Tabakoire (tobacco pouch)

The leather used for this tobacco pouch is called "shobugawa". It is made of deer hide, and the white figures on the leather represent simplified calamus (shobu in Japanese). Shobugawa was one of the traditional Japanese leathers and used particularly for armor of samurai. The samurai prefered this leather because the word shobu means not only calamus, but also fight or respect to budo (Japanese martial spirit). The flowers depicted on kiseruzutsu (Japanese pipe case) and that of fitting metal on the pouch are peony. Kiseruzutsu and the fitting metal were made by famous craftsmen in the Meiji era.