Kaneie

Kaneie is the most important tsuba craftsman equally admired as Nobuie in the Japan's sword guard history.
Before Kaneie, the all of designs of Japanese sword guards were only patterns.
However, Kaneie first time ever introduced sketches of natural objects.
His means of expressions of the motifs were thrown up from the painting styles of the Kano school or Kaiho Yusho or Hasegawa Tohaku.
Kaneie's surname is Aoki.
He was originally from the Samurai class.