Mekugi Hole Placement - Do Not Repeat

[Vermithrax16]

So a nice Yasutsugu Aoi Mon sword needed a second mekugi hole. Guess where it went......... I give up

[Ken-Hawaii]

Utter lack of foresight, & they just didn't care. Hard to comprehend.

 

Ken

 

[Hoshi]

This is so sad it's funny again. I see swords with four or five mekugi holes, couldn't the tsuka maker adapt his craft to the existing hole? I never really understood what would be so bad about placing the pin slightly lower on the tsuka after a reasonable suriage. Was it convention? for functional reasons? I don't know but it seems odd that in the culture obsessed with treasuring their heirlooms they would be so eager to give it a chisel-happy tsuka maker, and you see this on TJ blades... 

[Vermithrax16]

There are so many other weird things about this listing as well. It is Hozon papered. No idea why the tsuka was moved all the way up this far (nakago listed as ubu) as to need this hole over the unique engraving of this maker. As it's a school and smith I love, it's especially annoying!

 

 

[PhoenixDude]

maybe the tsuka maker had a deep burning hatred of the tokugawa?

[mywei]

haha facepalm moment... probably would have been executed during Edo times?

[PhoenixDude]

put that drill straight through his ear.

[SwordGuyJoe]

Link? There are a few of reasons that this could happen acceptably. Suriage, machiukuri, both of which changing where the mekugi Ana needs to go.

[Vermithrax16]

Link? There are a few of reasons that this could happen acceptably. Suriage, machiukuri, both of which changing where the mekugi Ana needs to go.

Joe, I know there could be reasons but I mean, come on! Destroy the mon for any reason to me really hurts the sword. Sword is listed as ubu, so I have no idea:

http://www.Japanese-sword-katana.jp/katana/1710-1070.htm

[SwordGuyJoe]

The nakago is ubu, but the blade is machi okuri. There is some functional reason about the placement I've mekugi ana, I believe, but as I'm not a practitioner, I can't speak to that. I get what you're saying, but for some reason, the samurai were less concerned about stuff like this, than they were in the functionality of of their swords - the weirdos!

[Vermithrax16]

The nakago is ubu, but the blade is machi okuri. There is some functional reason about the placement I've mekugi ana, I believe, but as I'm not a practitioner, I can't speak to that. I get what you're saying, but for some reason, the samurai were less concerned about stuff like this, than they were in the functionality of of their swords - the weirdos!

Agree, if my life depended on a pin placement then who cares about a crest! I made the thread as a "huh" sort of thing and as a collector on the hunt of this school and this smith, this invalidates this sword to me. I could spin it as "this family sword was needed in battle but had loose fittings and was refit to make a proper war sword". But the Aoi Mon is gone. 

[SwordGuyJoe]

Lol. I hear you!

[seanyx11]

Agree, if my life depended on a pin placement then who cares about a crest! I made the thread as a "huh" sort of thing and as a collector on the hunt of this school and this smith, this invalidates this sword to me. I could spin it as "this family sword was needed in battle but had loose fittings and was refit to make a proper war sword". But the Aoi Mon is gone. 

 

Sounds like a good story to me Who's to say its not true? If someone disagrees with you, then ask them if they were alive when the sword was used

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Might be the reason is more than one. Might be the Smith could have saved the Mon even performing machiokuri but the menuki placement, as part of a complete set and strongly required by the owner, forced the Smith to drill thru the Aoi... 

[Darcy]

Blade is 2.41 (73cm) after machi okuri. 

 

Beforehand might have been 76cm? 77? 

 

Owner thought it was too long with too stubby nakago. Had the machi moved up to balance the blade for his own comfort and reliability I think is the likely answer.

 

A great many Soshu ko-wakizashi are machi-okuri even though there is no "reason" to make them shorter. Just that Soshu ko-wakizashi tend to have been made with very stubby nakago compared to the length. And a great many people seem to have thought so in later periods so made this adjustment. Why they were made with these stubby nakago I don't know (going to put that on the question list). 

 

If choosing a comfortable blade for killing people, punching out the Tokugawa mon is secondary compared to the cost of making a new sword. Not that the owner was going to run around and show people what he did probably. 

 

Also consider the bottom part of the nakago and its condition. This blade was not stored properly at some time. The old papers are quite old so I don't think it was a USA find, just that it entered a point in its life where it was neglected and the overall condition of the nakago with the machi okuri and decay gives you some interesting insight into its life.

[Jacques]

Who owned that sword during the Satsuma rebellion ?

[Grey Doffin]

Hi guys,

The distance between the machi and the mekugi-ana is standard: roughly 3 fingers for a katana and 4 fingers for a tachi.  A study or studies have been done that show that this placement provides the best mechanical advantage.  If the sword in question didn't conform to this norm it would raise questions.

Grey.

[Blagoy]

Before everything else sword it's a tool for killing and protection. Nihonto collector look to them as  art, and yes they are art, but if you want to use it and stay alive it's good to fits you. As Darcy say, you must have comfortable blade and maybe the owner don't care about Tokugawa mon. The people who train with weapon know how difficult is to use them in the beginning. But finally the weapons should become a part of your body.