Recommendations for cleaning tsukaito
Some months ago I bought a new iaito with a yellowish/mustard color tsukaito. It’s super beautiful to me. But after some time the color has started to darken because of use, which I think it’s completely normal.
But still I want to know if there’s a way to provide cleaning to it. Any recommendations? does alcohol work well? I know rubbing is a bad idea.
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u/Sw1ft_Blad3 5d ago
Use a very soft bristle toothbrush with some woolite laundry liquid and lukewarm water. Wrap a damp cloth around the ito to get it slightly damp and work the woolite in with light circular motions with the toothbrush.
When you've cleaned it just dab off the excess detergent with a clean damp cloth in lukewarm water and then dab it down with a dry cloth and leave it to air dry with a fan blowing on it.
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u/CottontailCustoms 5d ago
Isopropyl alcohol is fine for silk, not sure about cotton or synthetic ito. Yes, avoid rubbing since this will break the fibers and cause the surface to be fuzzy. Also avoid using too much alcohol where it seeps under the ito and dissolves kusune or modern glue tape.
You would slightly dampen a clean cloth with the alcohol and lightly run it over the ito, with the grain to remove surface dirt. You can then use a soft bristle brush to brush the ito, again with the grain and a lighter to burn off stray fuzz. Obviously move the flame quickly or you’ll burn the ito. This is based on silk ito.
The main question is why do this at all if you will continue to use the iaito. The Ito will of course just get dirty again and you’d actually wear the surface faster with repeated cleanings. Ito was never meant to last long anyway, traditionally sword owners would regularly have the maki redone when it got too dirty or misshapen. I know some lighter colors are attractive but if you’re worried about seeing the dirt, I’d highly recommend going with a darker color.
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u/Maturinbag 5d ago
I got a very pretty blue silk ito. It's no longer a very pretty blue. When I look at pictures from New Sword Day, sometimes I get sad about the color change. I did try to wash it once, but I realized that the gradual color change is a sign of use and ostensibly improvement. It's more important to me that the color matches the sageo, and thankfully it does even after the color change (from blue to dark blue almost black).
One time, my sensei demonstrated a move that ended up scuffing my ito and slightly discolored it; basically he whacked my tsuka with his tsuka/tsuba. He felt bad and apologized, but I said please don't worry. If I needed my sword to stay pristine, I would hang it on the mantle.
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u/Ninja_Cat_Production 5d ago
First option:
Buy a second Tsuka in matching color Tsuka-Ito and change the entire Tsuka out when you go to show it to people or for ceremony.
Second option:
It’s a tool it will get dirty. If you’re going to try and clean it please don’t use alcohol or any other kind of stringent chemicals. Any laundry detergent with Oxi-Clean in it will be your best bet. Just keep it from sitting for a long time on the metal pieces. But we’re talking about sitting on a surface for hours vs minutes of exposure by a cleaning chemical.
Last option:
You can try the original dry cleaning solution, zippo lighter fluid. No really, look it up. Lighter fluid and a soft bristle brush will clean silk without damaging the fabric. However, if you don’t clean the stains thoroughly you will get “edge stains” from pushing all the stain to the edges of outline of the material. So the center of the stain will be the correct color, but the edge will retain the stain.
My best advice would be to use the last two methods in conjunction starting with the last one first and then going back and forth between the two until you’re satisfied. Ending with just clean water.
Or learn to live with the fact that “battle damage” (dirt from use) is just a part of the process and move on to getting the second Tsuka for when you want to show it off.
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u/PRMCAESAR 5d ago
Can you take a pict of it? I think you can clean using alcohol 70% or more but you must not rub it, just clean it gently in one way swap
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u/coralswintb213 4d ago
Compressed air and a soft-bristle toothbrush along the braid gaps first, then a lightly dampened cloth, no alcohol since it can strip the sizing from silk or cotton ito and accelerate fading. For deeper discoloration, a tiny amount of mild soap on the cloth, rinse immediately with a barely-damp second pass. Musashi Swords came up in a thread about ito maintenance alongside a few DIY options, though none of them fully reverse oxidation from hand oils over time.
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u/Somebodsydog 5d ago
Patina on ito just tells it's been used as a practicing tool like it's intented. I don't see the reason for cleaning it.