Tsuka-ito made of wood (or horn?)

[stephan_hiller]

Hi guys,

below are some pictures from a wakizashi I have. It is definitely not a high quality blade but it has an intersting tsuka I have never seen before. The tsuka and tsuka-ito is made entirely of wood, except for the fuchi/kashira and menuki. I am even not sure if it is really wood, it could also be horn as it is entirely black. The fuchi/kashira/menuki are definitely horn and they look different than the tsuka material. The same is just inlays - you can see it in one of the prictures where the same is missing.

As the blade has no metal parts for fuchi/kashira/menuki I assume that the wood/horn tsuka-ito construction is a sign of a cheaper blade. As you can see in the pictures, parts of the tsuka-ito were raised on both sides to insert the menuki - there are small ridges.
From a practical point of view wood/horn does not has the same grip like silk/cotton and is also not able to absorb sweat. Maybe the sword was never meant to be used in combat?

Today, carving a tsuka and simulating the tsuka-ito would be more expensive than using silk/cotton for the binding but labor was probably cheaper at its time of manufacture than metal parts and real tsuka-ito.

I wonder if anyone of you have seen such a tsuka before and it you agree to my assumption that this is a sign for a lower-end blade?

 

Thanks,
Stephan

 

[Dave R]

 Very hard to tell from photo's, but materials I know to have been used for Ito include lacquered paper, and whalebone also known as Baleen. I wonder if lacquered leather or rawhide would give the same effect as well. Regarding utility, the weatherproofing would be an advantage in some circumstances. It's far from unknown for the whole tsuka to be lacquered for this reason.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Looks like lacquered leather to me.  *EDIT* Did not look closely at the samegawa panels, Chris is right, horn could be the stuff.

[vajo]

I think it is horn Stephan. The ito same is made of pieces and glued into the fields.  The inner sides of the tsuka ito are solid and cut out. You see also no real wrap. Ito and Fuchi / Kashira looks like one piece. Very interesting piece.

[16k]

Dunno about the tsuka, but I really like the blade. Nice Hada and Hamon.

[Logan09]

I want to say it's laquered leather. Where the menuki are you can see lines/creases in the "Ito" if it is a carved piece of wood/horn how would the menuki, and kashira be installed?

[PNSSHOGUN]

I want to say it's laquered leather. Where the menuki are you can see lines/creases in the "Ito" if it is a carved piece of wood/horn how would the menuki, and kashira be installed?

Look closely at the Ito around the Menuki, it's a separate piece inlaid as a square, Ito included.

[Brian]

Full dimensions of the blade?
 

[stephan_hiller]

Thank you all for you replies. What I can definitely say the ito is not laquered leather. It is a hard material like wood or horn, but in the meantime I rather tend to horn. I would assume that if it would be wood (and laquered) then there would have been damage to it where you can see the unlaquered wood - but that is not the case. I don't know about the whalebone Dave mentioned. I would also assume that is rather white/yellow - and if laquered I would expect so see it the unlaqured bone in a damaged area. 

[Logan09]

Look closely at the Ito around the Menuki, it's a separate piece inlaid as a square, Ito included.

That's what I was second guessing myself on. It does appear to be carved wood or something after looking at it for a long time. Very interesting piece. I do not see how this would be any cheaper/quicker than a cotton Ito wrap.

[vajo]

For me it looks clearly as one piece fuchi and kashira are polished.. The menuki is carved too. The same is made in rhombus and glued in.

[stephan_hiller]

Here are the dimensions

 

 

Nagasa

45.1 cm / 17.8 ”

Nagako-nagasa

12,3 cm / 4.8 ”

Moto-haba

2.8 cm / 1.1 ”

Saki-haba

2,0 cm / 0.8 ”

Moto-kasane

0.5 cm / 0.2 ”

Saki-kasane

0.4 cm / 0.16 “

Sori

1.5 cm / 0.6“

[Brian]

Looks to be a child's or Bunraku sword. Maybe may for a play or something similar. Lot of work there, and a step above the ordinary.

[Grey Doffin]

A couple years ago I had a sword, a katana I believe and definitely not a chil's sword (if I could remember which one I'd link to pictures on my site) that had wood tsuka ito.  It had been carved in the round to look exactly like real ito and with recesses to fit the menuki, the menuki had been inserted inside, and the whole unit was slid onto the tsuka, up against the fuchi and finally locked in place when the kashira was added.  There was no practical advantage, quite the contrary, but, I believe, done to be different or to show off the carver's skill.

Grey

[ROKUJURO]

In any case, I think that the blade is really a nice one. Certainly not a theater item! 

[Dave R]

Thank you all for you replies. What I can definitely say the ito is not laquered leather. It is a hard material like wood or horn, but in the meantime I rather tend to horn. I would assume that if it would be wood (and laquered) then there would have been damage to it where you can see the unlaquered wood - but that is not the case. I don't know about the whalebone Dave mentioned. I would also assume that is rather white/yellow - and if laquered I would expect so see it the unlaqured bone in a damaged area. 

 

 Whalebone is a bit of a misnomer, which is why I also used the term baleen, it's more like horn than anything else. A thread here on baleen wraps. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4494-baleen-whale-wrapping-of-tsuka/

[Greg F]

A very nice and interesting sword Stephen, I would be very happy to own it. Enjoying this thread.

 

Greg