Best Way To Package A Nihonto for Shipping and Customs?

Hi All,

I have been doing quite a bit of research on the best way to package a nihonto to insure no damage to the blade or saya and allow the people at customs to inspect it without causing damage or difficulty in repacking.

Here is an interesting idea I came across from David Hofhine and although it discusses shipping bare blades, it seems like a great idea for any blade:

Special steps must be taken when shipping a bare blade, but it can be done very safely and reliably. A bare blade will also give you a smaller and lighter package that will cost less to ship and be less likely to be bent. To ship just the blade, take the blade out of the mounting and wrap it in paper such as newspaper to prevent it from being scuffed or finger printed. The next step is to mount the blade onto a wooden board that is longer then the overall length of the blade. A common 1"x2" to 1"x4" works very well. Drill a hole in the board and put a heavy wire (at least 12 gauge solid) or heavy rope or similar through the hole in the board and the hole in the tang. THIS IS ESSENTIAL FOR SHIPPING AN UNMOUNTED BLADE! Further strap the blade onto the board with LOTS of heavy strapping tape. If you ship a bare blade without strapping it down like this the tip will crash into the end of the package and be damaged and possibly cause injury!!! Strapping the blade down like this protects it from the worst forms of shipping damage. It will keep the blade from poking through the end of the packing. It will also prevent the blade from being bent if the package is crushed. Attached is a picture of what this looks like.

Also, has anyone had any experience shipping with carpet tubes?

Thanks all for sharing your experience and wisdom!

Mark

That method works well if you have to ship a bare blade. Be sure that no tape touches the blade anywhere (always have paper between the tape and blade, even the nakago) and that the wire is insulated (as shown) so the metal of the wire doesn't touch the nakago.

However, you should never ship a blade bare if it has koshirae. Koshirae does the best job of protecting the blade in transit and once the blade arrives where it's going it has its koshirae to protect it as well. Make sure there is a mekugi through the hole in the tsuka, otherwise the blade can crash down inside the saya and shatter its point if the package is dropped. In fact, unless the blade is unmounted for viewing or something else, there should always be a mekugi in the ana.

Carpet tubes work very well for shipping Nihonto; free at any carpet store. I make caps of cardboard: a round hub and 4 spokes to fold down over the sides of the tube. These tubes are incredibly strong and since they're round, not much gets stacked on top of them in transit.

And while I'm on the subject, one last shipping problem is a sword with saya and no tsuka. The blade should never be shipped in just the saya, as there is no mekugi to keep the kissaki away from the saya bottom. 2 options here: The 1st is to cut 2 blocks of wood with holes placed through them to correspond to the mekugi ana. A stout, insulated wire is threaded through the blocks and nakago and tied tightly. The blocks serve the same purpose as the tsuka. The 2nd option is to completely cover the blade in quite a few layers of newsprint and tape, making sure that the paper is wrapped around both ends of the blade. Wrap the saya in a few layers of newsprint and tape. Now securely tape the blade to the saya, with the kissaki above the bottom of the saya, and you're ready to pack.

Anyone have better ideas?

Grey

Thanks Grey, very good feedback and thoughts.

The blade I am having shipped has a shirasaya and a koshirae. I am requesting the blade and shirasaya be shipped separately from the koshirae.

I like the carpet tube idea a lot.

Any other ideas?

Mark,

Most of the blades I receive form the USA and Japan have been in bulk standard Fedex or EMS boxes with a lot of bubble-wrap and all have been fine.

I have always shipped blades in either cardboard or plastic carpet tube with the blade wrapped in bubble-wrap until it is a very tight fit in the tube. This has always worked well. I have a feeling that customs now tend to rely on x-raying packages so are less likely to open them and inspect the contents but I may just be kidding myself.

regards

paul

Thanks for the thoughts, Paul.

Interesting comment on the x-ray inspection, this would make a lot more sense and be much more efficient.

How many people here have had swords that have been shipped international opened by customs for inspection in the past year?

Greetings,

Suggestion to the post above with image; once the sword in saya has been secured to the board through the ana, use a clear saran wrap and tightly wind it around overlapping itself by ~ 1/2 the width from one end to the other, then secure it at the ends and in the middle with reinforced tape over the saran wrap. The saran wrap makes for a strong clear see through barrier, plus it helps keep things like tape, liquids, moisture, from coming in contact with the sword during shipping.

This is how I packed my katana when sent for repair/polish. In an alluminium snooker/pool cue case, mounted on a wooden board, attached with plastic cable ties. You can even put the habaki where the chalk would go!

Worked well except that the American customs cut the ties, had a look at the sword and then put it back without re-attaching cable ties (despite putting spares inside), so when it arrived it was sliding about inside. Luckily it was on the way out, and not on the way back!!!