Tsuka-ito

Tsukaito (tsuka wrap)

Our Ito is sold as "Industry Standard" width. Does the ito narrow or contract when pulled tight YES!! as will any fabric. If you take a narrow piece of woven material and pull it tight it will contract in both thickness and width. Our Ito is no different. If you compare ito procured from ANY OTHER source to ours it is the same width on the spool and the same width when pulled taught. What can be different is some companies actually sell "silk" ito which is actually chemical fiber or "manmade". You can easily tell the difference by burning the end of the strand. Chemical fiber ito will bubble and form a hard molten crust at the end. Cotton ito will simply burn and typically smolder. Silk burns much in the same way as cotton but typically does not continue to smolder. If you have doubts check it out.

The best way to calculate the required length of ito necessary to wrap your tsuka is to take the length of your tsuka and add 3 to it. The resulting number is the number of feet you will need. Example: For a 12" tsuka add 3 = 15. You will need 15' of ito to wrap your tsuka.

NOTE** I never thought I would need to explain this. When ordering by the foot you are allowed to change the "quantity" field in the shopping cart to the number of feet that you require. ALSO we do not ship 15 - 1 foot sections but ship 1 - 15 foot length if you want to cut it into smaller sections then we leave that up to you.

Although silk ito is the traditional choice we also offer:

Cotton Ito

Leather Ito (tsukagawa)

Silk sold in 30m spools 10mm, 8mm, 6mm & 4mm widths

The tsuka-ito widths are generally used as follows:

Katana - 10mm Wakizashi - 8mm Tanto - 6 or 4mm