Kozuka hitsu-ana

Here used to be a hole, known as kozuka hitsu-ana (小柄櫃孔), used to fit a kozuka, the handle of a small utility knife. In this case,kozuka hitsu-ana has been filled with gold, and we can now recognize it as the flat golden area on the left. [Cf. Nanban tsuba & Asian export sword guards by Peter Dekker, 2018]

In the next step of this story we will see who would have chosen to wear this tsuba with a ship design, and why.[cf. Yumoto 2013 and Copper-Hewitt Museum 1980]