Do Not Try This At Home–Or Anywhere Else!
Sword safety is serious business and caution when handling
cannot be stressed enough.
Here are a few stories that reinforce the need to think safely while showing, using or demonstrating a sword, which in the wrong hands, can prove to be lethal.
At the 26th Annual Diamond Nationals World Karate Championships held in St. Paul Minneapolis, MN, October 3rd or 4th, 2003 … a demonstrator threw a live-blade katana up in the air, spinning it 360 degrees, hoping to catch it at the hilt. He caught the sword half on the hilt, half on the edge and cut his fingers open. He cut himself earlier that year trying to spin the sword around his neck, which didn’t work so well either…but he survived. He’s a Darwin Award candidate.
A grand master from Korea demonstrated his prowess with the sword by having his assistant place two turnips on the either side of his head and a cucumber placed across the top of his head. The blindfolded grand master clipped the two turnips on the sides of the assistant’s head, then aimed for the cuke and hit it but also split the assistant’s head open. The assistant survived and the grand master fled the scene and the States as he overstayed his visa and was considered an illegal alien.
In Kashima, Japan during a demonstration, the “mekugi” (retaining pin) fell out of the demonstrator’s sword. As he swung the sword down, the blade flew into the audience and stuck a 6th grader in the left side of the chest, killing him. Always check equipment before a demonstration.