And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Once drawn, the swords cannot be re-sheathed without being bloodied.
I think the preferred word would be blooded, "seen action in combat", although bloodied, while not quite as versatile, is probably closer to the truth.
Interesting fact...a samurai master would gauge the sharpness of the samurai sword on the number of (live) bodies it would cut through--(normally convicted criminals) that they made to lie on top of one another.
IIRC, the samurai sword/body test was with them standing in line front to rear. They weren't chopping wood, so that sort of swing wouldn't be seen as realistic for testing purposes. Back in the 90's, a friend was looking for a Japanese sword, and was examining the wares of a sword vendor at a gun show. Looking at some WW2 Army issue, he discovered a real vintage samurai one that was probably a battlefield pickup. Some officers wanted to carry their family sword, but Army rules said it had to LOOK like an issued one when in the scabbard. A Japanese sword master verified it was real, might have been 600 years old (not sure now), but didn't have a visible family marking, unfortunately. The makers mark was there.
Yeah, no. The sword is carried unsheathed during drill & ceremonies by officers and NCOs. There is no such convention (not least of which because it would be silly). The only time blood is drawn, it's generally by sloppy handling, to the general amusement of all present.
(There's a legendary incident when the OIC of the Marine Silent Drill Platoon nicked his earlobe when whipping the point of the blade back up to "carry sword". While wearing dress whites. He completed the entire performance, with two-tone red & white uniform blouse, by the conclusion of the event. 10 pts for hard core, 0 points for manual dexterity.)
You're thinking maybe of Gurkha blades or somesuch.
That would be a tough job if you did a lot of ceremonies... be even a worse place to be the new guy!
ReplyDeleteI think the preferred word would be blooded, "seen action in combat", although bloodied, while not quite as versatile, is probably closer to the truth.
ReplyDeleteYou’re thinking about samurai swords, not toy soldiers
ReplyDeleteThat was going to be my comment, the Japanese Samurai held to that bloody tradition, not some European guard outfit.
DeleteInteresting fact...a samurai master would gauge the sharpness of the samurai sword on the number of (live) bodies it would cut through--(normally convicted criminals) that they made to lie on top of one another.
DeleteIIRC, the samurai sword/body test was with them standing in line front to rear. They weren't chopping wood, so that sort of swing wouldn't be seen as realistic for testing purposes.
DeleteBack in the 90's, a friend was looking for a Japanese sword, and was examining the wares of a sword vendor at a gun show. Looking at some WW2 Army issue, he discovered a real vintage samurai one that was probably a battlefield pickup. Some officers wanted to carry their family sword, but Army rules said it had to LOOK like an issued one when in the scabbard. A Japanese sword master verified it was real, might have been 600 years old (not sure now), but didn't have a visible family marking, unfortunately. The makers mark was there.
Yeah, no.
ReplyDeleteThe sword is carried unsheathed during drill & ceremonies by officers and NCOs.
There is no such convention (not least of which because it would be silly).
The only time blood is drawn, it's generally by sloppy handling, to the general amusement of all present.
(There's a legendary incident when the OIC of the Marine Silent Drill Platoon nicked his earlobe when whipping the point of the blade back up to "carry sword". While wearing dress whites. He completed the entire performance, with two-tone red & white uniform blouse, by the conclusion of the event. 10 pts for hard core, 0 points for manual dexterity.)
You're thinking maybe of Gurkha blades or somesuch.