The earliest name of a sword-guard maker to be met with is that of Mitsutsune (1390), Kaneiye of Fushimi, Umetada, Shigeyoshi (a renowned swordsmith), Gōtō Yūjō (died 1504), Miochin Nobuiye (1507-1555), Iranken Yamakichi (1570) and Hoan were all renowned for their tsuba at a later period. Nobuiye’s work was distinguished for the thin soft iron with a thick patina, reddish in hue. His tsuba bear traces of the hammer, as do the tsuba of his followers for a considerable period. To Gōtō Yūjō (1426-1504) and other members of the Gōtō family Japanese connoisseurs give preference. A Japanese expert at once recognizes in the Gōtō tsuba the _iyébori_ or style of the family whose genius produced them. The work on those sword-guards whose surface is punched into a texture of small dots until it resembles fish roe is called _nanakoji_, and for tsuba so finished the Gōtō family were without rivals. Moslé suggests that one of the requisites in the Japanese connoisseur’s education is to recognize the iyébori (personal style) of the first thirteen generations of the Gōtō! Piercing, chasing, and, in a few instances, inlaying and damascening came into the practice of the metal-workers with the advent of the sixteenth century. Umetada Shigeyoshi, who has been called the “master of masters,” began the free use of the graver in ornamentation. To him mainly are due the decorative changes that marked the tsuba which were made during this period. The close of the sixteenth century brought a stretch of two hundred and fifty peaceful years after the turbulence that had shaken Japan until then. Naturally, in the years of war the sword of the Japanese fighter called for guards practical and tough in texture, something that would deflect the powerful blow of an opponent. In the years of peace the tsuba were mainly adapted to court use and for the adornment of the person. The tsuba-makers of Ōsaka produced marvels of damascening in gold and silver on iron. The second Kaneiye encrusted his sword-guards with copper ornament, and Hirata Dōnin introduced the use of translucent enamels. The pierced work of Kinai of Echizen is supreme in its elegance of form. The close of the seventeenth century gave rise to three schools of tsuba decoration--the Nara School, revolting against the academic style of the Gōtō, as did the Yokoya School, and the Omori School. In the work of the masters of all three of these schools, the Gōtō influence may still be traced, even though these metal-workers tried to get away from it.