Sword guard (Tsuba) Depicting Icefish Between Seaweed (藻に白魚図鐔)

The plate of this tsuba shows a coarse spiral forging structure which represents running water. On the bottom right of the obverse, a shibuichi icefish (Japanese: shirauo, 白魚) and seaweed is inlaid, and apart from two small branches of seaweed, the reverse is left undecorated. In Japan, the icefish stands for spring. The popular kabuki play Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai (三人吉三廓初買), "Three Kichisaburōs Go Shipping at the New Year in the Pleasure Quarters," for example, which premeried in 1860, features the related poem: Tsuki mo oboro ni shirauo no kagari mo kasumu haru no sora (月も朧に白魚の篝もかすむ春の空), "Spring sky, where both the moon and the bonfire of the icefish fishers is surrounded by a diffuse halo."

Credit: Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891