I'd just like to reiterate that this is not an attack on @scholagladiatoria he is a great wealth of knowledge for HEMA and swordsmanship and I love watching his videos. However, the way he unsheathes and resheathes his katana irritates me so hopefully he fixes that for the longevity of his saya

Thanks buddy - it's a fair criticism. I am pretty much a newbie to the world of Japanese swords, but a number of people have been trying to improve my handling of them, and to that end I have been trying to learn and get better. Very useful video anyway - I will try to rectify what I'm doing.

Not bad. You are absolutely correct that scholagladiatoria is wrong on how he draws a katana but it should be said that what you just described is a combat draw vs drawing to inspect the sword. If inspecting a sword the correct sword etiquette is actually to have the sword with the kojiri pointing towards the sky, break koiguchi in one way or another with the edge facing you and then the sword can be left vertical or go horizontal depending on your surroundings and push down gently on the spine. This is considered a non-threatening draw of the sword. And then when putting the sword away for just inspecting or showing someone the sword you don't do a noto with the blade touching your hand because now the oils from your hands are on the spine. When putting the sword back in the saya you basically do the reverse of taking the sword out except at the end you slow down a bit to put push the habaki into the saya. An interesting note is that when taking the sword out of the saya it's actually considered disrespectful to the sword to stop anywhere in the middle. The sword is either taken all the way out or all the way in but you don't stop in the middle.

I just ordered my first Katana and this was helpful.Thanks

This is such a brilliant channel. I wish I would've discovered you earlier. Thank you very much for all the videos with practical tips!

Great explanation and technical breakdown! Some old dogs can learn new tricks . The smart ones who never stop learning.

Love your videos man. Good to know I’ve been unsheathing my wakizashi correctly this entire time

A very nice video. I've seen the proper way of doing this but I hadn't really thought of why until now. Thanks for educating us. :)

I often see this with swords that have a very tight habaki that could use a light filing, but many people don't do this kind of work, so you see them trying to break it loose like this and scuffing their habaki to hell and back instead.

There are also arguments whether you should break Habaki with your thumb on the spine or the blade side. When they were used as weapons, safety was disregarded for faster drawing, so the blade would be face up.

There's one thing you've ignored, if it's a CHEAP SWORD then non of it matters . I'd agree that one should take care of good swords, but not so on some cheap one bought on amazon .

Subscribed.

I suggest u send this to him via email, just to make sure. Edit: thanks for the knowledge.

thank you

Well made video. Nicely explained and very respectful.

Good form on the lesson however, you forgot to mention that when the habaki reaches the saya for safety reason it is wiser to use your Left thumb to lock the saya in place to avoid injuries

All good explanation, except for one thing. You forgot to mention that correct procedure is also a show of control.

No, a saya isn't a sheath. It's a *_scabbard._* A sheath is soft. Whilst drawing a sword is referred to as unsheathing it, it is typically from a scabbard, and not a sheath.

Maybe when your at a certain point with your channel, and have done hundreds of videos, you just don't care anymore, but I agree on the proper etiquette and safety concerns

Self-confidence, first of all🙏💬

I see this all over KZfaq. The way some reviewers jerk them out drives me nuts. It looks unprofessional and sometimes it looks like they're going to hurt themselves. You figure with how animes focus on the pushing with the thumb thing, that more people would know about it. lol

Its his sword he can do whatever he wants.

Hello there, I would like to get a nice cutting wakizashi for my friend as a gift since she practises Japanese swordsmanship. I have done HEMA for a while, however, I don't really know which swordsmith to go when coming to the Japanese sword. May I ask where did you get your cutting wakizashi? Or are they any nice and budget swordsmith you recommend? Thanks

Nice video as always👍. Just opened a can of worms there 😆 should do a video on people who aggressively draws out and slams their sword back into the Saya next 😬

Good video. Good advice.

Thanks very informative Subbed

I have a question I have a friend who has a unique set up. His sheath is self-sharpening encased in wood now with the old way of drawing is there another way with a self-sharpening sheath

How do I unsheath a katana when it does not have a tsuba?

Haha yeah, whatever one might do in life, no matter how small, if it's Japanese in origin then you can bet that there is a precise procedure you are supposed to follow when doing it ;).

i swear i need to see this guy irl before i die my bucket list see just a bug irl

Oh look, another day on the internet. Katana pedant, check. Weaboo, check. Using obscure terms that no one cares about, check. SG is handling the sword just fine for purposes of inspection, it's not iajutsu.

bruh....no one cares but ok i understand where you come from