Itomaki No Tachi
Yes. It is a replica, but now we know what it is a replica of!!!
We made a fun, accidental find to start off the new year. Enjoy!
Tachi
Some 30 years ago, we acquired a replica tachi at an estate sale.
The replica is of a of sword in the itomaki-no-tachi category, which translates to “silk-wrapped great sword.” We knew that what we had purchased wasn’t the real thing since the asking price was less than $100 lol, but we thought it would be a nice decorative/conversation piece.
Not bad for a single Benjamin…
The blade is steel, judging by the weight, not aluminum or zinc. It could be some kind of stainless, like 440C. The hamon is clearly not real and nothing else regarding the blade is really worth noting.
Shiny – that’s about all we can say of the blade.
The blade may be pretty much a dud, but the details on the mounting make up for it 🙂 There is some damage to the saya, but we didn’t really care.
What caught our eye was the “fancy” detailing on the scabbard, hilt, etc. The scabbard wrapping is either watari-maki or saya-maki, and the style is also sometimes called sayamaki no tachi.
Alotta work, for a $100 replica. We definitely got our money’s worth
Really nicely done.
Tachi is a type of sword that is longer and more curved than a katana, making it more like a saber. It is also is worn slung at the waist with the cutting edge down. That is because a tachi was mainly used while on horseback in combat.
Tachi on top, katana on the bottom.
Itomaki no tachi mountings were used by high-ranking samurai, and were often commissioned for important ancestral blades. These blades were mainly worn for ceremonies, and were not meant or designed for combat (unlike the katana).
Lastly, only the family of the Shōgun and its closest retainers were permitted to use itomaki no tachi mountings!
Shōgun
Fast forward to a few days ago, one of us was flipping through a book purchased who knows when, and came across a photo of the REAL thing.
Very fashionable indeed.
In 1985, the Tokugawa Art Museum, with the support by a grant from Minolta Camera Co., created a traveling exhibition called The Shogun Age Exhibition. It made stops in L.A., Dallas, Munich, and Paris.
Pretty much all the information anyone could ever want about Japanese swords.
They published a book of all of the items in the exhibit, and one of the items looked exactly the same as the replica tachi we had in house!!!
Yup, got one (replica).
Apparently, the mountings of our replica were made in dedication for Tokugawa Yoshimichi by his son Gorota, the 5th lord of Owari. The demands for high-quality sword mounts by the upper echelons of the warrior class of the time resulted in the development of an extremely high level of metal craftsmanship.
Beautiful – and deadly.
The mountings were made for the blade “Kiku Gosaku.” The blade is said to be the work of Empora Go-Toba (1180-1239), who is known to have forged blades in the company of famed smiths.
The “naked” sword – still deadly.
How fun a discovery is this???
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