monrason

Wow, beautiful and very rare, Colin. Thank you for the references. Mine looks suspiciously close to your bearskin. You even have the blade! I'm sure mine is in a shirasaya somewhere in someone's home. Thank you for this information. Despite the papers stating deer, I wonder if that's just an inaccurate assessment, or intentional misnomer. I also wonder if something this old, I accept it must be newer than Muromachi but still old, is exempt from that importation rule based on age. Regardless, it must've been listed as deer, if it were at all defined with customs, since it got to me. Ultimately, I treasure this as a rarity that I won't likely find again, regardless of its true age. Very useful information gleaned from this thread/site, thank you all.

Thank you for the information. Unfortunate that the papers don't mention a time period, perhaps the seller chose that era due to the significance of the weapon during that period. Are you saying the certificate mentions that the fur is deer? Or that it does not? And that would make sense, as I've seen only a handful of surviving ones online, and most aren't for sale.

Thank you for the additional information.

Any specific reason why? Aside from inflating the value? Would there have been many tachis worn, and with a shirazaya made, in a post-katana world? I've read they still existed but weren't very popular in that time.

Japan.

Hello, all. New to the forum, and overall world of NBTHK sword interest. I'd been eyeing eBay for a long time now, looking for a nice katana, and stumbled upon a tachi koshirae with a deerskin sheath with papers dating it to the Muromachi era. I've spent hours researching this concept, and there's surprisingly little that I can find, and some of the information I acquired came from a thread on this site. In short, the skin sheaths, or shirizaya [misspelled in title], were used to protect the scabbard while on horseback and most mentions and the very few pictures that exist show bear or tiger skin/fur. When I bought this, the seller mentioned deerskin, but it seems much more likely to be bearskin based on color/length. Shocked that it's as in tact as it is. Anyway, figured I'd showcase it and get any other information from those much more informed than I. Thank you, more pictures below. https://imgur.io/gallery/pVCGhmv