Royalty handling a sword

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

And if it was just a matter of point of view ? :D

 

 

 

 

 

[Grey Doffin]

Grey makes mistakes by the dozens every day of his life.

The purpose of this etiquette brochure, which I made for the NBTHK American Branch, is to educate the general public, those looking online for useful information about proper handling of Nihonto. I wasn't aware that the left hand should be used when passing a bare blade but even if I were, I wouldn't have mentioned it. For the purpose, right or left hand doesn't matter; only that neither the sword nor the people are damaged. Too many arcane details might scare off the audience and defeat the purpose.

Clive's brochure on the subject is much more thorough, and more correct.

Grey

[cisco-san]

Dear all,

 

many thanks for your comments.

Indeed to fulfill the correct etiquette is very very hard.

Once we tried to fulfill the correct etiquette in our Dojo during the whole training with under the strict eyes of a Sensei from Japan and afterwards he told us that we did it like the "first humans" (but of course with a smile on his lips)

Anyway, I think it is not necessary to fulfill the correct etiquette all the time (even you should try it), it is more important to respect the opposite (receiver, presenter, trainings partner....) and of course to respect the spirit of the NihonTo and the additionally the blade itself (as weapon).

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Grey makes mistakes by the dozens every day of his life.

 

Grey, I'm not aware of a single scholar or achademic that have not made mistakes.

 

William Wayne Farris, one of the five top-level achademics specialized in Japanese history, published in one of his great books a misconception about the Kantotachi because of

a misreading/mistranslation/miswhatever of Suenaga's original text referring to the chinese Kan Dao (a muuuuch later weapon) and published a picture upsidedown with text and all !

 

Suenaga's

 

 

Farris'

 

 

Very late example used in WWII

 

[george trotter]

Thanks to all for the replies to my question re the "ha towards Tiger" ...it is definitely a breach of etiquette and protocol on the part of the Japanese presenter...my own impression, noting the smiles and "fun" atmosphere of the picture is that it was a PR "photo promo" or something...hence the imitation sword, and lack of formality...perhaps the press asked Tiger to adopt a "stance" with the sword? In the case of the Prince of Wales...I would put this down to a failure of the British Embassy staff to adequately brief the Prince on correct etiquette and protocol regarding swords, or perhaps they did, but Princie's mind wandered during the Noh (as a westerner who has attended four hour performances of Kabuki and Bunraku, with mind-numbing snippets of Noh, I can testify that one's thoughts do tend to wander).

The outcome of this discussion is that etiquette is important, especially in regards to the safety of people and the sword, but slavish adherence to arcane ritual dreamed up by bored samurai should be left to personal preference or as dictated by surroundings (eg shinsa etc, knowledgeable gathering etc)... In addition, as the pictures and my own experience attest, there are just as many Japanese who are completely ignorant of the Japanese sword and its ways as there are westerners ignorant of it, simply because they do not come within the ambit of swords in everyday life...ignorance is not crime...people can learn, so let's ease up a bit on the anti-western bias that seems to pervade some posts...let's be a little more even-handed in our comments.

This is my opinion on the matter.

Hope it helps the discussion,

George.

[nagamaki - Franco]

An alternative method of passing a sword from one person to another, might involve passing the sword, maybe minus its Saya but retaining its Tsuka. In this case, the giver would hold the end of the Tsuka firmly at the end nearest the Kashira with his left hand, again most definitely keeping the cutting edge facing himself. The danger and possible aggressive intent in doing it otherwise will be readily understood. This time the receiver will accept the sword by grasping above the giver's hand with his left hand and nodding to acknowledge that he has a firm grip, possibly acknowledging this verbally also. It will be noted that in this latter procedure both parties always have their right hand's free!

 

Greetings,

 

One additional precautionary step having to do with safety has been advised in addition to the described method above in recent times. When passing an unsheathed sword, regardless of whether the tsuka is on or off, the person accepting the sword should place their second free hand in an open position with the palm facing upward directly beneath the giver's hand holding the end of the tsuka/nakago-jiri, in order to prevent the possibility of the sword slipping through as the sword is being exchanged.