"The marks of the violent hammer that struck the plate were partially struck back to the rim, and the deep shadows were reminiscent of snowy skies and snowy fields. The bamboo and tiger depicted are in gold on a red copper background with high carved inlays. Tigers are often portrayed as "fierce tigers", but the situation here is a little different. A young tiger looks back and has a human-like expression that pretends to care about something. Did they sneak out of their burrows? The bamboo, which could not bear the weight of the snow that had fallen, jumped up, which may have caused the surprise. It is a depiction of a scene that leaves room for imagination of the viewer. The iron, showing its age, is tempered and thinly made.
The inscription proudly engraved on the kiri-waki: 'NARA KAJI IEKUNI'. H 01778.0. This is early Edo period work from the Yamato Province. Iekuni is the most outstanding craftsman among the Nara kaji school. It is very rare to have soft metal inlay by this artist.
This tsuba was in the collection of Kenichi Kokubo. It is illustrated in his book: ZABO TANSEN (1974), page 404." (Long & Haynes)
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