The job of the handle wrapper of the Bizen sword

The tsukamaki is the part where leather or cloth is wrapped around the sword handle to reinforce it and make it easy to swing the sword. This was developed to allow better gripping. In ancient times sword handles were wrapped using lacquer tree bark or wisteria vine, but during the Edo period people began to use leather to cover the handle and wrap it in diamond-pattern braid using silk cloth.