History of Shirasaya

[Martin]

Hi all,

 

my wife asked me yesterday why blades usually have 2 "storage places". She ment 1) the shirasaya and 2) the koshirae. I then explained to her that the shirasaya is usually the "safer" place to store the blade because it is (normally always) made after a polish and should fit the blade very well. In addition to this I told her that a blade sometimes had more than one koshirae - depending on the situation the sword was worn.

 

But then I asked myself, when - in historical times - the Japanese invented the shirasaya and what purpose it had in the first place.

 

Can anybody help me in finding an answer for this or maybe enlighten me if I told something wrong

 

best regards,

Martin

[Henry Wilson]

If the inside of a scabbard gets too dirty it will damage the blade and a shirasaya is easier to maintan as it is possible to wedge it open and clean it periodically thus preserving the blade. A koshirae on the other hand is usually laquered and sealed and to keep the inside clean is quite difficult as it can not be opened.

 

Also by removing the sword from a koshirae removes some stress from it (the blade's weight, oil residue etc) so it perseves the koshirae a little longer. Shirasaya can be remade quite easily and at a fraction of the cost of restoring koshirae.

 

I have heard of people comparing the shirasaya to jeans and a T-shirt and the koshirae to a prada suit .

[Nobody]

Hi Martin,

 

As you might know, Shirasaya means a Saya made of unvarnished wood. Shirasaya is a Saya which is designed especially to keep a sword. Because it is used in unvarnished, the humidity in the Saya is naturally controlled and the blade does not rust easily. Even if the blade rusts, you can easily split the Shirasaya and clean the inside of it. For that purpose, a Shirasaya is made by pasting wood with weak glue. The history of Shirasaya is not thought to be so old. There is a theory that its origin was late Edo period. The upper samurai class had a lot of swords, and it can be thought that they began to use Shirasaya to keep important swords with care. It is also thought that Shirasaya have been widely used after 1876 when a law was issued not to wear a sword in public. After that most swords became things to be kept except for military use.

 

On the other hand a sword which was worn in daily life was always in Koshirae. And the blade was not oiled because it would deteriorate the Koshirae.

 

Ref; http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9E%98

[Nobody]

I have heard of people comparing the shirasaya to jeans and a T-shirt and the koshirae to a prada suit .

I think that Shirasaya is rather like pajamas.

[DanBaker]

an interesting post here! thanks for putting this info up on shirasaya

[Martin]

Hi all,

 

many thanks for the once again very informative answers.

 

cheers,

Martin