The collector Gunsaulus studied this tsuba, and notes that “the combination of shakudo and brass for the two sides of this tsuba is an uncommon choice of metals. The obverse is of the darker medium, and likely is selected to represent the darkness of night passing away at the first touch of dawn suggested by the golden rays of sun rising behind clouds which are tinged with red, being sculpted from copper. Poised in flight, a graceful crane floats above the clouds. The feathered body is carefully chiseled from silver with tail feathers of shakudo, crest of red copper, beak and legs of gold. On the sunny yellow brass reverse, two sparrows in relief of copper and shakudo flutter near a bamboo pole and rope, to which is attached a rattle commonly used to frighten away birds from the rice-fields. . . . On the obverse the clouds are so broken as to appear shifting and fluent, and the delicately inlaid bits of gold are as immaterial in impression as the rays of light which they represent” (Gunsaulus 1923:145). The motif of the crane on the first side of the Tsuba is often associated with the Japanese deity Jurojin, the god of longetivity, and represents contented old age (Hamlyn 1969:59). The sparrow on the opposite side of the crane is an “emblem of gracefulness and charm” and is often used in reference to the legend of Shita-kiri Suzume, or The Tongue-cut Sparrow (Barbanson 1961). The Sonobe family style of tsuba production is an indirect descendant of the Goto school of tsuba production. The Sonobe family style descends from the Goto masters by way of their students, the Tanaka family, who in turn passed on the knowledge to Sonobe Yoshitsugu, who taught his son, Sonobe Yoshihide, the art. Since this school is an outgrowth of the Goto school there are many similarities in their artwork (Gunsaulus 1923:142-145). Shakudo (literally “red copper”) is a metal alloy that was invented and used exclusively by the Japanese. There are fifteen grades of Shakudo, all are primarily copper with an inclusion of at least four percent gold, and oftentimes small amounts of other metals. When cast, Shakudo is a dark copper color but it is most often treated with a boiling or “pickle” solution which results in a rich, velvety black color with a violet sheen (Gunsaulus 1923:35-36, Rucker 1924:xxiii-xxiv). (Commentary by Rob Nalewajk) Back