Mounting kozuka to your swords.
Sept 28, 2010 21:48:13 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2010 21:48:13 GMT
Hi all,
I bought a good number of these kozuka at a recent arms fair. I find it pretty difficult to find decent kozuka to act as saya fillers for my Nihonto, so I was very pleased to find this little treasure trove! One problem though is that they were all mounted with eating blades. Luckily it was not too difficult to remove them and put them back to their original use.
Interesting little pieces, they have plenty of history as around the 1880's, with the decline of the samurai class the craftsmen involved with swords had to quickly adapt their talents as demand massively dropped.
These modified kozuka are the result of such changes and were converted into dining knives for europeans who craved the exotic.
Fasinating though they are, I have decided to unmount a few of them and put them to use in my nihonto! The blades are pretty nice and I think may be silver plated. Seems a shame to have them now sitting around idle. If you can think of a use for them, let me know!
It is pretty easy to unmount them. Soak the kozuka in really hot water for 10 mins or so, every now and then testing the blade and gradually working it out. Sadly the little blades to fit in them (Kokatana) seem to be even rarer than the wild purple dotted unicorn , so I am having to use stiff bits of rattan for the moment.
Anyways, below are a few pics of how I went about it.
The original piece
Some of the other kozuka
i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/william-m/IMAG0588.jpg
i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/william-m/IMAG0591.jpg
Hot water!
The blade is finally released
A piece of rattan or whatever I have to hand. Apparently lollypop sticks are very good
mmmm, looking sexy!
I bought a good number of these kozuka at a recent arms fair. I find it pretty difficult to find decent kozuka to act as saya fillers for my Nihonto, so I was very pleased to find this little treasure trove! One problem though is that they were all mounted with eating blades. Luckily it was not too difficult to remove them and put them back to their original use.
Interesting little pieces, they have plenty of history as around the 1880's, with the decline of the samurai class the craftsmen involved with swords had to quickly adapt their talents as demand massively dropped.
These modified kozuka are the result of such changes and were converted into dining knives for europeans who craved the exotic.
Fasinating though they are, I have decided to unmount a few of them and put them to use in my nihonto! The blades are pretty nice and I think may be silver plated. Seems a shame to have them now sitting around idle. If you can think of a use for them, let me know!
It is pretty easy to unmount them. Soak the kozuka in really hot water for 10 mins or so, every now and then testing the blade and gradually working it out. Sadly the little blades to fit in them (Kokatana) seem to be even rarer than the wild purple dotted unicorn , so I am having to use stiff bits of rattan for the moment.
Anyways, below are a few pics of how I went about it.
The original piece
Some of the other kozuka
i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/william-m/IMAG0588.jpg
i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/william-m/IMAG0591.jpg
Hot water!
The blade is finally released
A piece of rattan or whatever I have to hand. Apparently lollypop sticks are very good
mmmm, looking sexy!