Saya Repair
If you use a sword during training, sooner or later you will have to deal with saya repair or maintenance. Drawing and carrying a katana means that sooner or later you will have to give the sheath of your sword some extra attention because some parts of the saya will show some wear
Fortunately, most user traces can be easily remedied. What are the saya parts that will wear out?
Typical signs of wear on the saya of the samurai sword?
The Koiguchi and Sayaguchi
The opening of the saya is called the koiguchi. Usually the entire koiguchi is reinforced with buffalo horn to ensure that the edge of the sword blade is less likely to wear out and this also provides protection. A quickly worn opening is often caused by practitioners pulling or pushing back with too much force or pressure. The sayaguchi is the part that fits the habaki and ensures that the blade stays properly in the sheath. It may also be possible that years of training and saya biki and noto have simply worn out the koiguchi.
Hanwei katana maintenance sets include a piece of wood as standard that you can glue into the koiguchi. By filing you can file out this opening a bit so that you can find the perfect fit.
This is a fairly open door, but by carrying out the techniques correctly you will have less trouble with this. But you get to this level by training a lot, etc, etc.
Scratch on the saya
A kuroro or high-gloss lacquered saya will suffer from this more quickly. These often look beautiful but are also a bit more sensitive. You can easily remove small superficial scratches with a car cleaning cloth and polish. Commander 5 and a fine microfibre cloth are suitable for this. If this does not work, the scratches will be deeper and you will have to have the saya varnished.
Dents in the saya
You can only solve this by sanding, filling and painting the saya. If you want to outsource this, it is best to find someone who makes and/or restores musical instruments. These can restore the sheath to its original condition.
When buying a katana, it is best to take a good look at the koiguchi to see if it is reinforced with buffalo horn and try the fit between the habaki and the saya. A sword should not fall out, but it should not be too tight either.
