Kurojishi Wakizashi (黒獅子) – Black Lion

Kurojishi (黒獅子): the black lion

The shishi, the mythic lion that travelled from China into Japanese art, is a formidable guardian. It lives at the heart of the shishimai, the lion dance performed to banish evil spirits and draw in good fortune. The black lion, kurojishi, is its most imposing and shadowed incarnation.

This wakizashi places it at the centre of its tsuba, sculpted and pierced in blackened iron with gilded highlights. The vivid red of the handle echoes the traditional colours of the shishimai.

A mirror-polished 1045 steel blade with bo-hi

The blade is crafted in 1045 steel, a robust and widely used carbon steel that is straightforward to maintain. It follows a shinogi-zukuri geometry with a chū-kissaki tip and a bo-hi that terminates before the point.

The surface is mirror-polished and carries a flowing notare-style line: this is a decorative hamon.

A black lion mounting

The round (maru-gata) blackened-iron tsuba features a lion rendered in sculpted and pierced work (sukashi and takabori), with painted gilded highlights and a rounded rim (maru-mimi). A gilded brass seppa completes the assembly.

The fuchi and kashira in polished blackened alloy are smooth and unadorned. The handle combines a wood core with faux red ray skin, wrapped in black tsuka-ito in hineri-maki, with black menuki. The black copper habaki is pierced with a honeycomb pattern evoking a tortoiseshell (kikkō), revealing a nanako ground beneath.

A brilliant black lacquered saya

The saya is crafted in solid wood, coated in brilliant black roiro-nuri lacquer, undecorated. The koiguchi and kojiri are lacquered black in keeping with the rest of the saya. The black lacquered kurikata with a gilded shitodome holds a black cotton sageo.

Dimensions and handling of the wakizashi

With a blade of 51 cm and an overall length of 78 cm, the Kurojishi carries the proportions of a wakizashi, the short companion to the katana. Its 23 cm handle offers a comfortable single-handed grip, with room for the second hand in support. At 1 kg, it remains thoroughly manoeuvrable. In its saya it measures 80 cm, an ideal format for display alone or alongside a katana.