What can we say that hasn’t already been said? Those Japanese koshirae makers had all kinds of talent. Here we have a nice little tantô that would be fine on its own, but no……they have seen fit embellish the koshirae with everything necessary to do some writing on the road. In this case, not only have they added a brush, but get this, they have put a hole in the tsuba so that when it is removed from the koshirae and placed on the table, the end of the brush can be placed in the hole to allow it to stand upright when not being used. Add to that the fact that what appears to be a kozuka is really nothing more than a thin metal cover for the inkwell and two small compartments for coins or whatever. Very clever….. 19th century.
