Tsuka-Maki

[Sanke]

Hi all, I wonder if anyone would be able to help me out with something.

I've been playing around with a wall-hanger I got in Sydney a little while back, not really any good for training with, but it's more or less got all the pieces in the right place, so I've been using it to practice assembling, and learning the different parts of the sword.

Lately though, the Ito has started to come loose, so I figured it would make for a good opportunity to learn a bit about Tsuka-Maki (if I've used the right term).

Does anyone have any tutorials they could recommend, internet, book or otherwise?

I rather doubt I'll be able to really make it look very good, or be very functional on my first time, but gotta start somewhere

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
-Sanke

 

[Namii]

Hi!
You're right, wall hangers are NOT good for training. Bad things can happen. Dont swing it around. But, they're good for experiments.
Tsukamaki can be fun. I did it once last year, and will be getting ready to do another one in a few weeks.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tlbuck/tsuka/tsuka.htm
Some resources i have learned from. The youtube videos are people doing the tsukamaki and the last one is reading and pictures from a book.

 

[Sanke]

Thanks very much I'd found one or two of those pages, but there's a couple there that i've not found yet, I'm looking forward to reading/watching them.

As for the safety issue, I completely agree. After dissembling it and examining the meguki, it more or less confirmed to me that it wasn't a good idea. Though as far as practice in other areas, it has taught me how to handle a sword without damaging it, how to take it apart properly, and if all goes to plan, how to wrap the ito ;D

Thanks again for the links!

 

[pgsmith]

Here are a couple more tutorials for you to use as reference, good luck! ...
http://www.ausblade.com/images/articles/shinken/Part3.pdf
http://www.montanairon.com/tsukamaki.html

 

[kegage]

Here is one that I found to be very useful.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tlbuck/tsuka/tsuka.htm

Kevin

 

[kegage]

I used the Prodigy link I posted to do the Tsuka-Maki on two of my combat swords. Had to do some tweaking though because of the nature of how they are used. Worked great. Very happy with the grip and the feel.

Kevin

 

[kegage]

I just found out that the Prodigy link I posted is now dead. When I originally downloaded it, I converted it into a Word document. I recently uploaded it to the files section of the SCA-JML yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sca-jml).The title is The Art of Tsukamaki.doc.

You can try the direct link to the article. It worked for me. Otherwise you will have to go through the yahoo group.

Kevin

 

[pgsmith]

Thomas Buck has moved his tsukamaki tutorial to his restoration service site. It is available there ...
http://www.tsukamaki.net/tsuka/

 

[TLBuck]

Hi All,

Just an FYI, my latest book, "The Art of Tsukamaki", is available on Amazon.com. Here is the publisher's description:

"Tsukamaki, combining aesthetics, form and function, is the deceptively simple Japanese art of sword handle wrapping. Dr. Buck's work presents a general historical overview of the evolution of Japanese samurai swords and sword mounts, as well as step-by-step instructions and diagrams for 25 specific types of sword handle wrapping. It also includes a compact visual glossary of Japanese swords, general temper patterns and common signature characters. As a reference book, it is both an excellent introduction to the art of Tsukamaki, and a complete how-to guide for the beginner tsukamaki-shi, or sword handle wrapper."

(http://www.amazon.com/Art-Tsukamaki...7956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328369659&sr=8-1)

Best Regards,
Tom Buck