Two sword style fighting.

[Babu]

I've only just realised that one of my older wakizashi swords has the menuki on the wrong side, wrong position for right handed use. History has taught us in many cultures that the use of the left hand was not desirable and people were either ostracised or taught in secret to work with the right hand. What was the Japanese cultural view on lefties?

Would swords be worn on the right for a lefty or was this a two short sword fighting style of perhaps one either side?

Thank you

[16k]

I have a handachi with this particularity. Not sure it means anything.  Being right handed wasn’t encouraged, yet it seems some fighters using their left hand existed as seen with this famous Shinsengumi warrior:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saitō_Hajime

 

The movie, "when the last sword is drawn" features him and he is also left handed in it.

[Rich S]

Didn't Musashi use a two handed style at times? That would mean using the left hand.

Rich

[Ken-Hawaii]

That's right, Rich. Nito-ryu is a very-effective sword style, with katana in right hand, & wakizashi in left.

[Alex A]

Can imagine it being very effective, Tom Cruise certainly thought so.

[Dave R]

 Menuki position has little to do with handedness,and more to do with sword school and Mei. The rule is that the lower (closer to tsuba) menuki shows on the outside position "omote" when worn.... The same for the Mei.

 

 When the sword went from being worn as a tachi to a katana, the mei changed position and the menuki swapped so the lower menuki was still on the omote.

 

 Then there are the exceptions, loads and loads of 'em!......

[Jacques]

Yagyu ha style 

 

 

 

Katori shinto ryu also use ryotö  techniques 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf4KHeWgzvY

[RichardP]

What was the Japanese cultural view on lefties?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kPsFoudYVSg

 

(A clip from one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the 1995 film The Hunted.)

[Ken-Hawaii]

 

Menuki position has little to do with handedness,and more to do with sword school and Mei.

That's interesting, Dave. I was taught that the menuki helped to position the hands. Even today, as soon as I draw my katana, I expect the menuki to be in a certain location in my palms.

[Dave R]

That's interesting, Dave. I was taught that the menuki helped to position the hands. Even today, as soon as I draw my katana, I expect the menuki to be in a certain location in my palms.

 

 Like I said, the school of swordsmanship is relevant, some have menuki in one orientation, and others in the opposite position. Originaly menuki were decorative "caps" over the mekugi, and in typical fashion retained when changes in mounting meant they no longer had that function. 

 

 While having a quick peruse of one of my favoutite sites,I found their article on changes of mounts from Tachi to Katana, and a mention of what really defines a left handed mount... the position of the kurigata!

 

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/koshirae.html

[Ken-Hawaii]

I'm having trouble associating specific koshirae with a ryuha. When I bought my last custom iaito from Tozando, they certainly didn't ask me which school I trained in, or where I'd like the menuki positioned.

[Dave R]

I'm having trouble associating specific koshirae with a ryuha. When I bought my last custom iaito from Tozando, they certainly didn't ask me which school I trained in, or where I'd like the menuki positioned.

 

 There are a number of articles on NMB about this very question, it seems to popup quite often.

 

 

 http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/12085-menuki-for-grip/

 

 

 And a link to an article here..   http://www.arscives.com/historysteel/japanesekoshirae.article.htm

[16k]

Interesting, though probably not universal. I remember an article by Markus about the kurikata and how handachi of the Sengoku period were on the opposite side than those of the later Edo period.

[Dave R]

A quick whip through my files shows that even the IJA ( or at least their suppliers) were in two minds about menuki placement.

[16k]

That’s right! In my post I said I had a handachi with a Menuki reversed. I checked and was wrong. It’s actually one of my WW2 swords.

[Katsujinken]

Gyaku menuki are a very common choice among kenjutsuka, and every Japanese shop (like Tozando) or production sword manufacturer (like Evolution or MAS) know exactly what one needs when this is mentioned.

[Ed Harbulak]

A friend of mine once had a type 98 gunto with 4 menuki, two standard cherry blossom style, on each side of the tsuka, Perhaps the original owner wasn't able to make up his mind how to grip the tsuka, or perhaps he was ambidextrous.  

[SteveM]

There was official discrimination against and prohibition of left-handedness, at least at the government level.

The article below mentions how lefties were forcibly corrected. I cannot verify the accuracy of the article.

It also notes that the stories of Miyamoto Musashi and other luminaries being left-handed, are mostly without documentary basis. 

 

https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/25526/

[John A Stuart]

Menuki are vestigial remnants of tsuka to ken fastenings and became ultimately ornamental. Can you imagine anyone quipping, 'I can't use that, the menuki are all wrong',? As to left handed use; any good swordsman would train their left hand to be as competent as possible  in case of injury or necessity.  There were a few nito schools and in the west it was very common, the main gauche, as in la verdadera destreza. John