BUSHU  ITO TSUBA
The term Bushu tsuba means the Ito school. The Ito school was native to Edo, where other schools were branch schools that came to settle. They were the most powerful and largest school in Edo, with influence over all the others who worked around them. The Ito school became so popular that schools as far away as Choshu felt compelled to adopt its style. The Ito school, along with the Shoami and Choshu schools, constituted the three largest and most dominate of the Edo age.
There are a number of problems concerning the origin and the organization of the Ito school. In reality there are two Ito schools: Edo Ito and Odawara Ito. The signatures and style of the tsuba on the Odawara Ito school and those on the Edo Ito school are entirely different. From this fact alone we may see that there was a separation of the school into at least two branches. Others contend that the artists of the two branches are really the same workers and that they merely changed their place of residence, from Edo to Odawara, and did not change their style in the process. The city of Odawara was a metropolitan center when Edo was just a village. During the Muromachi age Odawara was a very important center of power for the government.
It would seem that there is some truth to both of these contentions. In the early development of the school they were probably a single group with a common style, but later members of the school changed their residence and at the same time changed their style. The Edo Ito school was very prosperous and received orders from the Shogunate. The Odawara Ito school was not favored by the Shogun and had to be content with orders from minor provincial officials who lived near Odawara. What was the relationship of the Edo Ito school and the schools of the Choshu Province? The period of greatest influence of the Bushu on the Choshu style does not appear until after the middle of the Edo age. By the end of the Edo age the influence of the Edo Ito school is dominant.
On the whole these schools show good control of their material. The designs, though conventional, are well carved and the details are well handled. The style is gentle and quiet, expressing the peaceful age, and the luxury of the Shogunal court. The Edo Ito tsuba was beloved by the nobility as well as the commoner of Edo. Their best work was produced in the period from 1688 to about 1736.

CHOSHU TSUBA
The term Choshu tsuba means those pieces made at the city of Hagi in the province of Choshu, and includes the tsuba produced in Yamaguchi, Tokuyama, and Iwakuni (areas facing the inland sea). Hagi is cut off from the east, west and south by mountains which isolate it from the rest of the main island. For over two hundred years this area produced tsuba of Hagi style with little variation. The style pleased the samurai of the area, as well as those who occasionally saw this style of tsuba outside of the province. The Choshu tsuba originated at the beginning of the Edo age. The three earliest schools, of the eleven schools of Choshu, were the Kawaji, Nakai, and the Okamoto. They seem to have originated in the period from Kanei to Empo (1624-80). Though they were individual schools they show some Shoami influence and, in some cases, Umetada influence as well at this early stage of development.
There are two distinct styles to Choshu tsuba. One is openwork tsuba with the designs being the same, or virtually the same, on either side. The second style is solid plate with a different design on each side. Though the Umetada came to Choshu in the form of the Okada school, and the Bushu were to influence the designs of this school, the above two styles remained the same to almost the very end of the Edo age. The characteristics of the eleven schools are so similar that there is no need to describe each school in detail. There were separate family motifs and subjects, but they were all treated in either of the above two Choshu styles. For study purposes Choshu tsuba may be divided into two periods. The first is from the early Edo age to near the end of that period; the second period continues to the Meiji era. There were more than two hundred workers in the Choshu area in the Edo age. The tsuba of this large school of Choshu can not be judged as a group, a single family, or any one master. Each tsuba must be judged on its own merits. The inconsistency, and wide latitude in quality, make this essential for an understanding of Choshu tsuba.