Katana handle wrap coming undone

So my training katana's handle wrap has been coming lose from training and sweat. The top of near the guard is slipping down. I don't know What the material that's wrapped around the handle. Probably kinda cheap material. What are some ways to fit this? I could even use some ideas on how to make it so this doesn't happen for training.

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Here's some ideas
by: Paul

There are several ways you can approach this.

First off, there are basically three materials used to wrap the handle of a Katana: cotton, silk or synthetic rayon. What material is used doesn't matter as much as HOW it is wrapped in the first place. In an ideal world, a Katana's ito is wrapped with what is called 'Hishigami' which are basically small paper triangles used to ensure a tight fit and perfectly shaped diamonds. You can see how this is done on our instructional page on Tsukamaki here.

Unfortunately, this adds considerably to the amount of time and cost of making a sword, so is rarely done on swords under the $1000 price point.

Now a tight wrap with correctly ALTERNATING ito will solve a lot of the problems, many cheaper swords do not have alternating ito, and if this is the case, it is very likely that the swords handle wrap will start to come loose very quickly.

So chances are your sword is not alternating in the ito and was not wrapped very tightly. So how to fix it?

The best, but hardest, way to fix it is to have the ito re-wrapped. It is not all that easy, but the guide above should give you some idea how - best to practice several times on a cheap sword first - or you can go the other way and have someone else wrap it for you such as the Fred Lohman Company but this is often more expensive that just buying a decently wrapped sword in the first place.

The quick and easy fix? Lacquering the ito..

Basically, with this method you put the ito in place and then use polyurethane to permanently stick it down in place so it CANNOT shift.

Here is a tutorial from Cottontail customs on how to do it yourself.

It's quick and relatively easy, and will ensure that the ito stays in place for years to come.

Hope this helps.

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