Post by Ishikawa Yoshimasa on Apr 20, 2005 2:50:14 GMT -5
fujiwara said:
How did that tsuba get past the marshalls?I do not know about that specific tsuba, but in meridies many people I know have tsuba of various forms made of 2 layers of 8oz leather laced together... I am told (being non combatant until I am able to get my armor built and get sundays off so I can attend fighter practice again) that as long as it doesn't protrude past the gauntlet noticably the marshals are generaly cool with it. HOWEVER there are exceptions to even this. a member of my last shire has an a-symetric pentagon tsuba like guard in which at least one point passes his gauntlet by atleast half an inch... still he has not been failed for using it.
as for dressing up the blade, I have a couple blades made (a daisho) which admittedly I have been too lazy to take the time to curve (and am not sure I want to make the effort as the ratan used has been curing in my garrage for about 8 years and has dried enough to loose a fair bit of weight, yet not become excessivly weak... I have spent a fair bit of time with an exacto knife and my cutting edge defining tape as to create a well defined hamon... (though I doubt I would do this for every fighter practice, I did it because I was board one day, and will likely continue the practice as war prep once I am fighting)... I am also planning on wrapping the tsuka with blue ito matching the ito I will use to lace my armor, and am contemplating shaving my tsuka and attaching copper furnishings (kashira and fuchi) as well as a menuki.... someone in an earlier reply mentioned taping it to give an appearance of other fittings... I am now contemplating doing so to aproximate a habiki, (though I have been told my true dream of using mylar tape instead of ductape to give the blade a polished appearance is a no starter)... I also am working on a patern to do a custom tooled set of tsuba (tooling both pieces of leather) based on some antique tsuba I have seen pictures of... saddly the oldest ones I have found are early edo, but as my research material improves so will future paterns... alternatly I have contemplated taking the patern of the real steel daisho I plan on getting and replicating it in leather in the future... (if tooling leather is not your thing, I have seen tsuba paterns that would STILL be easy to tool with only the most basic of equipiment. as I am aprenticed for leatherworking, I personaly have set my sights on more intricate paterns(that are probably still beyond my ability, but where is the adventure in not trying))
I have also made one of a pair of "sword frogs" with velcro straps to suspend my daisho from my armor as to appear to be thrust through my obi while I fight with my yari or hopefuly in the not so distant future a yumi. these are being made with a single tap pulling a pair of velcro strips with a downward motion of my left hand which would not look unlike gripping my saya while I draw my blade.
most importantly with the exception of the tape hamon and a "stealth tip", everything in my design is reusable as the ratan eventualy wears out...
oh and for the record, I have seen a ratan broad sword shatter a boken... while the katana is in my belief the highest achievment of swordmaking science, everything has it's weaknesses. we fight with ratan as others have said because it is safer... what we make it look like is up to us. more importantly what we see in out hearts and minds while we are on the field is of the greatest importance. you can see a great battle laid out before you with swords gleaming in the sunlight, or you can see a bunch of idiots out bashing eachother with sticks wearing odd bits of leather carpet and picklebarrel. it is all a matter of perspective.