Kozuka with design of fishing Ebisu

This is a kozuka, a handle of the small utility knife carried in the scabbard of the sword. It is made of shakudo (an alloy of gold and copper) worked in raised ‘fish-egg’ pattern, on which a high-relief inlay design of Ebisu depicted. Ebisu is a god of fishermen and merchants. The back side of the piece is executed in fukumi-kin technique, which covers a sheet of gold foil from the back to the border of the front sides and affixed by brazing.