This mounting’s scabbard is wrapped in a spiraling strip of burnished ray skin edged in gold makie (metallic powder set in lacquer) over black lacquer. The ray skin was treated with a variant lacquering effect achieved by applying black lacquer over its bumpy surface, letting it dry, then polishing it to create a smooth surface that reveals the skin. High-quality ray skin with an even texture and almost pure white color has been used here: the circular pattern brought out by the burnishing is beautiful in its delicacy. Imported from the southern regions, ray skin was an expensive luxury material.

The sword guard is decorated with the Hosokawa nine-planet crest on a background of tool-punched shakudo (a copper-gold alloy that oxidizes to blue-black); also of tool-punched shakudo, the hilt collar and buttcap feature incised nineplanet and cherry blossom crests. The hilt ornaments—nine-planet and cherry blossom crests executed in chased gold—adorn a ray skin hilt. It is not known who owned this mounting, but its components give some sense of his refined taste.