Nihonto Storage

[Rickisan]

Good Morning,

I have started to accumulate a few peices of Nihonto.

I am considering a safer way/place to store said items and wondered if the board members could give their opinions/ideas.

 

Since I may be away from the items for quite a while my first thought is a stand up gun case/safe.

 

My concerns are;

1. How good does a gun safe breath...would I have to worry about humidity?

2. It would seem that if I store swords (verticallly) that light coat of oil might find its way down into the end of the shirasaya? We dont want that I would assume.

 

As always, thank you for your advice.

 

Rick

[John A Stuart]

Hi Rick, I store my swords in a gun safe when out of town for long periods. The atmosphere stays pretty constant. My katana and wakizashi stand upright but I use very little oil so not a problem. Humidity should be no problem. Swords on display in glass front cabinets in Japan all have glasses of water in them and that is a fairly humid country to begin with. They also have humidity meters so that it can be monitored. Some might think this is only to prevent shirasaya and koshirae shrinkage but you will note they are in cabinets with only bare blades as well. John

[Rickisan]

John,

Thank you for the info.

Rick