Four tsuba (sword guards)

Edo period (1615-1868), 18th/19th century

Edo period (1615-1868), 18th/19th century
The first iron, almost circular, chased in relief and inlaid in silver with a winter landscape of prunus trees by a rustic dwelling over a stream, signed Baikado Masatoyo saku (Made by Baikado Masatoyo); the second shibuichi small, irregularly shaped, with hagi (bush clover) and a suzumushi bell cricket by moonlight, unsigned; the third iron, almost circular, with Komei, Kan'u, and Chohi, the heroes of the Sangokushi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), one of them holding an umbrella, signed Kaikudo Naotoshi with a kao (for this kao, see Robert E. Haynes, The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, Ellwangen, Germany, Nihon Art Publishers, 2001, H06821.0); the fourth shibuichi, chased and inlaid in mixed metals with Ono no Tofu admiring the perseverance of a frog, signed Gyonen nanajuni Katsufusa (Katsufusa, aged 72); each with a wood storage box. The smallest: 4.8cm (1 7/8in); the largest: 7.4cm (2 7/8in). (8).