to which it was attached.