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-In
light of the many questions that I get in regards to
longer tsuka, I have been acquiring pictures of Samurai
from the very late Edo period who have longer tsuka
than are used in most of the modern Japanese martial
arts. Photos were first taken in Japan in the late 1850Ős
so these are from a very narrow time frame before the
Meiji restoration and the subsequent abolishment of
the Samurai class and the outlawing of the wearing of
swords. Even though this was not a time of war, as in
the old days, there was a great deal of social turmoil
and fighting taking place. |
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It
is unfortunate that we do not have photographs from
earlier times. Many drawings
from these times however depict the longer tsuka in
use. Notice
also that in these photographs the longer tsuka are
not on O-gatana like those used by the Kage ryu.
It must also be noted that the average height of these
men was substantially shorter than the modern westerner
so keep that in mind when you look at handle proportion.
Remember that photography was in its infancy so many
of these photos are not of very high quality. I do have
a few more photos and am constantly looking to acquire
more so we will post them as they become available.
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To
answer some frequently asked questions:
Q.
Does the longer handle make it difficult to use the sword
one handed?
A.
In my experience the longer handle actually makes it easier
to use the blade one handed. There are two primary reasons
for this. One is that the longer handle changes the balance
point of the blade bringing it back closer to the hand.
The other is that the tsuka can be brought against the forearm
if a cut needs to be stopped quickly.
Q.
Does the longer handle make it harder to do Iai-do/Iai-jutsu.
A.
Iai, both the Do and the Jutsu forms, is an ill defined
art running a wide gamut of techniques and intent. I personally
practice Iai jutsu from two different ryuha on a daily basis
and see no drawback with the longer tsuka. Kuroda Tetsuzan
sensei used one of my swords with a 14 inch tsuka when doing
a 4 day seminar at my dojo. While his personal sword has
a shorter tsuka he used mine with complete ease and incredible
speed.
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