Tsuba: Tsurukame
Signature/mei: unsigned
Material: iron, gold
Era/jidai: late Edo
Dimension(h/w/rim): 68 x 65 x 5.3 mm
Price: €380 / $420 / ¥60000
TSURUKAME (crane and turtle) is the title of a well-known NO theater piece and this is a pictorial representation of it. TSURU (Crane) and KAME (Turtle) are the symbols of happiness and long life.
The crane stands for luck, prosperity and elegance. The long-lived turtle called minogame , recognizable by the long algae on its shell, stands for health and a long life.
On this nearly round (maru gata) ji-sukashi tsuba, the crane and the turtle are worked out of the iron base plate and show details of kebori carving with some accents in gold (iroe).
The tsuba has two hitsu-ana, also with accents of gold.
