JAPAN - MUROMACHI period (1333 - 1573) - Lot 204

JAPAN - MUROMACHI period (1333 - 1573) Iron Ko-katsushi maru gata with kage-sukashi openwork of a dragonfly (tonbo or kachimushi, the victorious insect), its wings taking the form of the tsuba. Unsigned. H. 8.6 cm NBTHK certificate n°462560 Featured in the exhibition Samouraïs. Guerriers et esthètes, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Strasbourg, from March 11 to July 13, 2022, and is reproduced in the exhibition catalog, n°016, p.47 Reference: A similar tsuba in the collections of the Field Museum, Chicago, illustrated in Helen Gunsaulus, Japanese Sword-Mounts in the Collections of the Field Museum, 1929, vol. XVI, pl. VI, no. 3 The dragonfly is seen as a lucky charm for a samurai on the battlefield. When a dragonfly hunts, it always flies forward, never backward. Samurai are supposed to have the same mentality, and never turn their back on their enemy.