Aikido Samurai Swords

Video Transcript

"Today we just want to talk a little bit about the Samurai sword. This sword here is quite powerful. Simply, we're going to prake, break it open, and here's the Katana, or sometimes they'll call it part of a Daito, I'm sorry. We're going to just kind of show different portions of it. This here is called mune, the back, is the mune. This can sometimes be used as a block. This is a blood groove. And then of course we've got the blade. This is called the Kissaki. Kissaki kieter is to, to cut. And Saki means tip. And this is essentially just this, this portion here the, the last inch or two of the blade. Traditionally when, when attacked or use the sword, it would be the last ten to twelve inches of the blade that would be used to actually cut. This would be sharp, but it wouldn't be used as much. So this area became known as the mono oochi. Mono is object, oochi is to strike. And this essentially where you're making your connection. A lot of other little pieces here. Most traditionally you'll see a lot of people collect these Tsuba or hand guards. I don't know if you can get a good view. This is a Musashi style hand guard or tsuba. Musashi was very into minimalism and just stuck with the basics. As you can see he's got just a ring around. Other types of tsuba would be very decorative. They'd have gold inlay and different animals, rabbits and crabs and you, you name it. It didn't matter what, whatever that Samurai wanted to put on his sword. Essentially you never want to touch the blade as it will rust rather quickly. As my instructors also said that this is very sharp but it would be dulled rather quickly. In a combat situation, it could be dulled in a matter of seven cuts. So you wouldn't see a lot of the cling, you know, clanging and that kind of thing in a sword fight. It's usually very crisp, clean, one kind of clean cut and make sure that it's finished. Down here we've got the handle, this is called the scuff. And you can probably see right in here, we've got a little animal, there's actually on my sword it's a dragon. They call that menuki. This here is the butt of the blade. This could be used sometimes for striking and that is called the Ska Kashira. Kashira is head and again Ska is handle, so Ska Kashira. There are a lot of other parts but those are the main ones. This is called the Saya, it is the scabbard. It's made out of wood and then has enamel on the outside. One unique thing I forgot to mention about the handle is actually underneath here this white portion is made out of Sam, or not Salmon skin, it's called Sammit. It's actually shark skin. It gives a good solid grip, it's wrapped very tightly to make sure that you, you know, you can get it wet and still have a grip. Then this is very simply put away. You always want to cover, make sure that there's no, no black showing from the Saya. It's drawn and then put in. With a little practice, you don't, don't cut yourself any longer. But this essentially what the Samurai sword looks like. This here is the Sageo. Sageo is just a piece of cloth or, or rope essentially that will help attach it to your belt. So, in Iaido you have your hakama and then you have your typical belt underneath. It's slipped between one of the layers of the belt and out the side of hakama. And then this will come over the top and we'll be cinched into one of the straps from the hakama to make sure that it's secure. That way when you're drawing the blade, you always move the saya forward and back, but that way once the blade is out it won't fall behind you. So it's very secure. So this is essentially the Samurai sword."