Decorative Knottery

[Ray Singer]

I am looking for examples of decorative knottery (cord work) added to Japanese swords by naval servicemen. I know it has been discussed on the board in the past, but have not been able to locate the photos and discussion thread after trying a few different keyword combinations.

 

Kind regards,

Ray

[TETSUGENDO]

Ray,

 

Perhaps a PM to Bruce Pennington, this seems in his wheelhouse.

 

-S-

[Ray Singer]

Thank you Steve.

 

Best regards

Ray

[Peter Bleed]

Ray,

Please let me add to your naval gazing.

The first of these images shows a gunto tsuka that seems to have had its maki replaced with shiney white nylon cordage. I kept it because it came with a Bakumatsu Sendai Munetoshi katana. The story that came with this sword was that the Navy feared lice would be in the "web gear" so that the original wrap had to be removed.

The other blade is a wakizashi made from a crappy old naginata. It has a very nice tsuka, but a coarsely repaired saya closed with three "Turks head" knots that were painted over. Believe it or not, this is the very first Japanese sword I ever bought! Thank you Andy Quirt!

Peter

[Peter Bleed]

Ray,

By the way, I think it is good that you have made your knottery public.

Peter

[Tanto54]

Dear Ray,

 

It's not beautiful knot work, but it came from a Navy WWII Vet just this way (and it has magnificent tosogu and housed a beautiful sword).  This is the second sword that I purchased when I started out more than 45 years ago...

 

[Ray Singer]

Thank you Peter and George, much appreciate these examples. This request came as a result of a question on one of the Facebook groups I manage. The attached photos were posted and, while it is possible that the owner is correct that this is a field repair, I suggested a naval sailor's cordwork as an alternate explanation.

[Tanto54]

Dear Ray,

 

The Vet that I purchased this sword from sheepishly admitted to doing the knot work himself.  He said that the saya got battered up in the surrender/distribution process, so he knotted the cord to hold it together on the ship ride home.