Tsuka is loose. What can I do about it?

by K.
(paris)

My tsuka slides in my left hand when I do tenouchi. It's the same with my newest shinai (1 year of practice with it)

Do you know something for that please? I think I need to change tsuka but I’m a little afraid!

Thanks a lot!

Kendo-Guide.Com: Tsuka is made of leather. If you think tuska is getting lose, you can wrap the tsuka with a wet towel (tenugui is fine) and leave it over a night or so. This can shrink the tsuka and make it tighter. Make sure the towel should not be too wet. If it dribbles, it has too much water.

Another possibility is that you are squeezing your hands in too much. Many people say that “tenouchi should be like squeezing a towel” but actually it is not a towel. It is used to be said “chakin”.

Chakin is a “cloth used in the tea ceremony.  Chakin is made out of linen or cotton according to my friend who is a master of Urasenke (a school of tea ceremony). ” (quoted from tenouchi in Kendo-Guide.Com Newsletter subscribers’ area)

When you want to dry a chakin you don’t have to squeeze it like you do with a towel.  Try a baby wash cloth. You do not have to “squeeze” it to dry.