The online collection and picture sale

Once again, the decoration is pierced radially, with an abstract-looking chrysanthemum flower. When shown with sixteen petals, the chrysanthemum symbolized the Imperial House of Japan. Otherwise it was a symbol of serenity. The Emperor Gotoba (1185-1198), a great admirer of this flower, had it reproduced on his kimono, on his litters, and even on his swords. Logically, the chrysanthemum was adopted as the symbol of the imperial family and its coat of arms. The same abstract tendency shown on 17th-century tsuba appears in this example, as a typically Japanese abstract form of expression. Gold-ornamented sea waves enliven the edges. (Fernando García Gutiérrez, 2008)

Selected bibliography

• Caeiro Izquierdo, Luis. La Cultura Samurai : armas japonesas en las colecciones españolas [tesis inédita]. Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1991.
• Pereda, Arantxa. La Colección Palacio : arte japonés en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 1998. p. 44, n° cat. 18.
• García Gutiérrez, Fernando. "Tsuba : Japoniako zaldunen ezaugarri bat. Tsuba bilduma Bilboko Arte Eder Museoan = Un signo distintivo de los caballeros de Japón. Colección de tsuba en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao = The Mark of the Kinghts of Japan. The Tsuba Collection at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum", B'07 : Buletina = Boletín = Bulletin, n° 3. 2008. pp. 101-159.
• Sala Ivars, Marcos Andrés. "Estudio y catalogación de las colecciones públicas de sables japoneses en el País Vasco", Ars Bilduma, n. 11. 2021. p. 75.
• Arte japonés y japonismo [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 149, 508-509, 511, 513, 522, n° cat. 13.