Naginata tsuba

[Franco]

7 hours ago, Tohagi said:

I was told that the tsuba not only protect hand against a sliding along the blade stricke like in western fancing, but also is part of a shock absorbing system wich inclued habaki,seppa dai, fuchi and the tsuka. This to avoïd the blade to break at the critical point of junction betwen nakago and nagasa.

 

Memory fades some, however, at some point there was a highspeed film of testing of a sword (Shinsakuto) on a Kabuto. 

One of the most fascinating details watching that film was seeing the sword actually flexing back on itself without breaking. 

The amount of distortion was nothing short of incredible to watch and none of it could be seen without the help of the highspeed film by the naked eye. What also came to light is what Eric is talking about here. After watching that film it became evident that the habaki played a critical role. If the habaki had not been made from a "giving shock absorbing material" like a copper, silver, or gold, there would have been some kind of catastrophic failure somewhere along the line from the immense transfer of energy. It often made me wonder if that was the reason that they stopped making iron habaki long ago. 

 

I'm almost certain that that filmed event was brought to our attention here on NMB. I know that I would love to watch it again if someone could bring up that information and link again? 

 

 

[Matsunoki]

Haven’t read it all but this topic has many promising links in it re Kabutowari

 

 

 

[Toryu2020]

One minor function of a tsuba on a sword is when you are sitting in seiza with your sword on the floor at your side, the tsuba acts as a prop and it is very easy to pick up the sword and bring it into use. Without a tsuba the sword lays flat on the floor and requires a little more attention to scoop it up and draw it...

 

-t

[Tohagi]

3 hours ago, OceanoNox said:

Do you remember where you read/heard that? It's very interesting to me. In my comment above, Isawa talks about failure (and I think there is another who talks either about mekugi failure or failure at the habaki). My student did a calculation, and the kachushi tsuba with a thick mimi "keeps" the shockwave bouncing around in the tsuba, for instance. I wonder who much it is mitigated with everything else.

 

PS: It might be Yaso who published a paper about impacting a Japanese sword. They identified the nodes: at the monouchi and at the mekugi, i.e. where the vibrations are smallest. When doing it on a naked blade, there was some vibration at the nodes, but with a full koshirae, the vibration was basically 0 at these nodes.

Sorry, I'm not sure.

I think it was a Batodo master when I show him a plain silver habaki I had made. He told me it was OK for a tanto but not good for a katana because of the shock obsortion. He explain me that any part: habaki, seppa daï, tsuba etc... where part of a chain of dissipation of the shock that ends in the hands...

 

Kindly,

Eric 

[Bugyotsuji]

Perhaps we need to rephrase the question and ask what the purpose of a tsuba in general is, or better still, what is the primary purpose of a tsuba, whether offensive or defensive, or even what are the other possible purposes of a tsuba, including what does each school of bujitsu say about the purpose of a tsuba as they see it for each type of weapon, and finally why do people today like to get into the same old circular arguments, making out that there is only one correct answer, or that their answer is demonstrably the 'right' answer?

 

Perhaps we can all agree that the tsuba is a jolly good thing, a harmonious invention, that life is better with tsuba, with endless numbers and varieties of them extant and available to collect, and they are frightfully useful objects for a number of syncretic reasons.

 

PS OK, I admit it, I've been reading the 'Philosophical' thread.

[Baka Gaijin]

Peruse the following:

Yakumaru Jigen Ryu Kenjutsu

Shinsengumi

July 8th 1864

Ikedaya Inn

The account of Fingers of Chōshū on floor.

 

[zanilu]

In martial arts different school have given different answers to the same problems. In most cases what is the solution of one is anathefor another!

 

In Katayama Ryu and Katory Shinto Ryu the the tsuba is a protection to the hand for example.

 

Regards

Luca

[O koumori]

On 3/4/2025 at 12:34 PM, Toryu2020 said:

One minor function of a tsuba on a sword is when you are sitting in seiza with your sword on the floor at your side, the tsuba acts as a prop and it is very easy to pick up the sword and bring it into use. Without a tsuba the sword lays flat on the floor and requires a little more attention to scoop it up and draw it...

 

Yes! Great observation!