Sukashi 透かし – (English openwork.) – was a technique in which an armourer or a blacksmith cut out a negative silhouette from the iron plate of a tsuba with a chisel and broke out the pre-cut shape from the plate, or punched a hole with a punch in a shape of the cut. He either left these cuts unmodified or finished the shape by files. From the 16th century, the cutting through technique was replaced by SAW CUTTING, which allowed manufacturers to compose more complex motifs. However, cutting through technique remained until today.
