Sword guard, suaka dragon tsuba, Tsuchiya Yasuchika V, Japan, 1850

TSUCHIYA YASUCHIKA V: A LARGE AND SUPERB SUAKA ‘DRAGON’ TSUBA By Tsuchiya Yasuchika V (1787-1852), signed Tou Japan, c.1850 Of kakumarugata form with a slightly raised mimi, the ground finely punched and worked in relief, richly inlaid in iro-e takazogan with a dynamic composition depicting a tiger emerging from a cave and confronting a dragon enveloped in swirling clouds.

The powerful bodies of the two creatures extend across both sides of the guard, enhancing the sense of movement and spatial depth. One side bears a seal mark inlaid in suaka and shakudo hirazogan reading TOU. HEIGHT 10.1 cm, LENGTH 9.3 cm, 3 cm (the nakago), WIDTH 0.5 cm (the mimi). Tsuchiya Yasuchika V (1787-1852) is recorded in the Haynes Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, p. 2187 (H 11108.0).

He was a student of the fourth-generation Yasuchika and continued the refined and painterly traditions of the Tsuchiya school. While rooted in Chinese cosmology, where they symbolize yin and yang, the theme was widely embraced in Japan and reinterpreted within a distinctly Japanese artistic context. In such depictions, the tiger is often associated with the earth and the vital force of wind, while the dragon governs the heavens and water, appearing amidst clouds. Their dramatic confrontation conveys a balance of strength and energy, a subject particularly favored in Edo-period metalwork for its dynamic and auspicious connotations.