Why so many Mekugi ana ?

[obiwanknabbe]

Hi everyone, I was curious if any of you folks out there had some insight into the following:

 

Why is it that there tend to be so many mekugi ana drilled through the nagako of older swords. Now I fully understand that it was because of remounting, but wouldn't it have just been better to use the hole that was already there? I see so many Mei that are partially obliterated by this practice. I know that When I make Tsuka for my blades, I mark the hole in the nagako first, then fit the wood. I drill through the steel and one half of the handle. Next I glue the halves, then drill all they way through. Now granted this is an extra step or two, but I would think that with an older sword, and more pertinent to this conversation, its mei, would be coveted enough for the craftsman to make a little extra effort to avoid defacing what was carved.

 

Anyone know why it was not done that way?

 

Kurt.K

[Geraint]

Hi Kurt,

 

Probably as many reasons as there are mekugi ana! For a start there is the issue of suriage which was done to make it possible for someone to continue using a blade when the style of use had changed, eg from cavalry to infantry. Then there is the short samurai who wanted to use his tall father's blade, then there are instances where daimyo wanted to have a particular sword shortened to use as part of a daisho simply because they could and so on.

 

Given all that there are still blades where the adjustment is so slight as to seem a waste of time, sometimes even mekugi ana that overlap each other. I suspect that sometimes this was done to make a blade seem older than it really is, sometimes in shinsakuto when an utsushi mono is being attempted the number of mekugi ana will be copied as well. Functional positioning also counts when swords are shortened and I think that in the case of tanto blades it is often a matter of making the koshirae look right.

 

Remembering that we are concerned to preserve the blade in its current condition your process is what would achieve that. A different attitude to the blade would lead to diffferent actions. I am sure that there are also blades which have been swopped out of mounts and the ana then drilled through just to make the koshirae fit, shudder!

 

I am also sure that others will chime in on this one.

 

All the best.

[Grey Doffin]

Mathematical analysis of the placement of the mekugi-ana along the length of the tsuka has been done and determined that the traditional distance between the machi and ana is optimal for securing the blade in the tsuka. Move the ana a bit one way or the other and the mekugi is more likely to fail in use. Swordsmiths and those who shortened swords didn't have the calculus but centuries of experience told them where the ana needed to be. This, I would guess, is the #1 reason why a new ana is punched when the blade is shortened.

Another possibility is the location of the ana relative to the openings between the crossings of the tsuka-ito. If a new ana isn't made when the blade is shortened just a bit, the mekugi may end up under the ito.

Grey