A Must-watch Before Buying Katana or Training Iaido/Battodo

The katana, or Japanese samurai sword, has a history of over 1,000 years, and it was an item dedicated to god, or called the “samurai’s soul.” This is why even today they are handled with much care and respect.

If you want to buy a katana in Japan someday, or start training in katana related martial arts like iaido, there are some rules that might be good for you to know in advance.

So today, as an iaido trainee and katana otaku, I will introduce 5 taboos when handling a katana. I have ordered the 5 taboos based on how serious they are, so I hope you can watch till the end to understand all of them.

▼The BEST online katana shop for martial arts (Iaido, Kendo, etc.): Tozando▼
Everything I use for my katana training is bought at this shop! I still use the first training katana I bought in 2016, and it is still in good shape!

▼The recommended online katana shop for decorations and cosplay: Mini Katana▼
*Get 15% OFF off all their products by purchasing through my affiliate link

[Time codes]
0:00 Let's START!
1:28 1. Goofing around with the katana
3:53 2. Using the katana as a cane
5:41 3. Hitting each others sheaths
7:39 4. Stepping over a katana
9:02 5. Randomly handing a sword
10:08 Today's conclusion

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Hello everyone, and thank you for watching my videos!

I’m Shogo, a Kyoto born & Hiroshima raised Japanese, that grew up in Michigan USA for 6 years, and studied Mandarin in Beijing university for a year! I live in Kyoto now, as I train in Iaido(katana), Sado(tea ceremony), and Noh theatre(traditional stage art).

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#katanatraining #iaidotraining #howtobuykatana #battodo #samuraikatanasword

[LetsaskShogo]

▼The BEST online katana shop for martial arts (Iaido, Kendo, etc.): Tozando▼
Everything I use for my katana training is bought at this shop! I still use the first training katana I bought in 2016, and it is still in good shape!

▼The recommended online katana shop for decorations and cosplay: Mini Katana▼
*Get 15% OFF off all their products by purchasing through my affiliate link

▼Who is Shogo? What is this channel about?▼

▼Related videos in this channel▼
-Kyoto Hidden Gems
-[China & Japan] The complicated relationship between China & Japan through the story of our marriage!
-Japanese returnees react to “things that returnees do & experience”! Bullying & discrimination...

▼MY DREAM▼

“To make every Japan lovers’ dream come true, by making Japan a more secure, comfortable, and safer place for everyone to visit, study, and live in”

I will be using the profit I gain from this channel at restaurants, hotels, and cultural facilities in Kyoto to introduce them. The more you watch the videos on this channel, Kyoto and Japan will become a more exciting place, and you can support your own and others’ dreams in the future even more.

▼Join our Membership▼

●Membership benefits
-Limited behind-the-scene videos
-Weekly live stream
-Priority reply to comments

Every single yen we earn from this membership, we will be donating to groups of people who are fighting to solve social problems in Japan, the Japanese schools where foreign students can study, or use it to spread the works of people working with traditional culture in Japan to preserve the arts they are doing.

▼[Sub-channel] “Shogo’s Podcast”▼
Please subscribe!!

The perfect channel to learn about Japanese culture and history in your spare time, during your walk to school or work, and when you are cooking or doing house chores.

Not only will I be covering the topics in this main channel, but also some topics that you will only be able to enjoy in the sub-channel, like answering questions I receive, and my opinions towards some of the comments.

▼[Listen to the real voices of the Japanese] "Voices from Japan series"▼

▼[For YOU traveling to Kyoto] "Kyoto Hidden Gems" series▼

▼Instagram▼
*Please ask me questions through the DM here!（⚠I do not use e-mail）

[IKEMENOsakaman]

My grandma told me that my ancestors (her side) were samurais protecting Kumamoto castle. We have a family katana in our house. I'll be sure to treat it with respect.

[datastorm]

How interesting. In many ways, there are very similar rules for handling firearms.
I think it boils down to: respect the weapon, and the power it represents.

[marinos]

The fact that he used a bokken. He has so much respect for katanas that he didnt want to pretend to do that to a real katana. I have a lot of respect for you shogo!

[ТеоМарков-цл]

I when I realized that this man had to break all taboos to show them to us...

Respect!

[hanchiman]

basically a weapon is not a "toy", same like Gun safety 12 Golden Rules "Expect the gun to be loaded"

[billvolk]

It makes sense that the mystique surrounding the katana only sprung up after they had mostly become obsolete in battle. Go to a museum and look at swords from any culture, and read how each one was used. The swords that are still in good condition will almost certainly be ceremonial or surplus weapons that have never been used. The swords that have seen battle will be in much worse condition. A sword, even when well maintained, breaks down after only a moderate amount of use in battle. Every time it is sharpened or some rust is scoured away, it loses some of its mass and shape. Every impact has a chance to chip a piece off of it. Like soldiers themselves, battle swords need to be replaceable rather than sacrosanct.

[SomeRandomPangolin]

"Don't use a katana as a cane"
Exactly, we have cane swords for that

[terma]

After our Tae Kwon Do class once I unsheathed my dulled training katana to show the blade to a class mate who asked to see it, my instructor got upset and wouldn’t train me anymore with the katana..

The problem is she never told me any of these from the beginning so I was confused and disappointed my training ended.. I believe I was set up for failure sadly, wish I seen something like this a long time ago, great video!

[JosephKerr]

I'd like to add: Do NOT lean your weapons against a wall! Lay them down neatly out of the way or place them on a rack. The only exception is for specially made vertical stands.

[Jibbzz]

Oddly enough, when I was in my uni's kendo club I saw a lot of new people playing with the Shinai after the lesson, or stepping over it after we greeted their senpai's, as well as using it as a cane. After I WAS one of the senpai's I always used the analogy I do when using deactivated firearms to teach my firearms course (for Canadian PAL). It can be rewarding and fun to learn to do kendo, but even though it's a Shinai, it deserves respect and can really hurt someone if it isn't given the proper respect, even without considering the cultural taboos associated with treating the Shinai/bokken/katana like a toy or prop. Just like a gun, in the right place and with proper respect it can be fun, meditative, and fulfilling to use. But one inatentive move and someone is hurt or worse.

All this to say: be safe, respectful, and great video!

[SuperWeeb]

When i started cutting tatami, it was the first time my sensei handed me a real blade. Both the fact that he trusted me enough to handle one, and actually holding one, felt incredibly surreal. Genuine swords are something that should always command immense respect.

[LichsbeCrazy]

“Training Iaido as a way to learn courtesy, ” this is interesting to me. I started practicing HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) not long ago and the culture surrounding it is much different. Not very focused courtesy for example hah, also the swords are seen more as tools than sacred objects which is fine to me, but I really enjoy the sport nonetheless and learning the historical techniques. Thanks for making your videos, I like your perspectives on Japanese culture, very informative and I always learn something new ^_^

[jaketheasianguy]

Even when i train non japanese swordsmanship, i still feels like to have some decent respect to the every kind kind of live blade, not just katana. They are indeed something more than just training tools, unlike waster practice swords

[NonApplicable]

I'm glad you touched on war-era sword customs, since I was just about to ask if this etiquette was followed by all people who owned swords or just specifically the samurai. I assume an infantryman or a bandit probably wouldn't consider a sword as anything more than an instrument of violence. It may be silly to quote a fictional author, but I'm reminded of Meti's Sword Manual from Kill Six Billion Demons. "[A sword] is a hideous tool for separating men from their vital fluids."

[thadsul]

In Kendo, we must present the same respect to the sword, no matter if it's a bamboo shinai or wooden bokuto.

I learned that in my 1st or 2nd class when I stepped over the shinai of the most graduated senpai. He was super polite saying "I'm sorry, I must have left it on the way". I didn't understand why he said it, it didn't seem out of place... until a younger senpai explained the concept to me and said I should never go over any sword, others or mine

[nikajo__]

I remember being taught some of this when I did some Iaido training many many years ago. I actually did step over my katana in one of my early lessons and was told pretty quickly ‘no no, we don’t do that’ haha 😂 One other thing I was taught was that when placing the katana on the floor in front of you for bowing, always have the blade facing towards you even when it’s in its sheath. It was to do with being as non threatening as possible to your teacher and a sign of respect for them. Nice video, really enjoyed it!

[jonathanmarth]

I started practising Kenjutsu earlier this year and my second lesson was how to handle my katana so as not to clash sheaths with others.
And whenever somebody in the dojo steps over a weapon, everybody gets to do pushups.
So even though we specifically practise the martial way of the sword, we still try to handle it with the due respect.

[kkarnage]

Here in New Zealand, we have a martial art called "Nga Tama Toa" (Na Tah-ma- toe-a) which practices with a long bo staff like stick called a "Rakau" (Rah-kou) which I am now seeing is very similar to Iaido, in the sense that it is treated as a sacred object instead of a tool. Many of the same rules apply to the respect and honour of the weapon. Can't wait to eventually learn in the way of Iaido not to only learn the traditional ways of the samurai, but more about the culture and respect behind it.

[oversavior]

I've started attending the local iaido school recently and had learned so many things about katana etiquette during the first class, like how it should be handed to another person, or how it should be placed on the ground.
Learning about these rules is always so fascinating, and this video was very useful as well! So far I haven't read or heard anyone mention the hitting scabbard thing, and I'm very glad I could learn about it before I ran into this situation as our training room is rather small. Thank you so much for the video!