A shirasaya, literally "white scabbard", is a plain wooden Japanese blade mount consisting of a saya (scabbard) and tsuka (hilt), traditionally made of nurizaya wood and used when a blade was not expected to see use for some time and needed to be stored. They were externally featureless save for the needed mekugi-ana to secure the nakago(tang), though sometimes sayagaki (blade information) was also present. The need for specialized storage is because prolonged koshirae mounting harmed the blade, owing to factors such as the lacquered wood retaining moisture and encouraging corrosion.
Hanbon Forge Shirasaya are all made of hard wood. The saya also has a wooden knob on one side for attaching a braided cord (sageo), and may have a shitodome to accent the kurigata as well as an end cap made from metal. Traditionally the koiguchi and kojiri were made from buffalo horn.
