Literal meaning of Handachi applied to sword Koshirae.

[Henry Stewart]

Gentlemen

 

Can anyone please explain the literal meaning of HANDACHI when applied to Koshirae and how one would recognise such furniture.

 

Henry.

[Brian]

Henry,

"han" means half, and dachi is "Tachi" meaning half-tachi mounts.

This is because they are halfway between katana and tachi mounts. They are almost pseudo-tachi mounts on a katana.

 

Brian

[Eric H]

Handachi Koshirae

 

Eric

[Henry Stewart]

Brian & Eric;

 

Thank you Gentlemen for your prompt replies. I see what is meant and hope to dend pics of what I have been offered as "Handachi Katana";

 

Henry.

[Toryu2020]

George -

Han-dachi originally appeared during the Muromachi period when there was a transition taking place from Tachi to katana. The sword was being worn more and more edge up when on foot, but edge down on horseback as it had always been. The handachi is a response to the need to be worn in either style.

 

The placement of the kurikata, menuki and sometimes the other fittings were altered for a better presentation depending on which side was worn outward most of the time. I believe this is the first time we see swivels and kurikata on the mune side of a koshirae.

 

In the Bakumatsu period the idea of a "return to the past" took hold of the popular imagination and along with talk of returning to the righteous government of old we see folks wanting to wear tachi in the style of their ancestors. Of course the majority were not riding around on horseback so the handachi again becomes popular and we see alot of Late-Edo mounts that were clearly set up as katana but with tachi mounts.

 

Your example looks to be modern to my eye - the loop/swivel on the saya looks like it comes straight off of a naval mount - the other fittings are definitely tachi style fittings. Though it lacks a semeganamono I suppose you could call this a handachi koshirae but I am dubious about its age...

-t

[Henry Stewart]

Toryu, Sir,

 

Many thanks for your submission.Your comments about my sword I find very interesting. For my self I have it around 1930's,a gendaito made in old school style and signed by Kunetsugu, a smith who is recorded but virtually without further mentioin I'm not sure because of the thickness and amount of rust on the nakago but I believe it to be a civil sword in original polish but of no great importance,though as I have intimated the signature is difficult to read.I retain it as an example of Nihonto without tying up an important blade. I would though be pleased to hear are my thoughts anywhere near the mark.

 

Henry

[Guido]

Homma and Satō write in vol. 6 of the Nihotō Zenshū (本間順治 & 佐藤貫一: 日本刀全集) that Handachi-Koshirae became popular during the mid-Edo period, and that they were made until the Bakumatsu period; earlier examples are very few. This is more or less in line with what Kokubo writes in his Tōsō no Subete (小窪健一: 刀装のすべて) and Ogasawara in Nihontō no Koshirae (小笠原信夫: 日本刀の拵). The earliest example of a Handachi I could find dates from the Momoyama period and is in the collection of the National Museum in Tōkyō.

[Henry Stewart]

Mr Schiller;

 

Thank you for the contribution. As they are scholarly pertinent quotes from Japanese Academiae it would be pointless to look outside this spread of time, therefore the one I have is probably a popular copy of an old cult design;

The blade is nothing special but still displays the patterns of forging associated with tamhagane;

Henry

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

A nice edo handachi (en suite) koshirae

 

[Guido]

@ Henry: “Mr. Schiller“ is my father …

 

@ Jacques: a beautiful Koshirae indeed. Suffering from Altzheimers lite I’m not really sure, but isn't that the mounting of a Dōtanuki sword I saw at the DTI a couple of years ago?

 

Although many Handachi-Koshirae have a Mokko-gata Tsuba, Jacques’ example and that of Eric show that there are quite a few exceptions. I admit that I have a liking for this style of mounting, but have yet to find a nice set (preferably a Daishō) that doesn’t require me selling a kidney to come up with the funds …

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

the loop/swivel on the saya looks like it comes straight off of a naval mount

 

Indeed...

 

Once I had a pic of a single detachable loop placed on a Handachi Koshirae, but for the life in me I can no more find it on my HD.

 

how one would recognise such furniture.

 

 

Here an old work that might be of visual help and hopefully not too much wrong :

 

[Henry Stewart]

Jaques; my thanks for the picture of your magnificent blade;

 

Guido, my apologies for mis-titling you and thankyou for the contribution;

 

Carlo; as ever my thanks for your insight.

Gentlemen I remain in your debt;

 

Henry

[John A Stuart]

Here is a wakizashi in handachi mounts, that, I must confess, I love showing. All in sterling.

[Henry Stewart]

John A Stuart;

 

My thanks for your splendid contribution Sir.

I can see why you have pride in showing it. A truly remarkable picture.

 

Henry.

[Henry Stewart]

Gentlemen;

 

During this thread, I for one have been impressed by the sword photographs and information contained in transcrpt;

Wouldnt it be fine if members wonderful collections could be housed in a photo albums of each collector member seperately so all could see and enjoy these collections; i.e. The Sam Smith Collection or The John Brown collection,especially highliting such pertinent subjects as members would like to discuss;say like this about Handachi.In short a pictorial demo of any point under discussion. I suppose logistically impossible?

 

Henry.

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Guido,

 

Jacques: a beautiful Koshirae indeed. Suffering from Altzheimers lite I’m not really sure, but isn't that the mounting of a Dōtanuki sword I saw at the DTI a couple of years ago?

 

 

I don't think, that sword is in France for more a century, the koshirae is mounted on a Mizuta Kunishige according ZVD who polished it two years ago it could be a Otsuki Yogoro's one.

 

Henry,

 

This sword is not mine but belongs to my neighbor, as he knows nothing about nihonto i'm its guardian angel.

[Lorenzo]

I love handachi style as well. I have noticed that many of them are "higo-esque" in style; but perhaps is just a case.. what about you?

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Once I had a pic of a single detachable loop placed on a Handachi Koshirae, but for the life in me I can no more find it on my HD.

 

Found it...

 

[BMarkhasin]

Gents,

To rekindle this old thread, does anyone have images or illustrations of how a handachi with a single suspension ring was worn? Seems to me that two rings were needed to be able to imitate a tachi suspension for a handachi. I have not seen evidence of more than the single suspension ring being used.

best,

Boris

[sanjuro]

Hi Boris.

 

I'm probably reiterating something you already know, and I cannot for the life of me find an illustration of it. However, during my research of tachi mounts and styles through history I have come across the mention of handachi style on a number of occasions. There is a passage in Sword and Same' by Joly and Hogitaro that refers to handachi as the normal tachi with obitori removed to be used by warriors as a camp sword when not in armour. This was worn in katana fashion thrust through the obi. A variant of this was to leave a single obitori and attach a sageo cord. The fashion apparently became adopted also for shorter blades either uchigatana or early shorter katana blades to be mounted in tachi style but with a loose ring or later with a kurikata. The reference is quite specific about the removal of both obitori however, and also the way in which the sword was worn under those circumstances. The period involved was late Kamakura if I recall correctly.

[Brian]

Boris,

Markus has a decent paragraph on handachi koshirae and how they were worn/mounted. But I am a bit hesitant to paste the whole paragraph for copyright reasons. Perhaps you already have this book or e-book?

 

Regards,

Brian

[Markus]

No problem Brian. I post a PDF of the relevant pages. Maybe it encourages some to get the entire book/ebook.

handachi.pdf

[BMarkhasin]

Thanks gents for the replies. Markus, I have purchased the book online for further reference. My particular interest lies in the species of handachi (Momoyama period) with a single ashikanamono near the koiguchi. I assume the second ashikanamono would have been the removable type.

 

Attached is an image of an Edo handachi koshirae with two (assumed) removable ashikanamono. Sorry for the granular image, its from a general interest book I don't yet have.

 

Best regards,

Boris.

[BMarkhasin]

Markus,

 

Your book arrived and I have had a chance to peruse it. Very organized, comprehensive and well illustrated compilation detailing the diversity and development of koshirae from Yayoi to modern times. I thought you provided some great detail on some of the more obscure and transitional early koshirae - an area of personal interest. I encourage others to buy this book.

 

Best Regards,

Boris.

[Grover]

Markus

 

Thnaks for that extract.  I just bought 2 of your books to go along with that.

 

cheers Steve

[Brian]

2 years later....

 

Brian

[Jean]

better later than never sometimes it takes time to realize the in depth of NMB

[Grover]

To quote the late Robin Williams "better latent than never"

[Kronos]

2 years later....

 

Brian

 

I stumbled across a thread by Darcy yesterday that was from 2008 with a kantei quiz in. I now know a lot more about Samonji as a result so it goes to show how valuable even old threads can be in a hobby as timeless as this

[Bugyotsuji]

Been building this one