Rayskin dying in history

[dakary]

Hi everybody,

I am wondering how common it was for rayskin to be dyed historically on tachi, katana, etc. (in particular, during the sengoku period) and, if they did it, what colours were common and, perhaps, how they did it (recipes, etc.). I think I have seen a few black ones, but I don't think it was common. I can't recall ever seeing other colours.

Thanks!

Dan

[Bazza]

I once had a big Shinshinto katana with a red-lacquered same tsuka.  I still have a Shinshinto katana with a gold-lacquered same tsuka.

 

BaZZa.

[Curran]

You confused me at rayskin dying vs rayskin dyeing.

The marine biologist side of me got curious at the title.

 

On the tosogu side:  mostly red lacquer, gold lacquer, and just standard urushi brown-black. 

I believe I have seen blue once or twice, and possibly green too- thought the green may have been more modern.

With a shinsakuto, I believe there even was a warm purple color same tsuka- but it was part of an anime inspired koshirae.

 

[dakary]

Thanks for the info (and the spelling correction!)

[Larason2]

As Curran says, the material used to dye samegawa was urushi. Urushi was traditionally dyed red and black, and those are still the most popular colours. Still, if you look at urushi, there were many colours going back quite far in time, they were just less common. The Japanese typically used ground up coloured rocks for pigments in urushi, and there was a fair bit of variety in the colours they could achieve.