Talk:Shokudaikiri Mitsutada/@comment-139.194.11.36-20150630100238/@comment-26044227-20150705175454

To put it into more detail, the blade has been completely burnt black because of a [backdraft] and probably long-term exposure to extreme high temperatures. The [hamon] (the wave pattern on all blades that are said to be the most important and beautiful part of the blade when judging it as a work of art) has been completely obliterated, and the habaki had also completely fused into the blade's hilt. All of these things make the blade equivalent to a broken and burnt pottery shard--basically something that technically has "lost its worth as a work of art."

So you can imagine for a character who cares a lot about being cool and maintaining appearances that this is something he'd want to hide. Most fanartists will depict burn scars or the gold scarring from the melted habaki under his eyepatch, gloves, legs, or back.