Rickisan Posted August 21, 2008 Report Posted August 21, 2008 Morning Gang!...I just have 2 questions I was hoping someone with time could elaborate on. Lets say you have a Katana with a horimono of a dragon cut into it. 1. If the item sat around uncared for, ...after time, would rust form in the crevices of the horimono also? 2. When people send the same type sword for a polish....would the polish include cleaning of the horimono carvings also, to make it looks new again? Or is that a different type of repair/polish? I know its a goofy question, I just saw a pic of a SOLD item like the one described...and it seemed like the horimono had rust about the same color as the tang, yet the blade was nicely polished. RIck Quote
Curran Posted August 21, 2008 Report Posted August 21, 2008 Rickisan, Q1: Answer... yes. Q2: Depends on the polisher, horimono, and sort of rust vs. patina. I'd say a good one wouldn't clean patina out of a bonji horimono, but then I've seen all sorts of things. Personally, I like it when a horimono has developed a deep color like the nakago without any active rust. On koto swords where the polish is really beautiful yet the horimono shows darkish patina along the lines of a well cared for nakago- I find it very beautiful. But all it takes is one nit-wit to offer to clean your sword for you. They rub uchiko into the groves and trying to wipe it out, potentially scratching the polish from the ridge of the horimono outward. If you have a sword with extra nice horimono, clean it yourself. Even some of the most experienced "old hands" can be destructive when it comes to uchikoing swords with horimono. Quote
Guido Posted August 22, 2008 Report Posted August 22, 2008 As long as the Horimono didn't become part of the Nakago due to Suriage (like, for example the Koryû Kagemitsu [see back of dustcover of the Nagayama book]), it's polished as part of the overall polishing process. And even in the above mentioned case, the part of the Horimono that protudes into the Habakimoto and above will be burnished as is tradition with Horimono. I haven't seen any other treatment in Japan, and can't imagine any self-respecting polisher that would accept - or even would do intentionally - a polishing job without a whistle clean Horimono. Quote
Rickisan Posted August 23, 2008 Author Report Posted August 23, 2008 Sounds good, thanks very much for the info! Rick Quote
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