Unsure of Identification of Hand Guard

[Gary D]

My brother, who recently passed away, was an avid collector of swords, and many of them are Japanese. I think his interest came from the study of Shotokan Karate, in which he held a black belt. In his belongings I found this sword hand guard. It looks similar to many of those I have seen in threads on this forum. Can anyone identify it? It has seven petals with four fans on one side and three on the other. Thanks so much.

Edited August 5 by Gary D
needed to add info

[Nobody]

I think that they are only seven fans.

 

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, it is a TSUBA. If the colour is showing correctly on my screen, the material may be SHIBUICHI, a copper/silver alloy.

The seven fans are arranged in a way to look like petals. Age is probably 19th century.

[lonely panet]

Iron 

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, may be iron, but it has a greenish hue on my screen, so I was not sure. Can be tested with a magnet.

If you don't have a magnet, you can make a melting test. Iron melts at 1.538°C. If the TSUBA melts considerably below that, it is possibly SHIBUICHI. 

[Jake6500]

Looks like Fans design, cast iron to me. Definitely later cast imo.

[Dan tsuba]

Hi Gary, and welcome to this great forum.

I don't think your tsuba is cast iron.

That is because the fan shapes on your tsuba are stamped onto and into the tsuba.

You can't do that on cast iron because the cast iron will fracture and break.

Just my opinion.

[ROKUJURO]

See how traditional iron TSUBA of the SAMURAI era were actually made: 
 

 

[Jake6500]

In relation to my earlier comment I realise I might not have been clear enough.

 

I was suggesting the tsuba was made from a cast mold and was made of iron, not necessarily that cast-iron was used.

The use of a mold would suggest (in my opinion) that this tsuba is not that old, likely late 19th or even early 20th century (Meiji, Taisho).

 

Then again I am going off a single picture, so I could be wrong.

[Spartancrest]

 The tagane-ato punches would suggest it isn't cast Iron - looks like some ten-zogan on a couple of the fan faces, seven lobes seems like a rare design lots of eight and six lobes - I wonder why seven seems uncommon?

[ROKUJURO]

5 hours ago, Jake6500 said:

....I was suggesting the tsuba was made from a cast mold and was made of iron, not necessarily that cast-iron was used.

The use of a mold would suggest (in my opinion) that this tsuba is not that old, likely late 19th or even early 20th century (Meiji, Taisho)......

Jake,

if you watch Ford's video carefully, you will understand how iron TSUBA were made. There is no "mold" involved, and no stamping or casting at all. When the TSUBA blank has been forged, the shape is cut out, and the design is carefully chiseled and filed.

[FlorianB]

22 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

seven lobes seems like a rare design

Not necessarily. Actually seven is a lucky number and many groups of seven are known, i.e. seven gods of good fortune, seven virtues, seven autumn plants (nanakusa) etc.
There are many Tsuba with a composition made of seven like this:

Sometimes the whole number out of seven is distributed on both sides.

[FlorianB]

Re-reading the topic I understand You referred to the shape of the piece in question.

Of course it is far more easy to construct along the axes, so four or eight lobed Mokko-forms are common (this applies to motif construction, too). However, there are many other shapes also in uneven numbers. At least they are rare but not uncommon. Your piece consists out of seven zones which seem not to be in the same size. So the artist must have used his visual judgement in the fan layout.

 

I’m not sure if the artists have been able to calculate angels at all. IMHO constructions in an uneven number could be evidence of a more sophisticated - or a more creative - artist.

[Jake6500]

On 8/9/2025 at 9:04 PM, ROKUJURO said:

Jake,

if you watch Ford's video carefully, you will understand how iron TSUBA were made. There is no "mold" involved, and no stamping or casting at all. When the TSUBA blank has been forged, the shape is cut out, and the design is carefully chiseled and filed.

 

Thanks for the information, I will watch and learn! I have lots of room to learn about iron work.