Katanadansu interior fittings

[Ken-Hawaii]

I recently bought a nice katanadansu from Craig Harris - who obviously sells more than just books (thanks, Craig!) - but I'm scratching my head on how to mount our tachi, katana, & wakizashi inside the drawers. I've spent many hours looking on-line in hopes that someone has posted a photo of a fully laid-out drawer, but with no luck.

 

Normally, I would leave the blades in shirasaya, but that takes up a ton of space, & there wouldn't be enough volume for even half of our collection. The drawers are empty, so we could build cross-supports to hold the blades vertically (ha up, of course), but then I wonder about the safety of someone reaching in without paying attention - cleaning blood off everything & collecting fingers seems so messy... . Right now, we have many blades stored on two large katanakake, but with all the humidity in our part of the world (I can easily heave a rock into the Pacific Ocean from my front door), I really want to get them into a chest that's made for them.

 

Any ideas, especially including photos? Thanks!!

[Henry Wilson]

I think the swords should be stored in the saya in the drawers. That is what I do with my katana tansu for safety reasons as you cited and to cover and protect the blades as much as possible. If this takes up to much room, you might need more tansu.

[cabowen]

Swords are always stored in shirasaya then in sword bags and simply placed in the drawers. Most katana dansu are not designed to store more than a few swords. That is all most samurai owned....

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Ken,

Just so this is perfectly clear, always keep the blades in mounts (shirasaya or koshirae) and sword bag; never store the blade bare. A blade stored bare is a blade about to be damaged badly.

Grey

[Toryu2020]

It is my belief that many so called katanadansu are simply long-drawered storage boxes. A proper katanadansu has the fittings in the drawers. Many I have looked at show the shadows and staining where the fittings once were but these have been removed either by Japanese families who found better uses for the tansu or by Americans who couldn't figure out how to get their wine into the "racks."

 

Took me 25 years of looking but I finally found this baby, a very late very rough piece of furniture but with all the fittings intact...

-t

[Ken-Hawaii]

Thomas, thank you so much for those two photos! They are exactly what Linda & I have been looking for, & we can now create our own interior fittings. We happen to have some nice dry cedar slats that we can easily shape, & will now know not to crowd the swords together, & to keep them in shirasaya or koshirae.

[Toryu2020]

Ken -

This has three drawers - the top drawer is for swords in koshirae - you may not be able to see it in the photo but the rack on the right where the kurikata and saeo would be is much larger than the one to the left which hold just the saya. The bottom drawers have racks that are equal in size both left and right slightly smaller than the top drawer, able to accommodate koshirae as you can see but clearly for shirasaya...

 

Best of luck with your project,

-t

[Ken-Hawaii]

Half our Nihonto collection is in koshirae, with most of the rest in shirasaya, but I have four blades (1 katana, 2 wakizashi, & 1 tanto) that came with neither. Those are the ones I have to figure out how to store/display. We'll probably alternate the blades in koshirae left-&-right to maximize the number we can store; no problem with shirasaya, of course.

 

Our katanadansu has two full-width drawers, one 2/3-width, & one 1/3-width. So it makes sense that the top two will hold tachi & katana, the 2/3-width is for wakizashi, & the small drawer is for tsuba, spare menuki, etc. I managed to find a less-wide tansu that probably held clothes or small plates, & we're mounting that underneath the wider katanadansu to be more accessible, so we'll end up with a T-shape when we're done. The lower one will hold our knife & Polynesian weapon collections. I'm really amazed at how precisely the lower tansu was made! When I close a drawer, the air pressure actually pushes out two other drawers! Sure don't find that craftsmanship in furniture made today!

 

Again, Thomas, many thanks for the photos & advice.

[Guido]

Tom's photos show a traditional rack (which most of the times doesn't come with antique Katanadansu), so I used a non-traditional rack made of foam rubber that holds almost any kind of sword, being it a Shirasaya or full Koshirae. Tokugawa Art (Sanmei) used to sell it for Yen 2,000 or so, but they don't have it on their website anymore:

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

I have four blades (1 katana, 2 wakizashi, & 1 tanto) that came with neither. Those are the ones I have to figure out how to store/display.

 

Ken, don't you feel better to have shirasaya made for these ones before anything else ? Or are they still waiting for polish ?

 

Naked blades should stay behind a safety glass only, IMHO...

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

so I used a non-traditional rack made of foam rubber that holds almost any kind of sword, being it a Shirasaya or full Koshirae. Tokugawa Art (Sanmei) used to sell it for Yen 2,000 or so, but they don't have it on their website anymore:

 

Guido, first alchool instead of uchiko, then foam instead of wood... you're destroying all my myths. :lol:

 

This is a better idea than wood for a fireproof safe. Shape seems easy to be worked out from large pieces of foam, fixed with velcro to adjust the length when collection changes and it fits even

non-Japanese scabbards, either more fat or slim.

 

Think I'll give it a try...

[Ken-Hawaii]

Guido, that's a great idea! I never would have thought about using foam rather than cedar, but it's a darn sight easier, & we have both foam & velcro. If you ever get out here to Hawaii, I owe you a pitcher of mai tais!! (Beer, too.)

 

Carlo, good guess on the bare blades. I can't afford Benson more than once or twice a year for togishi services, & have just started working with another local togi. Those blades are indeed behind safety glass in a locked case & with a dry-rod.

[Bugyotsuji]

Apologies for the delay, but only just seen this thread. For a very slightly different variation please see this old katanadansu interior, from an earlier thread, as found and after cleaning:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2554&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=510

[johnb]

An antique plans chest is a good option. They are generously wide but sometimes the drawers are a little too shallow. they are reasonable easy to find and they do seem to be getting rather expensive.