Katana mounts

[Mitsutada]

Can anyone describe to me the method in which a katana was mounted on an armored samurai? I know they were harnessed blade down and hung from some type of device (like a tachi would be) but I cannot figure out how this device worked. Can anyone explain it to me or perhaps suggest a website? Thanks

~Vinnie Page

[urbalte]

You're right in the fact that it was connected through "some type of device." What it was is they wore it blade down actually. there are two rings on the saya that connected to their armor and that's how they wore it.

[Mitsutada]

Thanks for your reply. How exactly did these rings connect to the armor? That is what is confusing me. I have a tachi with that type of mount on it but it has a cord that goes through it and it's just confusing me. At first I just figured that the obi went through the cord but this leaves the tachi and the saya completely unstable. Any ideas?

-Vinnie Page

[Brian Owens]

Originally posted by Mitsutada
Can anyone describe to me the method in which a katana was mounted on an armored samurai? I know they were harnessed blade down and hung from some type of device (like a tachi would be) but I cannot figure out how this device worked.
As far as I know that's not generally how it was done. AFAIK, if a tachi was not worn, but a katana, then the katana was thrust through a sash worn outside the armor.

Originally posted by urbalte
What it was is they wore it blade down actually. there are two rings on the saya that connected to their armor and that's how they wore it.
That sounds like a tachi or gunto mounting, not a katana mounting.

Originally posted by Mitsutada
How exactly did these rings connect to the armor? That is what is confusing me. I have a tachi with that type of mount on it but it has a cord that goes through it and it's just confusing me. At first I just figured that the obi went through the cord but this leaves the tachi and the saya completely unstable. Any ideas?
The tachi was designed for wearing by armored bushi, and iai/batto was not a primary concern (if you were wearing your armor then you knew in advance you were going into battle -- a "fast draw" wasn't needed much).

The cord is tied to the rings, and then tied around the waist; and, yes, is is quite "unstable" -- it dangles.

In his article on the taxonomy of the word wakizashi, S. Alexander Takeuchi, PhD, had this to say:

[Note. The verb "sasu" to mean "to wear a sword" became common only after the end of ko-to period, thus since the beginning of the shin-to period. That is because before uchigatana had become common and a preferred choice of every day sword amongst the samurai, samurai during the ko-to period used to "wear" tachi (but not uchigatana) by "hanging it edge down from the obi. During this time (and still today), the verb "haku" was (and still is) used to mean "to ‘wear’ a tachi." This usage of the verb "haku" to mean "to wear" is the same, for example, as "to wear pants, trousers, skirt, hakama, etc. - anything to "wear" by hanging them from the waist line. However, since the popularization of uchigatana, samurai started "wearing" uchigatana (but not tachi) by "inserting it between obi mostly edge up (but sometimes edge-down in case of some early Momoyama period uchigatana). Thus, the verb "haku" to mean "to wear a sword" was and still is used only for tachi. On the other hand, the word "sasu" to mean to "to wear a sword" was and still is used only for swords other than tachi.]

Therefore, the word "wakizashi" *originally* meant "any swords that were to be worn (by inserting between obi) on the side of or peripherally to the main sword." In this sense, the word "wakizashi" prior to the shin-to period, had only implied a) the swords’ usage/purpose (i.e., side/peripheral/back up) and b) the way they were in which they were worn (i.e., to be "inserted between obi"): It did imply not their length (Ogasawara, 1994a) nor the way they were made. In short, the fact that the term "wakizashi" came to refer to a category of swords that are shorter than the "main sword" was *only consequential* because the "main sword" of the samurai had almost always been a long sword (i.e., tachi or uchigatana) and "a side/peripheral sword" had naturally been a "shorter sword."

Historically, the emergence of the usage of the term "wakizashi" to refer to "an established category of swords within a specific range of length (measured by the distance between the ha-machi and the kissaki)" that were commonly and officially (after the Tokugawa Shogunate had issued an executive order) worn by the samurai is relatively a new phenomenon. In fact, it was only after the beginning of the shin-to period, thus mainly post-Muromachi and especially Edo period. Prior to this, that is when the samurai’s "main sword" had been a tachi (i.e, ko-to, thus pre-Muromachi period), they most often used to "wear" different types of "side/peripheral swords such as "yoroi-doshi" (by inserting between obi), "chiisa-gatana" (by inserting between obi) and "koshi-gatana" (by mostly inserting between obi, but sometimes hanging it from obi) (Ogasawara, 1994b).

[Note. For the academic and historical classification of "chisa-gatana," and its relations to "koshi-gatana" and "tanto," see Ogasawara, 1994a and 1994b.]

During this old periods, the term "wakizashi" did not presuppose any officially set range of the blade length (measured by the distance from ha-machi to kissaki). Because there is a historical document that describes that Oda Nobunaga wore (by inserting between obi) a set of dai-sho, it was during Tenbun through Eiroku eras (circa 1532 through 1569) that wearing dai-sho pair of uchigatana - that is katana and wakizashi - became a common practice amongst the samurai class. Again, up until later periods, there had been no legally specified lengths for tachi, katana, wakizashi and tanto in Japan.

Professor Karl Friday has a good article on this subject at Mugendo Budogu's site.

Here's a link: Karl Friday on wearing the sword. (http://www.budogu.com/html/sword_customs.htm)

HTH.

[urbalte]

Originally posted by Brian Owens


That sounds like a tachi or gunto mounting, not a katana mounting.



Brian,
Thanks for keeping me honest, Bud. But, honestly I was trying to be generic in that post. It sounded like Mitsutada was new to the sword world and didn't know terminology. So, I was keeping it vague so he could follow along until he studied his Vocab. However, for Mitsutada, a good word of advice.....at least 98% of the time Mr. Owens here will give good advice. And for that 2% when he doesn't, he'll correct himself when gets gets home and does a lookup and posts to correct.
And for Brian....keep the good advice coming. :) I constantly find myself looking for your posts. You're a fountain of knowledge. Thanks. :smilejapa