An iron tsuba in Jakushi-style

Description:

Japan, late Edo period, late 18th c.
8,9 x 8,5 x 0,4 - 0,55 cm
Tate-maru-gata. Iron, nunome-zôgan in gold, silver and aokin, take-zôgan in silver and copper, ten-zôgan in gold, sekigane in copper. Three sakekoster on the obverse, pine tree with stream on the reverse. Kaku-mimi-koniku.
From an old German private collection, published in: Günther Heckmann, ‘Tsuba’. H.U.B Verlag, Nürtingen, 1995, T 64
The three Asian sages Roshi, Shaka and Koshi savour the same sake, which has a different effect on each of them. This anecdote symbolises the philosophical statement that truth, although it has the same religious and philosophical origin, can be interpreted differently by religious masters. Different creeds spring from the same basic religious idea