You are most welcome, Tanaka
Question on buying sword online.
- Thread starter Tanaka
- Start date
This seems like an excellent opportunity to jump on a soap box and pontificate for a bit. 
The standard reply to anyone asking about swords is to get to a legitimate instructor, and don't mess with swords until you do. I heartily endorse this as the safest and most reasonable of actions. However, there are a great many people that play with swords without instruction and don't kill themselves. Very much like there are lots of people that play with firearms with no training, you can do the same with swords and have a lot of fun with it. However, some serious cautions need to be made here ... swords are MUCH more dangerous than firearms, and that simple fact needs to be remembered at all times. Swords have no safety to put on, and can never be unloaded. A sword is always sharp, and can easily cut you bad enough to bleed out in a few minutes if your attention wavers.
With those facts in mind, here are some simple rules that should be adhered to by anyone messing with swords ... 1) Never cut things alone! I can't stress this one enough. A single mistake can result in a very large wound. If this happens, someone else needs to be near enough to help get the bleeding under control, and get you to a hospital. If no one is around, and a person suffers a large sword cut, they will NOT survive the experience. 2) If you are cutting things, the safest place for others to stand is in front of you. This is counter-intuitive, so I will explain. The danger to spectators is from a flying sword that has either broken, or slipped from the hands of the person cutting. If either of these things happen, the sword will fly either to the side or behind the person doing the cutting. I've seen a number of swords get away from people, and it is ALWAYS to the side or behind. 3) Before you begin to cut anything, stand with your sword, and extend it as far as you can reach in all directions. Make sure there is nothing and nobody within several feet of as far as you can reach. I have heard of a number of folks not realizing something was within their cutting radius. 4) Make sure that there is no play in the handle of your sword, no looseness of the cord on the handle, and that the mekugi pegs holding in the handle are tight and in good repair. 5) Understand that you are not "practicing on your own", you are playing with swords. It is fun and interesting, but bears no relation to actual Japanese sword art practice under a legitimate instructor.
The sword arts is still a pretty small community. If you'll tell us your location, someone here may be able to suggest a legitimate instructor in your area.
The standard reply to anyone asking about swords is to get to a legitimate instructor, and don't mess with swords until you do. I heartily endorse this as the safest and most reasonable of actions. However, there are a great many people that play with swords without instruction and don't kill themselves. Very much like there are lots of people that play with firearms with no training, you can do the same with swords and have a lot of fun with it. However, some serious cautions need to be made here ... swords are MUCH more dangerous than firearms, and that simple fact needs to be remembered at all times. Swords have no safety to put on, and can never be unloaded. A sword is always sharp, and can easily cut you bad enough to bleed out in a few minutes if your attention wavers.
With those facts in mind, here are some simple rules that should be adhered to by anyone messing with swords ... 1) Never cut things alone! I can't stress this one enough. A single mistake can result in a very large wound. If this happens, someone else needs to be near enough to help get the bleeding under control, and get you to a hospital. If no one is around, and a person suffers a large sword cut, they will NOT survive the experience. 2) If you are cutting things, the safest place for others to stand is in front of you. This is counter-intuitive, so I will explain. The danger to spectators is from a flying sword that has either broken, or slipped from the hands of the person cutting. If either of these things happen, the sword will fly either to the side or behind the person doing the cutting. I've seen a number of swords get away from people, and it is ALWAYS to the side or behind. 3) Before you begin to cut anything, stand with your sword, and extend it as far as you can reach in all directions. Make sure there is nothing and nobody within several feet of as far as you can reach. I have heard of a number of folks not realizing something was within their cutting radius. 4) Make sure that there is no play in the handle of your sword, no looseness of the cord on the handle, and that the mekugi pegs holding in the handle are tight and in good repair. 5) Understand that you are not "practicing on your own", you are playing with swords. It is fun and interesting, but bears no relation to actual Japanese sword art practice under a legitimate instructor.
The sword arts is still a pretty small community. If you'll tell us your location, someone here may be able to suggest a legitimate instructor in your area.
