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                          Tsuba (sword guards) are used to protect the hand from sliding onto the blade of a sword. They are art works in their own right and are widely collected. Tsuba were mostly made by specialized kodogu and tosogu (sword fittings) artists, although some sword makers produced tsuba (tosho tsuba) as did armour makers (katchushi tsuba). In some cases the maker used a forged, folded plate; in other cases a homogeneous plate was used. Many tsuba are signed by the maker on the seppa-dai (area around the nakago ana).

                                Occasionally tsuba will be found with two small holes near the base of the tsuba. These are udenuki-ana which represent the sun and moon and were likely used for threading a leather wrist thong to prevent dropping the sword in battle.

                                Tsuba are commonly divided into two types; iron (tetsu) and soft metal (kinko). The kinko tsuba may be made of a variety of alloys; most commonly either shaduko (blue-black colored copper-gold alloy), sentoku (brown colored copper-lead-zinc alloy), shibuichi (gray colored copper-silver alloy), brass or copper and both  may have may have various carved and/or applied decor and/or cut-out designs (sukashi).