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Thread: Left-handed bushi?

  1. #1
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    Default Left-handed bushi?

    Hi all.

    Is it true that there are no left-handed bushi?

    What I mean is, is it correct to say that there is no extant sword school that allows the left hand to be the one closest to the tsuba? Was it insisted upon that all students hold the sword with the right hand leading?

    Kind regards
    Ben Macarthur

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    In medieval Japan (and for the longest time into the modern age), Japanese children were taught to write, eat, and wield their swords with their right hands. In particular, etiquette demanded that samurai wear their swords on their left hip, as people walked on the left side of the road, and to wear on the right hip would have made it a bother for oncoming traffic.

    Likewise, the kata in sword schools were designed with the idea that both participants were right-handed. To do them left-handed would obscure the lesson to be taught in the kata.

    That said, some schools, as a tactical or training consideration, included left-handed techniques among their primarily right-handed curricula. To my knowledge, the only extant schools that still do are Yagyu Shinkage-ryu and Yagyu Shingan-ryu. Though there may be others.
    Josh Reyer

    Swa sceal man don, žonne he ęt guše gengan ženceš longsumne lof, na ymb his lif cearaš. - The Beowulf Poet

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    Suio Ryu Iai Kenpo.

    At about 4 minutes 30 seconds.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkgd1eIudmE
    Britt Nichols
    Suio Ryu Iai Kenpo® USA Shibu

    AiTe wa Baka Ja Nai

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    Thanks Britt and Josh - much appreciated.

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    We do it too..

    Takenouchi Ryu (Or more particularly Bicchu den Battojutsu)..

    Just a little though..
    Ben Sharples.
    智は知恵、仁は思いやり、勇は勇気と説いています。

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    I don't know if this is just Hollywood hogwash or not, but the Shinsengumi member Saito Hajime was reported to be left-handed and wore his swords on his right side accordingly. Thats the only known example I know of a left-handed samurai that was allowed to use it openly.
    Fredrik Hall
    "To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous." /Confucius

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    Default Theory on right-handedness in JSA

    All,

    My theory on this is that the cultural restriction on left-handedness might be traced back to the similar reasons why Greek hoplites fought a certain way. The Greek phalanx was based on interlocking hoplite fighters who carried their heavy shields in their left arm and spear with their right. The shields closed gaps between the ranks so that only the spear stuck out. If you were attacked by such a phalanx, you'd see virtually a wall of impenetrable shields with very pointy spears (from the first, second and third ranks) coming at you.

    If a hoplite decided to be a "star" and stand out by switching hands vis a vis his spear and shield, he would open up a gap that an enemy phalanx would quickly take advantage of. So for the Greeks, too, there were no left-handed spear bearers.

    Some sorts of military standardization and necessity must have inspired the strong preference for right-handedness in JSA as well, which became an ingrained cultural behavior. Then too, if everyone wore and carried swords in a uniform way there would be less chances of them banging together, tangling up, etc., because everyone would know how to approach someone else without causing insult or injury.

    The training is so ingrained in the culture that a left handed swordsman is an anomaly, a condition that, yes, has been exploited in some styles like the Suio-ryu or Takeuchi-ryu to surprise an enemy.

    If you are ever in Japan, try walking down the street and then try to nonchalantly walk so you pass someone aproaching you on your left side. The person (particularly an older person) will try to move his angle so he passes you on your right. Move more and the person will also move more, so great is the cultural imprinting that came about when samurai needed to pass each other on their right so that their sword scabbards (uniformly on the left side) wouldn't bang each other accidentally, causing insult (and injury). There is, in the Takeuchi-ryu, a kata in which saya-uchi (striking a saya) is deliberately provoked as a pretext for knocking someone down and capturing him (one assumes it is a criminal).

    Wayne Muromoto

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    Default

    I guess this karate style uses the left hand too


    Bill Reddock
    Los Angeles IaidoKai

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    Default O.m.g.

    Bill,

    Oh. My. God.

    Wayne Muromoto

  11. #11
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    Clearly such a well developed zanshin that he uses the secret "closed-eye kamae" in order to lure his victims to their demise...

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    Default Osu!!!!

    Osu!!!

    --Wayne Muromoto

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    Default

    Wayne --

    It may not be swords. South Africans, Brits, and Australians tend to pass on the right, too.

    Think automobiles.

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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by wmuromoto View Post
    Some sorts of military standardization and necessity must have inspired the strong preference for right-handedness in JSA as well, which became an ingrained cultural behavior. Then too, if everyone wore and carried swords in a uniform way there would be less chances of them banging together, tangling up, etc., because everyone would know how to approach someone else without causing insult or injury.
    Back in my university days in one of the Japanese religion classes the whole issue of the left handed taboo was discussed at one point. The short version is basically due to all the imported beliefs from China and related directional theory and the what not, being left handed was generally considered some seriously bad mojo by the people of the time and if a child started to show any sort of left handed tendencies, every effort was made to nip them in the bud and get he child to become right handed, including, if needed, tying the left hand/arm down and to the body to prevent them from using it (in extreme cases).

    Katayama-ryu is another ryu that has some left handed stuff as well, but it is a fairly minor part of the ryu.

    For what it is worth,
    Rennis Buchner

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    Default Leftiness...

    All,

    We have that in the West, too. The left eye is the evil eye.

    Joe: Yep. I never thought of automobile driving. It's us Americans that have it all wrong!

    Wayne

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