A fine iron tsuba

Description:

Japan, Tetsugendo school, mid Edo-Period, 18th c.
6.8 x 6.4 × 0.4 cm
Tate-maru-gata. Iron, iroe-taka-zogan in gold, shakudo and shibuichi. The magic Taoist Ryuko and his wife Hanfujin, keeping a tiger on a lead. Kaku-mimi-koniku
From an old German private collection, published in: Günther Heckmann, ‘Tsuba’. H.U.B Verlag, Nürtingen, 1995, T 86
The governor Ryuko (Chin.: Liu Kang) and his wife Hanfujin, are supposed to have lived during the Shin dynasty (265 - 316). With the guidance of an "oni" they studied the "dojitsu", the power of Black Magic. Apart from other magic attributed to them, both are said to have tamed a herd of tigers in the Shimei mountains. I the end Ryuko is assumed to have ascended to heaven from atree, and Hanfujin on a cloud