Ko Katchushi. Early to Mid Muromachi. Tetsu-ji 鉄地, Tsuchime jitate 槌目仕立, Uchikaeshi-mimi 打返耳, (See note below). 75mm x 71.5mm. Thickness at the center is 2.5mm and at the mimi is 4.5mm. Clear 2 layer contruction is visible in the sukashi and nakago ana. In regards to the theme, my original idea was a bird in flight, seen from above. Some have suggested the smaller opening at the bottom is a boar's eye and that may be that case. If so I have no ides what the other shapes represent, but then as is with many things Japanese, it may not nesecesarily mean anything. It then takes me to think of Wabi-sabi. As we know, Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic. It is difficult to explain wabi-sabi in Western terms, but the aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, or incomplete. This then makes perfect sense in regards to the design of this tsuba. In Torigoye's Tsuba Kanshoki (1st Edition) is a similar tsuba. The theme is described as Joge Inome Ko Sukashi (up and down boars eye small sukashi). The iron, the design and the age are almost a prefect match. I think this tsuba represents beauty in simplicity. I feel that we in the west are always looking for answers, to try and unravel every secret a thing may have to offer when in truth, there may be nothing, nothing more than a simple shape, a pleasing design and the feeling of a thing natural. I find the study of Tosogu far more difficult than Nihonto. Partially because there is far less information available on fittings than swords, but also, more so in fittings than swords, art resides. Because of this fact, if we add man's fascination with the abstract, the viewers own interpretations of art and the different between cultures, the art of tosogu can be as difficult a subject as any I have encountered. It is one I love dearly and fear I will spend a lifetime on, only to realise I do not understand any of it. Note: In regards to the Uchikaeshi-mimi, in Tsuba Kanshoki, Dr Torigoye uses the expression Okezoko mimi 桶底耳. I believe this is another way of describing a Uchikaeshi-mimi. Okezoko refers to the recess in the bottom of a rice tub.