Would a Tanto blade be given more than one mekugi-ana upon forging?

[Guest When Necessary]

I've been looking at various shinto and shinshinto tanto and I was struck by the number of them I've seen which have two mekugi-ana located only slightly apart and both avoiding the disfigurement of the mei.

Obviously, this would be a necessity if, for instance, an aikuchi was remounted with a tsuba but I wondered whether a tosho would ever deliberately make two holes simultaneously to allow for an immediate choice of koshirae? I ask this because the mekugi-ana I examined all had an identical diameter, the same rust (or lack thereof) and, if punched, virtually the same conical meeting points.

 

I'm just throwing this out there for discussion and I would be very interested to know if anyone has seen such a practice mentioned in old Japanese sources?

 

Thank you,

Dee

[ROKUJURO]

Deanna,

as far as I know, the smith only makes one MEKUGI-ANA in a location that is most likely correct in his experience. In many cases, the TSUKA can be adapted to this. If it does not fit, there are two ways: Either the blade is brought back to the TOSHO to make a second MEKUGI-ANA, or the TSUKA maker does this himself, keeping the dimensions as close as possible.

In early times, MEKUGI-ANA were always punched. So if the blade was already finished, but a second MEKUGI-ANA was needed, it was wrapped in some fabric or rags. This was then soaked in water to make sure only the NAKAGO was heated up, preventing the blade from loosing its hardness.

Edited October 4, 2025 by ROKUJURO

[Guest When Necessary]

1 hour ago, ROKUJURO said:

Deanna,

as far as I know, the smith only makes one MEKUGI-ANA in a location that is most likely correct in his experience. In many cases, the TSUKA can be adapted to this. If it does not fit, there are two ways: Either the blade is brought back to the TOSHO to make a second MEKUGI-ANA, or the TSUKA maker does this himself, keeping the dimensions as close as possible.

In early times, MEKUGI-ANA were always punched. So if the blade was already finished, but a second MEKUGI-ANA was needed, it was wrapped in some fabric or rags. This was then soaked in water to make sure only the NAKAGO was heated up, preventing the blade from getting hot and loosing its hardness.

Many thanks Jean!

So it sounds like all the blades I saw had simply been refitted over the years. With some of them, I could have sworn that the two mekugi-ana were identical twins - which prompted my question.

[ROKUJURO]

58 minutes ago, When Necessary said:

.....With some of them, I could have sworn that the two mekugi-ana were identical twins - which prompted my question.

I would not exclude that completely. There might have been single occasions where this was done for reasons we don't know..