Japanese sword manuals?

Discussion in 'Weapons' started by Ben Gash CLF, Mar 26, 2017.

  1. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    A lot of the lore surrounding General Qi's manual for Chinese long sabre contains the "fact" that he acquired a manual from the "Japanese" pirates he was fighting and used this to develop his method.
    Ignoring the fact that Chang Dao is more akin to Odachi than Katana, and that most "Japanese" pirates in this period weren't Japanese, is there any evidence of Sengoku period sword manuals?
     
  2. Kurtka Jerker

    Kurtka Jerker Valued Member

    My understanding is that they existed but were the equivalent of modern long-form kata. Which is to say they remind someone who already knows the material of things he might not have practiced in a while, but contain little to no actual substance on their own. Without the direct teacher-student relationship, the rote performance is there but it's pretty much worthless as the details that make it work in motion are missing.
    But that's drawing from my old memory of a shallow understanding of one the Takamatsuden schools, so it may have little to no bearing on whatever school homeboy claims to have learned from the 15th century equivalent of a YouTube video.

    The term "densho" may or may not help you find an answer.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2017
  3. Cen Garsden

    Cen Garsden Flamin' Wobbygong

    You had me at "sword".

    The tsurugi (Japanese straight-sword) differed from the katana. It's a little known fact the Grandmaster of my art designed a sword combining both these weapons. Densho does indeed apply.
     

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