Sekigane and umegane (hitsu ana plug)

[OceanoNox]

I have been looking into sekigane and umegane in general recently. Sekigane because the iai swords I have usually don't have any (and antiques sold for iai do not either), and umegane because I think they are a very interesting way of using the hitsu ana when there is no kogai or kozuka.

However, I cannot find much information (yet) on how they are made. I recall, when our dear departed Ford had a picasa page, that he said the sekigane held simply by friction. I understood it as meaning one would hammer it in place, and cut it to fit the nakago. The roughness of sekigane in general seems to confirm this assumption. I assume it is the same for umegane, but the finish is quite much cleaner for umegane in general. Do you know if there is a specific method to adding umegane? Is it simply hammered in place, and then polished and engraved? Could there be grooves carved in the wall of the hitsu ana to help secure them? Or would they be melted in cast in the hole?

[C0D]

Sekigane are simply held by friction, many times an inlet is filed on the tsuba to make them hold more firmly, then filed to the exact size of the nakago.
The umegane of hitsu ana are cut and filed to the precise size needed to lock in the hole and decorated, then tapped in. Usually they're not a single piece but two thin plates with pitch between them which helps to stick even more.

[OceanoNox]

So that is why umegane sometimes look like they curve a bit towards the hitsu ana on their periphery!

By inlet, did you mean that the ends of the nakago ana are expanded to insert the sekigane, or that the wall of the nakago ana had a small groove inside?

Thank you for the answer.

[C0D]

Small groves are filed to ensure more grip and prevent it to slip towards the center of the nakago ana

[ROKUJURO]

8 hours ago, OceanoNox said:

.....The roughness of sekigane in general seems to confirm this assumption. I assume it is the same for umegane, but the finish is quite much cleaner for umegane in general.....

Arnaud,

when mounted, SEKIGANE are not visible, while UMEGANE are exposed and can add to the overall beauty/looks of the respective TSUBA. 

By the way, UMEGANE are not always made from metal. I have one KO-TOSHO TSUBA with a lacquer UMEGANE (this would not be the correct term as it is not "GANE" = metal)

[OceanoNox]

Thank you Manuel and Jean for the information. It was really helpful.

[Spartancrest]

11 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

UMEGANE are not always made from metal

You are right jean I have also seen "mother of pearl" used.   https://www.antiques...murai-antique-tsuba/

 

[ROKUJURO]

KO-TOSHO TSUBA with lacquer HITSU filling:
 

[Steves87]

The kuchi-beni of Tanaka school has always given me a bit of a cliff-hanger feeling (although I Iove it)... it feels like it is almost at the point of 'friction not being enough'. I really love how the sekigane is part of the decoration.

Apologies, just my .02c