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  • Black Belt Magazine

    5 RANDOM READER QUESTIONS ON THE JAPANESE SWORD

    Jan 14, 2020 5 minutes

    Is it true that in the past, Japanese swordsmen would say, “If I draw my blade, I can’t put it away until it tastes blood”?

    People who say that are ones I wouldn’t trust with a sword. (laughs) It’s what they’ve read in some book or seen in a movie. There were probably people in Japan 600 years ago who believed that because everyone believes what they want. But it doesn’t mean it was universal. Think about it: If a person is that enamored with the sword, it must have been a blade that belonged to a relative, maybe a grandfather, and if the person disrespects it, he’s disrespecting his grandfather, so he’d better draw a little blood with it — which doesn’t really make sense because the blood will make it rust. Then you have to polish it again.

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