I have yet to see a katana weilding nut And if ever I meet one, I will never use the little I have known in kendo against him or her. I don't think that person will think "I have only 4 targets; men, tsuki, kote, and do. I must be mindful of my maai. I should be mindful of kikentai-no-ichi. My fumikomi-ashi should be correct..." Most probably, that person will be thinking "Too bad, motherf%^$er, I'm gonna hack you to pieces!".
I am fortunate then iun that I dont study kendo I study the sword its all "I will hack you into bitty peices and keep going until you are dead" which is how we are taught ie: even if you think your first blow is a killing one do another and yet another killing or maiming blow just in case. YOu want to make sure the b@stard is not getting back up But thats just me and how I was taught
sorry if I `m speaking out of trun but I don`t see how "hack you into itty bitty pieces and keep going until you are dead" fits into the "way of Harmony" Forum
oh I forgot it was in the Akido forum Whoops but when you are talking about a deeadly weapon who's sole purpose is to kill it works out maybe sorta..... seee this shopuld have been in the weapons forums yeah thats it
I've never seen one either, but about two weeks ago a security gaurd at my job and I were chatting and he was telling how some nut went down to the local Ralphs with a Kitana blade and killed several people. He said the cops just ended up cornering him and he didn't wanna put his blade down, so they shot him.At least that's what he told me, I kinda doubted him since I was told that you can't bring kitana blades with gilded edges into the US (or if they still make em that way) Anyway, a co-worker of mine also does Kendo. I asked "...so, how would you be able to defend yourself if someone attacked you?" He told me that he's been taught how to disarm someone with a knife and that as long as he has some kind of long and durable object he'd be able to take them down. So then I asked"...what if there isn't anything around ?" and he says"...yeah, that would kinda suck ."
gilded edges? you mean sharp? Well it is possible and legal to ship sharp blades into teh USA and it is legal to make sharb blades in the USA Also. I should know I own a few sharp toys, nothing I would trust my life with but they could kill if I wanted to do so.
yeah, I mean sharp edge. My Japanese friend (who's a knife and sword nut) told me that Swords with guilded edges (if that's how you spell it ) are not allowed in the US, even for "cultural" reasons. He tells me that for this reason he can get his familiy's old Kitana blade (passed down from his mother's side of the family who were buddhist temple gaurds) taken away. Another friend of mine has a kitana blade but his blade doesn't have guilded edges. I asked him why it wasn't sharp and he mentioned the same thing. Apparenly a weapon that large can't be sharp because, well it's pretty damn dangerous .
well thats bullsh!t. I know of several sites from which you can buy decent swords that are sold SHARP, so your friend is smoking somthing.
I've practised a bit of kendo, in Japan, in fact. It's not going to teach you how to fight with a real sword any more than western fencing will. It is really good for your reflexes, practice of maai (judging distance) and use of the rear foot to propel your body weight forward, all highly useful in aikido and pretty much any martial art! Also, it really helps your shomen technique... Give it a go.
I own and collect Katanas (not kitanas ) Maybe your friend can not take out his sword from Japan but in the US blades are allowed, many historical blades are found in the US from WW2 when American soldiers brought them over. If I read correctly his family has shrine keepers in it? That's the only reason he didn't lose the blade in WW2 when they confiscated all blades that did not belong to a shrine. This is what I know
