Tsuba with Scene of Celebrating the Tanabata Festival

Description Four dancers are depicted on this tsuba. Above them hang bamboo branches with poems on slips of paper. These poems are part of the celebration of Tanabata. The festival celebrates the yearly reunion between the Weaving Maiden (Jp. "Orihime") and the Shepard (Jp. "Hikoboshi"), known in the West as the starts Vega and Altair. On the front of the tsuba, two dancers appear at the right. A third is at the lower left. The fourth dancer is on the back.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] 含章子　長常; [Translation] Ganshoshi/Nagatsune

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters