Here we go, my Tozando iaito! 💜
Mine is the one on the left, just got here the other day. The one on the right is my irl best bud/roomie’s. Their’s is about... idk 15 years or so old? Also a Tozando. They’er the one that got me into Iaido in the first place.
The theme around mine is pretty personal, so there are some details I won’t say. But overall I always felt like a guardian type. I enjoy protecting others and making them smile. I also have a great fondness towards Japanese folklore and Yokai, especially Kotengu in particular.
Overall theme is the idea of a shrine gate during a summer night, which includes tall grass and nearby water with koi. My birthday is in the summer, night is my favourite time of day, and I have a lot of fond memories chasing hoards of fireflies out in the country when I was little.
The bird menuki (The decorative pieces hidden under the hilt wrapping) is representative of kotengu and how they’er often thought of as chaotic guardians of forests. Tori is the word for bird in Japanese, but it’s also to be a faint nod towards the shrine gate, which are called torii in Japanese. This is also why the red is mostly scrambled and hidden, rather than being upfront. It represents just seeing a peek of the gate through the trees, but also the feeling of peering through the gate and seeing the spiritual world on the other side.
I’m sorry I didn’t take any photos of the blade yet. It felt too shy to me.
