The world of Japanese sword fittings – Tosogu – is vast and extremely attractive to many enthusiasts and collectors around the world.
Great variety of Tosogu decoration art techniques, styles and designs offers possibility to explore rich cultural heritage of the Country of the Rising Sun as well as to find deeper inspiration and finally achieve the state of spiritual calm in contemplation of both elegant visual simplicity and breathtaking artistic complexity of the fittings from different historical eras.
Besides its primary function Japanese swords were considered the only adornments a Samurai was allowed to wear to demonstrate his affiliation with the elite of the Japanese society of the time. This approach is reflected in the long forgotten concept of ‘Omotedogu’ – certain fittings had to be part of the Japanese sword mountings – Koshirae – to complete the official look of a Samurai. The higher the social position of the Samurai was the higher was the level of decoration of the Koshirae of his swords.
Thus, level of Tosogu artisanship has been developing in its tremendous diversity to the unimaginable heights throughout all the twelve hundreds of years of existence of the Samurai phenomena.
This site is dedicated to exhibiting four major Tosogu elements:
Tsuba
Fuchi-Kashira
Menuki
Kozuka
Each item serving at first its own specific purpose may stand as a bright illustration of the Way of the Samurai and united form a complete picture revealing the beauty of the Soul of the Samurai.
Welcome to the world of deadly refinement – the World of Tosogu!
