Why are Tsuba (the Katana Handguards) So Small?
Hello everyone. Thank you for reading this article. I’m Shogo from Let’s ask Shogo, the interpreter of the online lessons and owner of this website.
The Tsuba is the handguard of the Japanese Katana. However, when you say the word “handguard,” you would usually imagine the bigger and more protective handguards on Western swords like sabers and rapiers. But why are Tsuba so small? Wouldn’t it protect your hands more if they were bigger? There are a couple of possible reasons.
- Japan didn’t have enough steel resources
- It would get in the way because they were always on the samurai’s waist
- It was used to push the katana out of the Saya
The first reason is quite simple. Compared to Western countries, Japan was not blessed with iron resources. Therefore, it was not possible to make handguards that large.
The second reason has to do with the social rules of the Samurai. As a rule, samurai always carried Uchi-katana and Wakizashi as symbols of being a samurai. Tsuba would have been an obstacle in their daily lives if they were too large.
Finally, another reason could be that Tsuba would be used to cut Koiguchi (the end of the Saya sheath). If you have ever practiced Iaido, you know that the katana is pulled out by pressing the thumb against the Tsuba. This is basically because the katana’s Koiguchi is very firm, so it cannot be easily pulled out. If the Tsuba were larger, the thumb would not be able to press down on it, so it is said to have been made smaller.
These are the three reasons as far as I have studied. What is your opinion?
I always wondered why tsuba were typically smaller than their European counterparts… I had not thought about the lack of steel, but rather that a large handguard would get in the way of certain techniques… I guess that would play into your second reason… the wakizashi and uchikatana being the symbols of the samurai…