Thicker Tsuka

[Havoc550]

Is there a term for having a thin or thick tsuka? I have looked through various forums and websites and can't seem to find anything specific to the thickness of the tsuka.

I am 6' 2" and have fairly large hands and most tsuka cramp the area between my thumb and index finger in just a few minutes of practice. I have found that some of the cheaper katana like the Raptor line that Bugei and Hanwei put out was perfect for my hands. Those are wrapped in suede, which I don't believe was traditional. The Hanwei Tori Elite is also one that fits my hands perfectly, but again, they are wrapped in leather instead of silk.

I know I could always wear gloves, but I don't want to be "that guy". I will hopefully be returning to Japan next year and may get a custom iaito from Nosyudo and I know they measure your hands during the design process. I will most likely have my answer at the point, but I was wondering if anyone here had any additional info.

 

[horseclover]

In looking at antiques, I am always noticing the thinness of tsuka and saya. I don't know a Japanese term for it but some poking around yeilds some

Tsuka

There are four basic shapes of tsuka:
1. “Haichi Tsuka”, the most common, the mune-side almost straight, the ha-side slightly tapered, following the lines of the sword
2. “Rikko Tsuka”, almost hour glass shaped
3. “Imogata” (“potatoe shape”), both sides straight
4. “Morozori”, closely following the shape of the saya, mostly with tachi/ handachi

tsuka shapes

The length of the tsuka was usually tailored to the individual swordsman’s specifications. As a rule of thumb, the length of the handle of a katana is twice the width of the hand plus two fingers, the wakizashi 1.5 hand widths and the tanto one hand width. Average length of a katana tsuka used to be 8 sun (24 cm or 9.5 inches).
http://www.shadowofleaves.com/sword-history/koshirae-history/

I'm sure some of the other indexes can yield more. A bookmark I had added after Stein's pages long ago is
http://www.montanairon.com/tsukamaki.html
http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/

Keith Larman rambles from Sword Forum International had always been worthwhile reading.
http://www.swordforum.com/forums/member.php?131-Keith-Larman
http://summerchild.com/summer.html

Wide and thin, some like lots of waisting. A shape I have never seen on a katana length was pregnant, or thicker in the middle. Tanto, yes. Blame my views on watching too many films. Silk always looks and feels better to me but each to their own.

Cheers

GC

 

[NihontoEd]

Hmm, of all the reading and studying Nihonto I have done, I do not recollect ever seeing reference terms relating to a thick or thin Tsuka. Though I confess to having never looked for such terms. The term "Kasane" means "Thickness", but is the actual thickness measurement of a blade or whatever. For example a sword which is 0.25" thick is written as Kasane: 0.25". I will lok into this and see if I can dig up any info.

Those are wrapped in suede, which I don't believe was traditional.

Au contraire mon ami, leather/suede is a very traditional material for tsukamaki. Suede doe skin was a favorite in olden times as well as today. But plain leather was used as well, along with other materials like Baleen, lacquered hemp cloth.

Fred Lohman sells a man made suede Ito which has a thin nylon strip inside to prevent stretching. It makes a nice durable wrap.
http://www.japanese-swords.com/pages/silk.htm

 

[Mecha]

That's really great to know, SouthernComfort, thanks for linking that information about the leather tsukamaki.

 

[NihontoEd]

Mecha, You are welcome, glad it was helpful.

I spoke with a friend who is fluent in Japanese and is a translator as well. This is what he said regarding thick/thin tsuka, "I am not aware of any specialist terms for that. There are some terms like ryûgo that refer to a drum shaped tsuka but they are, as indicated, more for the shape than for thickness. But if I would talk to a Japanese person, I personally would use terms like "tsuka ga atsushi" or "tsuka ga usushi" for a thick and a thin tsuka respectively."