This tsuba illustrates a story about the 8th-century Chinese painter Wu Daozi [Tao-tzu], who was said to have painted a picture of a dragon so realistic that it came to life. The tsuba shows the painter in the lower right surrounded by brushes and other tools. The dragon looms over the upper left of the tsuba. On the reverse is a pine tree and bamboo. Both secondary holes have been plugged and the background incising continues across the plugs.
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65040661" class="extiw" title="d:Q65040661"><span title="Japanese swordsmith">Shimizu Tomohisa</span></a>
</bdi>
circa 1800 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1800-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div> (late Edo)
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