Acrylic accessories shaped as tsuba (decorative sword guard) by Umetsukiyo. Some customers used them
Acrylic accessories shaped as tsuba (decorative sword guard) by Umetsukiyo. Some customers used them as striking obidome (decorative obi buckle) like in this very nice kitsune-themed outfit seen on. Those fake-tsuba motifs are taken from folk stories, with from top to bottom +left to right: Shuten doji, the great demon lord, one of the 3 most powerful yokai of Japan alongside Tamamo no mae and OtakemaruTsuchigumo, a monstruous man-eaterground spiderNue, a shape shifting monster moving as a black cloudKokaji, a nod to a famous noh piece were a swordsmith received divine help from Inari itselfHakuzosu, a famous kitsune who shape-shifted and took the identity of a buddhist priestKappa no u, from a folktale where the monk Osho saved a kappa’s life and received with thanks a pot holding the river’s songModoribashi, japan has numerous tales where oni guard a bridge, this one is probably refering to this Watanabe no Tsuna story Ikkyu, is a very famous monk and the hero of many folk stories (I am not sure which episode is depicted here ^^;) -- source link
#japan#tsuba#katana#japanese sword#youkai#monster#shuten doji#tsuchigumo#kokaji#hakuzosu#kitsune#kappa#modoribashi#ikkyu#obidome#着物