Tsuba: Rakan Handaka with Dragon
Signature/mei: Tsuneshige
Material: brass, gold
Era/jidai: Edo
Dimension: (h)71.0mm/(w)65.3mm/(d)5.0mm
Papers: guarantee Hozon
Price: €800 / $888
This tsuba has a slight oval shape (nara mru gata) and is made by Tsuneshige out of brass, a material rarely used for tsuba. On the omote we find the rakan Handaka Sonja (半托迦尊者), or Arhat Panthaka in Sanskrit. He is one of the sixteen disciples of Buddha. In most cases – like on this tsuba – he is shown with his pet dragon which he can keep in a bowl.
On the ura we can see a tree and his signature “Tsuneshige”. Currently the tsuba has no attrinution from the NBTHK. As the I believe the signature is genuine I guarantee at least Hozon.
