i had this doubt the other day. in movies and stuff like that, we see that if someone uses two japanese swords, he uses 2 katanas. but the Miyamoto's style was wakizashi and katana. so the question is this are there any records of someone that uses two katanas, is it effective to do so, or is it just something invented by the movies to look cool, and the correct form to do so, is Wakizashi/katana?
Long sword in the main hand and a short sword in the off-hand, the wielding two full length katana at the same time is impractical. Sword styles in Japanese Martial Arts use a combination of either the katana and wakizashi, the wakizashi and tanto, or katana and the jutte simultaneously, but either way, there is a long and short blade used to be able to negotiate both long and short range combat.
It should be noted that there aren't any absolutes, though. There are some systems that utilize the daisho in the "off hand", and kodachi in the "main hand" at times... or two kodachi at the same time. But I haven't ever seen two daisho in any ryu, it's just a bit too unwieldy, as well as robbing a number of key advantages of using different sized weapons.
In my old Aikido group, we where taught to wield two swords as a way of strengthening both arms and improving concentration.
I can't speak for Japanese swordsmanship specifically, as that's not my game. But in most of the "dual wield" combinations I can think of, the weapons involved are either differing lengths (e.g., espada y daga, florentine, ni san ichi, if I got that right) or both short (e.g., doble baston, double sabres or daab in the Thai arts, or the dimacherii gladiators). Generally too difficult to authoritatively wield two longer weapons simultaneously.
Double long weapons are common in Chinese arts. The big issue with double Katana is that Katana is a hand-and-a-half sword, so the hilt makes dual wielding difficult.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tXl6xv8Sks"]Choy Li Fut - Spear vs Double Broadsword - Two-person Weapon Set - YouTube[/ame]
Using two swords together like your typical Japanese sword is difficult, but some schools do it as a training exercise. I've never seen it in embu. You're better off using two thrusting weapons together such as two rapiers, though I think rapier and dagger is better overall. That being said, using two rapiers together is pretty neat, and looks (and is) impressive. Not for the novice by a long shot. -Mark
Been playing with dual machetes a lot. Filipino martial arts contain dual weapon formats as standard (matched/unmatched pairs, with impact and/or edged weapons), and these can be easily adapted to suit a wide range of weapontypes. That said, i find a steel katana is somewhat unwieldy with one hand (despite the existence of the niten-ryu style). If experience has taught me anything, it's that one should always observe the way a weapon system has evolved. If it's a two-handed weapon, use two hands. If it's a one-handed weapon, use one hand. Just because it's possible to use a two-handed weapon with one hand, or a one-handed weapon with two hands, doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. Especially in a situation where your life depends on it. In my opinion, it would be akin to doing room-clearance with a crossbow...
Interestingly the "case of rapiers" i.e. two identical long weapons, did exist in Renaissance martial arts, though it was clearly pretty esoteric: http://afencersramblings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/giacomo-di-grassis-case-of-rapiers.html http://storm.alert.sk/swordsmanship/hutton/case.html
Read the Gorin no Sho. You will see what Musashi Sensei had to say on such things, it's not like he just though "ah heck this'll be cool I'll give it a try".
Having trained a lot in katate-waza (both in iai and kenjutsu) both as a kihon for tenouchi and also as actual waza, I can assure you that it is not unwieldy.
Using a light weapon in the off-hand reduces the penalty for both hands by two, improving your THAC0. You need the Two Weapon Style proficiency though, unless you're a ranger. (Somebody had to do it....)
THAC0? Outdated. Using two weapons is a -6/-8 penalty without the proficiency - going to -6/-6 with a light weapon in the off-hand and reducing with the addition of two-weapon fighting feats from the tree.
We do In my martial art kuk sool, we practise double sword at master level (5th degree) up I think Master SungWoo Alex Suh double sword demo at the Kuk Sool Won Masters Exhibition in Kings Lynn 2011
