This charming tanto tsuba shows a white Heron (shirasagi) on a rusted anchor. The Heron is inlaid in silver with his eyes and legs in gold. The anchor (ikari) is cleverly inlaid in iron so that it would rust over time just like a real anchor would when left in the water. This very creative idea creates a realistic atmosphere. It is quite rare to see iron inlaid on a soft metal as it is normally the other way round. Here we have a base of sentoku.
The octagonal form is called ‘sumikiri kakugata’ and the rim is ‘uchisaka’ which is hammered from the outside so that the rim is slightly raised against the surface.
The Ishiguro school is very well known for their highly detailed Machibori Kinko work often in Shakudo Nanako with softmetal inlays. This piece is made by Ishiguro Nagayoshi and signed ‘Senkosai Nagayoshi’. He studied under Ishiguro Masayoshi and lived in the late Edo until the Meiji period.
The NBTHK Hozon Kanteisho attributes this piece to ‘Senkosai Nagayoshi’.
Comes with a custom made box and the NBTHK Hozon certificate.
H: 55 mm
W: 39.5 mm
R: 6.2 mm
Sd: 4.8 mm
