Although during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, alloys had come into general use, and though the luxurious fashions of the Tokugawa court had called forth lavish decoration even on the fittings for the sword, there were certain groups of artists who continued to work almost entirely in iron, disdaining the softer metals of varying shades. Some of the sword-guards produced by these men are unusually beautiful in the purity of their designs, being for the most part executed in positive or negative silhouette carved with unerring accuracy and in many cases finished with fine lines of surface engraving. As a group, the members of the schools in the province of Higo were perhaps the most prolific, having left many striking examples of this type of iron work. The fact that this province is far removed from the shogun's capital may account for a certain persistency in the style of these pieces, as must also the circumstance that they are said to have been made primarily for one family, that of the powerful Hosokawa. For three centuries, this family ruled the province of Higo as daimyo from the time of Prince Hosokawa Sansai Tadaoki (i 564-1645), who in his leisure moments is reported to have made sword-fittings.

Besides independent groups of artists, there were five schools of metal workers in Higo, each of which developed distinguishing characteristics. Hirata Hikozo and Nishigaki Kanshiro were the founders of two schools, and themselves made sword-fittings for the Prince Tadaoki. Each was followed by many pupils and descendants who for several generations carried on their style of chiselling designs in negative silhouette. The followers of Nishigaki Kanshiro not only made tsuba carved in openwork, but they also left solid sword-guards ornamented with designs in low relief and covered with nunome-zogan. We learn from the illustrations reproducing the work of the Shimizu family, the third Higo school, that this particular group specialized in form there are incised, within a ring, five Chinese characters of antique monkey, or standing on a branch looking with searching eye for prey. The octopus placed at the top of the tsuba with its long tentacles extending along the sides is another favorite motive for these artists, most of whom used the name Jingo in conjunction with their other names in signing their work, thereby giving the appellation "Jingo tsuba" to much of the iron work with brass reliefs. , The Kamiyoshi family, who were the early members of the fourth group, had several representatives who produced fine tsuba, the last of fame being Masayasu Rakuju (nineteenth century), who continued the family custom of adorning the iron, wherefrom he cut designs both in negative and positive silhouette, with thread-like spirals or diamond shapes in relief of gold. The Hosokawa crest which consists of one large circle surrounded by eight small ones occasionally appears in miniature inlaid in gold several times on a specimen, thus adding a brilliancy to the dark iron which makes a very rich effect. Most famous of the five Higo schools is that of the Kasuga masters founded by Hayashi Matashichi (1608-91), whose products for the most part are of deep black iron, though some are known which are of copper, shibuichi, and shakudo. He inlaid pure gold wire on some of his tsuba, thereby producing brilliant effects. The crane with spreading wings and head turned to the side has been the basis for some of the most delicately chiselled tsuba made by these artists. The whole design is cut in positive silhouette, the feathers oftentimes being outlined by spans of iron less than one millimeter in width. With the same power and grace the Kasuga masters chiselled a spray of the plum, curving the body of the branch so as to form an irregular rim within which the twigs and blossoms are so placed as to fill the circle with a protective web of beautiful design. Surface carving accentuates the outline of the buds and delicately suggests the stamens of the plum-blossoms.

The kiri mon is one of the two imperial crests, the other being the kiku ("chrysanthemum"). The kiri is represented either with five and seven blossoms {go-shichi no kiri), which is the imperial form, or with five and three blossoms, generally the form used by other families of Japan. "The imperial kiri mon seems to have been of very ancient use, and was conferred as a subsidiary mon upon the great Minamoto warrior Yoshiiye, perhaps better known by his youthful name of Hachimantaro. Yoshiiye died in 1108, but the badge was transmitted as kayemon ('subsidiary badge') to several great military families descended from him, who flourished during the five succeeding centuries. These were the Hatakeyama, the Hosokawa, the Imagawa, the Nitta, the Shiba, and the Yamana, the last-named bearing it as a jomon ('fixed badge'). Moreover, seventeen daimyo families of Tokugawa times bore the badge as kayemon, and one, the So of Tsushima, as jomon; besides four kuge families, and lastly the great Hideyoshi himself, who bore both imperial mon, Paulownia, and chrysanthemum, and even presented surcoats bearing them to favored vassals. This should suffice to demonstrate that the presence of the imperial badge on any work of art in no wise implies any connection with the august line of the Son of Heaven." The three other crests on this tsuba are the mitsu-tomoye adopted by Arima, a daimyo of Shimozuke Province ; the hanabishi, the crest of the samurai family Torio; and the omodaka {Alisima plantago) in the form used by Mizuno, a daimyo of the province of Kazusa. The maker of this tsuba has chiselled the crests in positive silhouette with kebori lines to bring out details, and placed them equidistant from one another, dividing the spaces by lines of flying birds. This is quite characteristic of the school known as the Akasaka, as it is of the Kasuga, but it is thought on account of the kiri crest which was used by the Hosokawa family of Higo that it is more likely to have been produced in that province. Akasaka tsuba are likewise of iron and for the most part triumphs of chiselling in openwork generally in the positive silhouette style. Some of the most appealing ones are composed of inscriptions written in cursive.2 This school is said to have originated in the shop of a dealer, named Karigane Hikobei, who lived in the seventeenth century, at first in Kyoto. Under his strict surveillance Tadamasa I, a skilled metal worker, produced tsuba which were suggestive of the Heianjo sukashi guards. Hikobei, being a severe critic and himself a designer, is reported to have destroyed all pieces made in his studio which did not come up to his standard of excellence, thus maintaining a high quality, which has given these tsuba an enviable reputation. The name Akasaka comes from a district in Yedo whither Hikobei moved when the shogun's capital became the gathering place for many artists. There the dealer founded a distinct school among whose members were Tadamasa I, II, and Masatora as well as five men, by the name of Tadatoki. The first three of these Akasaka masters did not sign their tsuba and worked in the Heianjo style. From 1 akatoki I on, the artists of this family were strongly influenced by the Kasuga and Nishigaki schools of Higo, using many of the same designs and finishing their work with kebori. They usually cut away the maximum amount of iron, leaving in many cases extremely narrow spans of the metal to outline the motives. The Sunagawa school was an offshoot of the Akasaka, having been founded by Masatora in the eighteenth century. While the members of this group left many pieces in perforated designs which are pleasing, on the whole, Sunagawa tsuba do not possess the grace and delicacy of the parent school. The same may be said with some reservation of the Akao school, who were greatly influenced by the Akasaka family, and who produced beautiful tsuba, usually of conventionalized design. This school originated in Echizen in the early eighteenth century, and certain members remained in that province, while others migrated to Yedo. The small iron tsuba formed by the crossing of the outspread wings of three geese, is characteristic of the more formalized nature motives which were preferred by the Akao group. Yoshitsugu, a samurai to the daimyo of Echizen, was the first renowned member of this family. He was followed by a son of the same name. The bamboo, the gourd, and the bean are the designs most frequently met with in the tsuba which were made by an atelier in Satsuma Province. Naoka of the Oda family in the early eighteenth century produced many guards which were unsigned. The artist has carved in the round a gourd with twisting stem, tendrils, and leaves, the veining of which he has brought out by finely cut, low relief and kebori. Certain of these guards, particularly those bearing the signature of Fujiwara Naoka, are fashioned to represent bamboo sprays with young leaves. One of particular beauty is that in the Oeder collection.1 The Satsuma school excelled in its fine treatment and tempering of the iron, and almost always based its designs upon the three plants mentioned above. In the province of Echizen, the most famous school of tsuba makers is that of the Kinai, so called from the name of five artists, who made sword-guards of iron chiselled in openwork designs of plants, dragons, shells, masks, and cranes. These tsuba were widely imitated, many of the copies being inlaid in gold, a method of decoration rarely to be seen in the true work of the masters.

The first Kinai of the Ishikawa family died in 1680. F. Brinkley2 relates having seen his tomb, as well as that of the second Kinai which is dated 1699. H. Joly informs us that "the first and second Kinai made chiefly circular and somewhat large guards, the third affected dragon designs, and his followers continued the tradition, though after the fifth, all kinds of designs prevail." The unusual finish on some Kinai guards is due to a coating of magnetic iron oxide, a process which the copyists also employed. This treatment produced a black patina of considerable brilliancy. Certain Kinai tsuba are signed "Kenjo," which means "made for presentation." These are thought by M. de Tressan to be the work of Kinai II, called Takahashi. Working in the second half of the seventeenth century, he must have produced them for the daimyo, all of whom were required to go to the shogun's capital each year in compliance with the edict announcing this duty, and published by Tokugawa Iyemitsu in 1642. It was customary on these occasions to present the shogun with gifts. In the attribution of these tsuba to Kinai II, F. Brinkley agrees with M. de Tressan, adding that this artist also produced for the feudal chief of Echizen many other objects, such as chojiburo and incense holders with perforated patterns of lace-like fineness. For exceptional sukashibori work in iron the Kinai are unsurpassed by any of the other seventeenth-century artists. Three tsuba signed: Kinai saku Echizen ju ("made by Kinai living in Echizen") have been chosen from several in this collection, similarly signed, in the belief that they are genuine examples of one of the five masters.