Re: TACHI; or playing the tsuba in the high school band!

Am trying to assess sources available in English on the Japanese sword, and
we are not sitting high in the cotton here. The only really available book is
John M. Yumoto, The Japanese Sword: A Handbook, Tuttle, 1958, which has
undergone many reprintings. Unfortunately, Yumoto's book is very
short---191 pages. His terminology is obscure. The only explicit mention of tachi is
in the Glossary on page 184: well at least he got it in somewhere, right?
Quote is "a tachi [is] an ancient slung sword housed in a jindachi
mounting." Now that is like saying Julius Caesar lived in Rome, nothing else! If you
delve into the text [!], you find mention of the Koto [Old Sword] period on
page 27; Yumoto says the period lasted from 900 to 1530 [AD]. On page 28,
"swords which had a cutting edge of four feet or more were often employed." I
assume that, based on what Tom Helm has written, this is our friend Mr.
Tachi-san. On page 47-8, Yumoto writes: "in this period the sword was worn
suspended from the hip by cords which passed through two rings on the scabbard
(Plates 7 and 8). The best part of The Japanese Sword is the extensive number of
plates. The prettiest of the illustrations are those of the tsuba, the
elegantly wrought hand guards that adorned the swords. That reminds me of the pal
who used to play the tsuba in my high school band--he didn't get much music out
of it, but it was pretty to look at. As My Ichiban, My Significant Other
[SO], would proclaim now, "self slap!" And I would deserve it, too, Ollie.
Later and greater, Prof. Murphy, The Japan Foundation


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Prof. et al-
For more on koshirae and swords in general the next step should be "The
Japanese Sword" by Sato Kanzan, trans. Joe Earle. Takes all the ideas
of Yumoto sensei's book a step further. There are many good books
available in English nowadays, something for every taste and level of
interest. I would be happy to make recommendations, is it more on the
koshirae you are looking for?
-t

Check out www.ecmas.com
It is largely a martial arts supply site, and as such has a very
interesting selection of books on Japanese swords as well as on the
samurai.
I am sure you're bound to find at least a few good books on the subject!