Some advice wanted.

[ninja5]

What ever I used both full contact and had no problem. Cochranes are not toys by the way you can jam them, pound them, will not break. Been there done that. Ritter steel we use in are full contact traning never had a problem. So this is from on the job training. One other thing any time you pick up a sword you are training if its extreme or full contact. Most Japanese arts dont make contact only with wood swords or bamboo not very real but to each his owne.

 

[Kajowaraku]

Nope, gotta disagree with that completely. Knowing the types of things that Kajowaraku is using it for, I'm going to bet that he is going to have similar needs to mine, and such lightweight little things are not going to achieve the more realistic feel he is going for. These things are designed for competition in which there is almost nothing even closely resembling actual swordsmanship, and are little more than toys in my opinion. The dimensions are all wrong, for one thing, they have very different balance and weight (so the competitors can throw, spin, and catch their "weapons" in competition). A good thought, but unfortunately not a good idea.

I agree with you Chris. It's not for "banging around", what it has to withstand is the odd block (with the back or side of the sword, not the edge obviously). and the "swirling" of the opponents blade to overtake is attack and counter. Things like that. It's not roleplaying, it's not fencing and it's certainly not banging swords around. Also, when training versus spear or bo, the quality of the blade is no less important, since the impact of a strike can be quite fierce. Improper execution of a block on a powerful attack with bo or naginata will probaly end up with you being hit where it hurts regardless of your effort to stop the attack. stageswords would probably fold around the bo, and while that certainly is a dramatic effect, it's not what i'm looking for .

I thank you for the idea though, it certainly was an interesting suggestion.

 

[Chris Parker]

I'm glad that you got some use out of them, but I still feel they are not suited for this request. One question though, you're new here ninja5, what is your background? Your profile states Iai and Ninjitsu (sic), but no ranking or time spent, and you are now talking about Japanese arts as if you don't study them, so I'm a little confused.

 

[Chris Parker]

Hey Kajowaraku,

Different schools actually teach to use different parts of the sword to block with. I was always taught to use the side of the blade to prevent damaging the cutting edge, TSKSR teaches to use more the back of the blade (shinogi-ji through to the mune) for their deflections, usually coming down over the top, but I have seen some systems that use the edge for their downward deflections, utilising the curve to guide the attacking strike away. Similar to Bojutsu Ukemi Kata, really. The trick is to make sure the contact is near the habaki, so if the blade is nicked, it is in a spot where there is minimal use for cutting, and is the most structurally sound for such impact. Just thought you may want to know...

 

[Kajowaraku]

Yes, i'm aware it exists, but it always makes me wonder how that could work when doing mixed weapon drills with a bo for example. I image even a hardwood bo is not impervious to a shinken in a "true case". The blade might not chop pieces of (seems rather unlikely with a decent bo even) but i can imagine the blade gets stuck in the wood at a certain point. Seems like a less than ideal situation to me. Using the back or side just seems to make more sense in that respect. Anyway, thanks for sharing. I'm interested in learning more though, so please do enlighten me, it's definatly a sore spot in my knowledge.

 

[Chris Parker]

For mixed weapon drills, use a bokken. It has been the standard training item in classical schools for centuries, for very good reasons. It will not chip (either your blade, or theo weapon being blocked, yari, naginata, bo, or anything else), and will stand up to the repeated impact of drilling more than a real sword will. There is obviously less risk in this training as well, to yourself, your training partner, and the weapons themselves.

Traditionally, bo and polearm hafts were said to be "treated", involving soaking and drying the wood, giving the end result of the wood being "hard as iron". This will make them very resistant to having a sword embed itself in the wood. But you may also notice in these drills that it is very rare (to the point of being almost unheard of in any kata I have seen) to block a sword at 90 degrees to the cut (which is where the sword would get embedded). Instead, a block is usually an angled deflection, whether using a sword, naginata, bo, yari, or any other long weapon.

 

[Kajowaraku]

that makes sense.

Thank you.