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Shirasaya Conundrum


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The sun-nobi tanto I just received arrived without a shirasaya. It does have a fairly nice koshirae. When I asked about having a shirasaya made while the blade was still in Japan, the vendor stated it already had one, but alas, it arrived dressed in its koshirae. 
 

So now I have a blade in need of a shirasaya, and I live in Canada. What is my best option for having one made?

 

Thanks for any input you can provide. 

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12 hours ago, Fuuten said:

I would contact the seller see if they can refund part of said sword to cover the cost of having one made

I did contact the vendor. They have refunded what I feel is a fair amount of money for their error. I am now weighing my options for having a shirasaya made. I will probably have a better idea after the weekend, as I will have the opportunity to talk with some local collectors on Saturday.

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52 minutes ago, Alex A said:

Just a thought............does it really need a shirasaya ?

I would like to store the blade properly, and my understanding was that a regular saya was not the best option for that. Obviously the blade has not suffered too much from being kept in its current koshirae at this point, but I was thinking of the long term. I am sure that I will get some good advice this weekend.

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It depends Charles, had a few blades sat in old koshirae and never had issues, modern home and a fine coat of oil.

 

New polish and old koshirae then then thats a different story and i would have shirasaya made.

 

I would always think twice about shipping a sword unless i really had to in this day and age. Stuff going missing in the post and the rare occasion where the craftsman turns out to be an $$£ole and has your stuff for an eternity (not talking about anyone mentioned in this thread), but it does happen.

 

Hope you get my point.

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I suppose it is mainly important if the sword is stored for longer periods at a time. The lacquer work is good against keeping for instance rain out but also air, where shirasaya leave some room for the contents to 'breath'. However I do fall in with wanting to store something correctly I also see the merits of realizing shipping is always a risk of sorts.. it's a conundrum 🙃 (as you already stated).

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