Koshirae
Encyclopedia
refers to the mountings of a Japanese sword
(e.g. katana
) when the sword blade is being worn by its owner, whereas the shirasaya is a wooden saya and tsuka that the sword blade is stored in when not being used.
A koshirae should be presented with the tsuka (hilt
) to the left, particularly in times of peace with the reason being that you cannot unsheathe the sword easily this way. During the Edo period, many formalized rules were put into place: in times of war the tsuka should be presented to the right allowing the sword to be readily unsheathed.
Koshirae were meant not only for functional but also for aesthetic purposes, often using a family mon (crest
) for identification.
A katana
, a type of Japanese longsword, is drawn by grasping the saya near the top and pressing the tsuba with the thumb to emerge the blade just enough to unwedge the habaki from inside the saya in a process called "koiguchi-no-kirikata". The blade is then free in the saya, and can be drawn out very quickly. This is known as "Koiguchi-o kiru", nukitsuke, or "tanka o kiru" (啖呵を切る, "clearing the tanka"). This is obviously an extremely aggressive gesture, since a fatal cut can be given in a fraction of a second thereafter (see iaidō
).
The expression "tanka o kiru" is now widely used in Japan, in the sense of "getting ready to begin something", or "getting ready to speak", especially with an aggressive connotation.
The habaki will cause normal wear and tear on the koiguchi and either a shim or new saya may be needed to remedy the issue as it will become too loose over time. Oiling under the habaki after cutting or once every few months is recommended by removing the habaki from the sword, though.
.
There are a number of different methods for wrapping and tying the sageo on the saya
for display purposes.
In some schools of Iaidō
, the sageo is tied to the hakama
when practicing.
term for a scabbard
, and specifically refers to the scabbard for a sword or knife.
Saya are normally manufactured from very lightweight wood, with a coat of lacquer on the exterior. The wood is light enough that great care must be taken when drawing the sword; incorrect form may result in the blade of the sword slicing through the saya and severing one or more fingers. Correct drawing and sheathing of the blade involves contacting the mune rather than ha to the inside of the saya. The saya also has a on one side for attaching a braided cord (sageo), and may have a shitodome to accent the kurigata as well as a made from metal. Traditionally the koiguchi and kojiri were made from buffalo horn.
and its various declinations, tachi
, wakizashi
, tantō
, naginata
etc. They contribute to the balance of the weapon and to the protection of the hand. The tsuba was mostly meant to be used to prevent the hand from sliding onto the blade during thrusts as opposed to protecting from an opponent's blade. The chudan no kamae guard is determined by the tsuba and the curvature of the blade. The diameter of the average katana tsuba is 7.5 –, wakizashi tsuba is 6.2 –, and tantō tsuba is 4.5 –.
During the Muromachi period
(1333–1573) and the Momoyama period (1573–1603) Tsuba were more for functionality than for decoration, being made of stronger metals and designs. During the Edo period
(1603–1868) there was peace in Japan so tsuba became more ornamental and made of less practical metals such as gold.
Tsuba are usually finely decorated, and nowadays are collectors' items. Tsuba were made by whole dynasties of craftsmen whose only craft was making tsuba. They were usually lavishly decorated. In addition to being collectors items, they were often used as heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next. Japanese families
with samurai
roots sometimes have their family crest (mon) crafted onto a tsuba. Tsuba can be found in a variety of metals and alloys, including iron, steel, brass, copper and shakudo
.
In a duel, two participants may lock their katana together at the point of the tsuba and push, trying to gain a better position from which to strike the other down. This is known as tsubazeriai (鍔迫り合い), lit. pushing tsuba against each other. Tsubazeriai is a common sight in modern kendo
.
In modern Japanese, tsubazeriai (鍔迫り合い) has also come to mean "to be in fierce competition."
) to facilitate close wearing with armor, it became a fashionable upper-class mounting style for tantō
(daggers) in the Edo period
. Small aikuchi tantō known as kaiken
became popular with the Yakuza
, as they were easy to conceal; however, the most typical user of kaiken were women samurai from the Edo period onwards, who kept it as an emergency and/or suicide weapon.
According to S. Alexander Takeuchi from University of North Alabama, Department of Sociology, aikuchi, is a form of koshirae (mounting style) which commonly was used in tantō creation. The nomenclature of the word "aikuchi" is the following: the is a gerund which means meeting and is a noun that means mouth. The same formula is used in koi-guchi. So, aikuchi initially was a style of mounting in which the fuchi meets with the koi-guchi.
Later, in the Tokugawa period
, this tradition of blade mounting gave the name to the very short samurai sword—tantō. Thus, the aikuchi tantō represented a no-tsuba (guard) short sword mainly used in Tokugawa period. The dagger was short and it had a cutting edge the length of which was about 9 inches. It could serve for self-defense as well as for attacking the enemy by throwing it. This weapon looks similar to tantō—the only difference is that aikuchi does not have a hand guard. It was very popular during fifteenth century.
Aikuchi was used mainly during infighting as well as close range grappling. It served for dispatching the enemy when thrown to the ground. This weapon can be easily recognized by the size of its blade as well as by the fact that it had no hilt guard. Aikuchi were also created in a thicker version called yoroi tōshi
(Japanese for "armor piercer"). Yoroi tōshi was a strong dagger able to cut through armor when fighting at a close range.
There was also another type of aikuchi called moroha zukuri (Japanese for "double-edged style"). Its blade length was about 7 inches and its blade was sharpened on both sides. It is considered that the best aikuchi knives were created by the famous Japanese swordsmiths that represented the Osafune
school, situated in Bizen province
. Nowadays these daggers are considered to be very rare and thus very valuable.
, Japan
ese sword
s, where the sword is suspended edge-down from two hangers attached to the obi
. The hilt
(tsuka) often had a slightly stronger curvature than the blade
, continuing the classic tachi increase in curvature as you go from the tip to the hilt. The hilt was usually secured with two pegs (mekugi), as compared to one peg for shorter blades including uchigatana
and katana
.
en Japan
ese blade
mount consisting of a saya (scabbard
) and tsuka (hilt
), traditional made of nurizaya wood and used when a blade was not expected to see use for some time and needed to be stored. They were externally featureless save for the needed mekugi-ana to secure the nakago (tang
), though sometimes sayagaki (blade information) was also present. The need for specialized storage is because prolonged koshirae
mounting harmed the blade, owing to factors such as the lacquer
ed wood retaining moisture
and encouraging corrosion
.
Such mountings are not intended for actual combat, as the lack of a tsuba (guard) and proper handle wrappings were deleterious; as such they would likely never make their way onto a battlefield. However, there have been loosely-similar "hidden" mountings, such as the shikomizue. Also, many blades dating back to earlier Japanese history
are today sold in such a format, along with modern-day reproductions; while most are purely-decorative replicas, a few have functional blades.
ese swordstick
. It is most famous for its use by the fictional
swordmaster
Zatoichi
.
The name shikomi-zue is actually the name of a type of mounting; the sword blade was placed in a cane-like mounting (tsue), to conceal the fact that it was a sword. These mountings are not to be confused with the Shirasaya mountings, which were just plain wooden mountings with no decorations.
Some shikomi-zue also concealed metsubushi
, chains, hooks, and many other things. The shikomi-zue could be carried in public without arousing suspicion.
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
(e.g. katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
) when the sword blade is being worn by its owner, whereas the shirasaya is a wooden saya and tsuka that the sword blade is stored in when not being used.
Description
The word koshirae is derived from the verb , which is no longer used in current speech. More commonly "tsukuru" is used in its place with both words meaning to "make, create, manufacture." A more accurate word is , meaning sword-furniture, where are the parts of the mounting in general, and "kanagu" stands for those made of metal. are the "outer" mountings, as opposed to , the "body" of the sword.A koshirae should be presented with the tsuka (hilt
Hilt
The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case...
) to the left, particularly in times of peace with the reason being that you cannot unsheathe the sword easily this way. During the Edo period, many formalized rules were put into place: in times of war the tsuka should be presented to the right allowing the sword to be readily unsheathed.
Koshirae were meant not only for functional but also for aesthetic purposes, often using a family mon (crest
Crest (heraldry)
A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
) for identification.
Components
- :The fuchi is a hilt collar between the tsuka and the tsuba.
- :The habaki is a wedge shaped metal collar used to keep the sword from falling out of the saya and to support the fittings below; fitted at the ha-machi and mune-machi which precede the nakago.
- - a hook shaped fitting used to lock the saya to the obiObiObi may refer to:* Obi , a sash worn with a kimono or with the uniforms used by practitioners of Japanese martial arts* Obi-Wan Kenobi, fictional character from the Star Wars universe...
while drawing. - :The kashira is a butt cap (or pommel) on the end of the tsuka.
- :The kōgai is a spike for hair arranging carried sometimes as part of Katana-Koshirae in another pocket.
- :The koiguchi is the mouth of the saya or its fitting; traditionally made of buffalo horn.
- :The kojiri is the end of the saya or the protective fitting at the end of the saya; also traditionally made of buffalo horn.
- :The kozuka is a decorative handle fitting for the kogatana; a small utility knife fit into a pocket on the saya.
- :The kuri-kata is a knob on the side of the saya for attaching the sageo.
- :The mekugi is a small peg for securing the tsuka to the nakago.
- :The menuki are ornaments on the tsuka (generally under the tsuka-ito); to fit into the palm for grip and originally meant to hide the mekugi.
- :The mekugi-ana are the holes in the tsuka and nakago for the mekugi.
- :The sageo is the cord used to tie saya to the belt/obi when worn.
- - literally the pattern of the ray skin.
- :same-kawa is the ray or shark skin wrapping of the tsuka (handle/hilt).
- :The saya is a wooden scabbard for the blade; traditionally done in lacquered wood.
- :The seppa are washers above and below the tsuba to tighten the fittings.
- - an accent on the kurikata for aesthetic purposes; often done in gold-ish metal in modern reproductions.
- :The tsuba is a hand guard.
- :The tsuka is the hilt or handle; made of wood and wrapped in samegawa.
- - the art of wrapping the tsuka, including the most common hineri maki and katate maki (battle wrap).
- :Tsuka-ito the wrap of the tsuka, traditionally silk but today most often in cotton and sometimes leather.
- - metal chop-sticks fit in a pocket on the saya.
Habaki
The is a piece of metal encircling the base of the blade of a Japanese bladed weapon. It has the double purpose of locking the tsuba (guard) in place, and to maintain the weapon in its saya (scabbard).A katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
, a type of Japanese longsword, is drawn by grasping the saya near the top and pressing the tsuba with the thumb to emerge the blade just enough to unwedge the habaki from inside the saya in a process called "koiguchi-no-kirikata". The blade is then free in the saya, and can be drawn out very quickly. This is known as "Koiguchi-o kiru", nukitsuke, or "tanka o kiru" (啖呵を切る, "clearing the tanka"). This is obviously an extremely aggressive gesture, since a fatal cut can be given in a fraction of a second thereafter (see iaidō
Iaido
is a modern Japanese martial art associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard...
).
The expression "tanka o kiru" is now widely used in Japan, in the sense of "getting ready to begin something", or "getting ready to speak", especially with an aggressive connotation.
The habaki will cause normal wear and tear on the koiguchi and either a shim or new saya may be needed to remedy the issue as it will become too loose over time. Oiling under the habaki after cutting or once every few months is recommended by removing the habaki from the sword, though.
Sageo
A is a hanging cord made of silk, cotton or leather that is passed through the hole in the kurigata (栗形) of a Japanese sword's sayaScabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
.
There are a number of different methods for wrapping and tying the sageo on the saya
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
for display purposes.
In some schools of Iaidō
Iaido
is a modern Japanese martial art associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard...
, the sageo is tied to the hakama
Hakama
are a type of traditional Japanese clothing. They were originally worn only by men, but today they are worn by both sexes. Hakama are tied at the waist and fall approximately to the ankles. Hakama are worn over a kimono ....
when practicing.
Saya
is the JapaneseJapanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
term for a scabbard
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
, and specifically refers to the scabbard for a sword or knife.
Saya are normally manufactured from very lightweight wood, with a coat of lacquer on the exterior. The wood is light enough that great care must be taken when drawing the sword; incorrect form may result in the blade of the sword slicing through the saya and severing one or more fingers. Correct drawing and sheathing of the blade involves contacting the mune rather than ha to the inside of the saya. The saya also has a on one side for attaching a braided cord (sageo), and may have a shitodome to accent the kurigata as well as a made from metal. Traditionally the koiguchi and kojiri were made from buffalo horn.
Tsuba
The is usually a round or occasionally squarish guard at the end of the grip of bladed Japanese weapons, like the katanaKatana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
and its various declinations, tachi
Tachi
The is one type of traditional Japanese sword worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan.-History and description:With a few exceptions katana and tachi can be distinguished from each other if signed, by the location of the signature on the tang...
, wakizashi
Wakizashi
The is one of the traditional Japanese swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.-Description:...
, tantō
Tanto
A is one of the traditional Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate...
, naginata
Naginata
The naginata is one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades in the form of a pole weapon. Naginata were originally used by the samurai class in feudal Japan, and naginata were also used by ashigaru and sōhei .-Description:A naginata consists of a wooden shaft with a curved...
etc. They contribute to the balance of the weapon and to the protection of the hand. The tsuba was mostly meant to be used to prevent the hand from sliding onto the blade during thrusts as opposed to protecting from an opponent's blade. The chudan no kamae guard is determined by the tsuba and the curvature of the blade. The diameter of the average katana tsuba is 7.5 –, wakizashi tsuba is 6.2 –, and tantō tsuba is 4.5 –.
During the Muromachi period
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...
(1333–1573) and the Momoyama period (1573–1603) Tsuba were more for functionality than for decoration, being made of stronger metals and designs. During the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
(1603–1868) there was peace in Japan so tsuba became more ornamental and made of less practical metals such as gold.
Tsuba are usually finely decorated, and nowadays are collectors' items. Tsuba were made by whole dynasties of craftsmen whose only craft was making tsuba. They were usually lavishly decorated. In addition to being collectors items, they were often used as heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next. Japanese families
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
with samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
roots sometimes have their family crest (mon) crafted onto a tsuba. Tsuba can be found in a variety of metals and alloys, including iron, steel, brass, copper and shakudo
Shakudo
Shakudō is a billon of gold and copper , mostly designed for its dark blue-purple patina. It was historically used in Japan to decorate katana fittings such as tsuba and kozuka...
.
In a duel, two participants may lock their katana together at the point of the tsuba and push, trying to gain a better position from which to strike the other down. This is known as tsubazeriai (鍔迫り合い), lit. pushing tsuba against each other. Tsubazeriai is a common sight in modern kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
.
In modern Japanese, tsubazeriai (鍔迫り合い) has also come to mean "to be in fierce competition."
Aikuchi
The (literally "fitting mouth") is a form of mounting for Japanese blades in which the handle and the scabbard meet without a guard in between. Originally used on the koshigatana (a precursor to the wakizashiWakizashi
The is one of the traditional Japanese swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.-Description:...
) to facilitate close wearing with armor, it became a fashionable upper-class mounting style for tantō
Tanto
A is one of the traditional Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate...
(daggers) in the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. Small aikuchi tantō known as kaiken
Kaiken (dagger)
A is a dagger formerly carried by men and women of the samurai class in Japan. It was useful for self-defense indoors where the long katana and intermediate wakizashi were inconvenient. Women carried them in the obi for self-defense and rarely for jigai . A woman received a kaiken as part of her...
became popular with the Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
, as they were easy to conceal; however, the most typical user of kaiken were women samurai from the Edo period onwards, who kept it as an emergency and/or suicide weapon.
According to S. Alexander Takeuchi from University of North Alabama, Department of Sociology, aikuchi, is a form of koshirae (mounting style) which commonly was used in tantō creation. The nomenclature of the word "aikuchi" is the following: the is a gerund which means meeting and is a noun that means mouth. The same formula is used in koi-guchi. So, aikuchi initially was a style of mounting in which the fuchi meets with the koi-guchi.
Later, in the Tokugawa period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, this tradition of blade mounting gave the name to the very short samurai sword—tantō. Thus, the aikuchi tantō represented a no-tsuba (guard) short sword mainly used in Tokugawa period. The dagger was short and it had a cutting edge the length of which was about 9 inches. It could serve for self-defense as well as for attacking the enemy by throwing it. This weapon looks similar to tantō—the only difference is that aikuchi does not have a hand guard. It was very popular during fifteenth century.
Aikuchi was used mainly during infighting as well as close range grappling. It served for dispatching the enemy when thrown to the ground. This weapon can be easily recognized by the size of its blade as well as by the fact that it had no hilt guard. Aikuchi were also created in a thicker version called yoroi tōshi
Yoroi toshi
The "armor piercing or piercer" or "mail piercer"were one of the traditional Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class as a weapon in feudal Japan.-Description:...
(Japanese for "armor piercer"). Yoroi tōshi was a strong dagger able to cut through armor when fighting at a close range.
There was also another type of aikuchi called moroha zukuri (Japanese for "double-edged style"). Its blade length was about 7 inches and its blade was sharpened on both sides. It is considered that the best aikuchi knives were created by the famous Japanese swordsmiths that represented the Osafune
Osafune, Okayama
was a town located in Oku District, Okayama, Japan.On November 1, 2004 Osafune was merged with the towns of Oku and Ushimado, all from Oku District, to form the new city of Setouchi....
school, situated in Bizen province
Bizen Province
was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchu and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces....
. Nowadays these daggers are considered to be very rare and thus very valuable.
Jintachi
is the primary style of mounting used for tachiTachi
The is one type of traditional Japanese sword worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan.-History and description:With a few exceptions katana and tachi can be distinguished from each other if signed, by the location of the signature on the tang...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, where the sword is suspended edge-down from two hangers attached to the obi
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
. The hilt
Hilt
The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case...
(tsuka) often had a slightly stronger curvature than the blade
Blade
A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...
, continuing the classic tachi increase in curvature as you go from the tip to the hilt. The hilt was usually secured with two pegs (mekugi), as compared to one peg for shorter blades including uchigatana
Uchigatana
The is one type type of traditional Japanese sword worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The uchigatana was the descendant of the tachi.-History:...
and katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
.
Shirasaya
A , literally "white scabbard", is a plain woodWood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
en Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese blade
Blade
A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...
mount consisting of a saya (scabbard
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
) and tsuka (hilt
Hilt
The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case...
), traditional made of nurizaya wood and used when a blade was not expected to see use for some time and needed to be stored. They were externally featureless save for the needed mekugi-ana to secure the nakago (tang
Tang (weaponry)
A tang or shank is the back portion of a tool where it extends into stock material or is connected to a handle as on a knife, sword, spear, arrowhead, chisel, screwdriver, etc...
), though sometimes sayagaki (blade information) was also present. The need for specialized storage is because prolonged koshirae
Koshirae
refers to the mountings of a Japanese sword when the sword blade is being worn by its owner, whereas the shirasaya is a wooden saya and tsuka that the sword blade is stored in when not being used.-Description:...
mounting harmed the blade, owing to factors such as the lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
ed wood retaining moisture
Moisture
Humidity is the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains. Moisture refers to the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts...
and encouraging corrosion
Corrosion
Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
.
Such mountings are not intended for actual combat, as the lack of a tsuba (guard) and proper handle wrappings were deleterious; as such they would likely never make their way onto a battlefield. However, there have been loosely-similar "hidden" mountings, such as the shikomizue. Also, many blades dating back to earlier Japanese history
History of Japan
The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human...
are today sold in such a format, along with modern-day reproductions; while most are purely-decorative replicas, a few have functional blades.
Shikomizue
The is a JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese swordstick
Swordstick
A swordstick or cane-sword is a cane incorporating a concealed blade. The term is typically used to describe European weapons from around the 18th century, but similar devices have been used throughout history, notably the Japanese shikomizue and the Ancient Roman dolon.- Popularity :The swordstick...
. It is most famous for its use by the fictional
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
swordmaster
Swordmaster
Swordmaster or Sword Master may refer to:* Kensei - an adept in swordsmanship* Swordmaster, one of several characters from the Soul Calibur video game series* Swordmaster, a unit classes in Fire Emblem video games...
Zatoichi
Zatoichi
is a fictional character featured in one of Japan's longest running series of films and a television series set in the Edo period. The character, a blind masseur and swordmaster, was created by novelist . This originally minor character was developed for the screen by Daiei Studios and actor...
.
The name shikomi-zue is actually the name of a type of mounting; the sword blade was placed in a cane-like mounting (tsue), to conceal the fact that it was a sword. These mountings are not to be confused with the Shirasaya mountings, which were just plain wooden mountings with no decorations.
Some shikomi-zue also concealed metsubushi
Metsubushi
- "eye closers", the name for variety of implements and techniques used by samurai police and other individuals to temporarily or permanently blind or disorient an opponent in feudal Japan.-Description:...
, chains, hooks, and many other things. The shikomi-zue could be carried in public without arousing suspicion.
Further reading
- The Craft of the Japanese Sword, Leon and Hiroko Kapp, Yoshindo Yoshihara ; Kodansha International; ISBN 0-87011-798-X
- The Samurai Sword: A Handbook, John M. Yumoto ; Charles E. Tuttle Company; ISBN 0-8048-0509-1
- The Japanese Sword, Kanzan Sato ; Kodansha International; ISBN 0-87011-562-6
- Japanese Swords, Nobuo Ogasawara ; Hoikusha Publishing Co, Ltd. ISBN 4-586-54022-2
External links
- History of the Development of Koshirae
- Habaki - On Japanese Swords
- Nihonto Antiques - Step by step guide to tying a Sageo (photos).
- Usagiya Sword Shop - Step by step guide to tying a Sageo (photos).