When you want to perform maintenance or cleaning work on your katana, it's best to first disassemble the katana.
What do you need?
-Samurai care set
Disassembling the katana:
Step 1:
Find the Meguki on the handle of the katana. Most modern katanas have 2 Meguki in the handle. They can sometimes be hard to find, because they can be (partially) covered by the Tsuka-ito.
Grab the hammer and punch from the set. Place the katana on the box the kit comes in and make sure the Meguki you're going to remove doesn't rest on the box, but outside of it.
Place the punch on the Meguki and tap it with the hammer until it comes loose. Don't hit too hard, or you could damage the Meguki. Multiple light taps work best to loosen the Meguki. Repeat this for the other Meguki.
Step 3:
Now that the Meguki are removed, you can start removing the handle. This requires some care, as the blade can already be quite loose in the grip. Never grab the blade to pull it out, as this can cause serious injury.
Hold the katana vertically, with the blade pointing upward and your hand close to the Tsuba. Make sure the sharp edge is pointing away from you. Gently tap the side of the handle with your other hand until the blade is loose enough to slide out. Once it's loose, carefully pull the knife out of the handle by pushing the Tsuba upward. As the blade begins to slide out, you can move your grip to the tang of the blade.
Step 4:
You can now remove the fittings, that is the Tsuba, Seppa and optionally the Habaki.
Once the katana is disassembled, you can use the remaining supplies from the care set to clean the katana.
Step 5:
Once the katana is cleaned, you can reassemble it. If you removed the Habaki, replace it first. Followed by the first Seppa with the notched edge facing away from the Tsuba. Next is the Tsuba and the second Seppa, again with the notched edge facing away from the Tsuba. Finally, you can slide the handle back into place.
When all parts are back on the tang, hold the katana vertically again and use your free hand to gently tap the bottom of the handle. This ensures that all parts are fully back in place.
Place the katana back on the box and use the hammer to tap the Meguki back into place. If the original Meguki are damaged during removal, you'll need to replace them with new ones. Disassembling a katana may seem complicated, but with practice it becomes easier and easier.
You can find our katana care set here.
