NINE TSUBA (HAND GUARDS)Edo period (1615-1868), 17th to 19th centuryThe first copper,mokko (four-lobed), with an applied gilt-metal rim, the plate inlaid in silver withchidori (plovers), waves, and the crescent moon; the rest all iron; the second octagonal with silver overlay ofsayagata (key-fret) patterning around the rim, dragons and tendrils on one side of the plate and auspicious objects on the reverse; the third iron,mokko, with a slightly hammered-up rim, inlaid in copper and brass withsugina (field horsetail); the fourth rounded rectangular with gold overlay of stylizedho-o birds andkiri (paulownia); the rest all circular or nearly circular; the fifth with a strongly hammered-up rim, with gold overlay on one side of dragons and on the other of floral sprays; the sixth with a hammered-up rim, with worn gold overlay of tendrils around the rim and fans, pines, and other motifs on the plate; the seventh slightly lenticular in profile, chiselled and overlaid in gold on one side with a large dragonfly and chiselled on the other with a broom, signedMasaharu; the eighth pierced and chiselled and with gold overlay: at top and bottom a half cherry blossom and at right and left the outline of anomaku (outdoor curtain used during cherry-blossom viewing), the rim with intermittentsayagata patterns; the ninth small, with a large hammered-up rim and brass inlay ofsayagata on the rim and budding chrysanthemums and water on the plate.The smallest: 6cm (2 3/8in) high; the largest: 8.3cm (3¼in) high. (9).