Inscription: Ishiguro Masatsune (personal signature-seal)
Mid- to late Edo period
Donated by Watanabe Riemon
Two matching sword fittings make up a fuchigashira: the hilt collar (fuchi) and the pommel cap at the end of the sword hilt (kashira). Here, they depict wild geese flying towards a pine tree.
The depiction of birds and flowers was the forte of the Ishiguro School, which was established by Ishiguro Masatsune (1746–1828) toward the end of the eighteenth century. The solemn character of their interpretations, seen here in the geese, made Ishiguro works popular among samurai and elevated the school to one of the most thriving centers of sword-fitting production in Edo (present-day Tokyo). His descendants went on to take the name of Ishiguro Masatsune in successive generations.