Sword guard (Tsuba) Depicting Bodhidharma (磨図鐔) 18th century Japanese The individual elements of the hilt of a Japanese sword are unique in the history of edged weapons in that they are intended to be seen both as funtional parts of the sword and as independent works of art. The most prominent of these elements is the tsuba, the disklike guard that separates the base of the blade from the top of the grip. The decoration of tsuba encompasses a wide range of themes: naturalistic scenes, secular stories, and, as this tsuba demonstrates, religious symbolism.This example is made of iron, chiseled in high relief and damscened with gold. It depicts a famous episode from the life of Bodhidharma, known in Japan as Bodaidaruma or Daruma, traditionally regarded as the twenty-eighth patriarch of Buddhism in India, who founded Ch'an Buddhism in China during the sixth century. Cha'an Buddhism, which developed out of the meeting of Indian Buddhism and the indigenous Taoism of China, was introduced i