How To Use A Samurai Sword Properly

Each school will have different variations of angles, grips and body positions, but here is a fundamental cutting concept that most sword styles share: When delivering a cut, make sure that your wrists are lined up behind the blade handle. It may feel fine in the air, but when you actually cut into something, you're in for a big surprise when you loose control of your sword.

Correct Grip
(wrist aligned over blade)

Incorrect Grip
(wrist NOT aligned over blade)

Unarmored Targets

The diagram above illustrates the basic sword cuts.

Do (abdomen cut)
Facing your opponent, you cut from left to right across the abdomen just above the hip bones. You don't want to hit the hip bone, and you don't want to hit the rib cage; you want to cut the "gushi" stuff in-between.

Kesa giri ("monk's robe" cut)
This is called the "monk's robe" cut because it follows the line of the robes of a monk (how about that!). The path of this cut is a downward diagonal cut from the top of the shoulder to the opposite hip. Different sword schools may have different angle variations, but the Kesa giri is fairly universal.

Kiriage (upward cut)
This is the opposite of a Kesa giri cut. It follows a diagonal line from the top of the hip to the opposite shoulder. Follow through several inches past the target.

Kote (wrist cut)
The Kote cut is usually delivered as a straight down cut to the wrist area while your opponent is facing you holding his sword. Cutting to the left or right wrist area can either disable or sever the hand.

Men (straight down head cut)
This is a straight down cut to the top of the skull. When practicing in the air, you should follow through to about abdomen level (some styles follow through well past the groin). In reality, it's probably unlikely that you would ever bury the sword deeper than the skull, but the mental intent of cutting further down will strengthen you cut immensely.

Ski (straight thrust)
The straight thrust is usually delivered with both hands on the sword, but some styles have one handed techniques. The Ski strike targets are: straight into the eyes, throat, belly, or ribcage. When striking to the ribcage, turn the blade sideways as you thrust in, then push out the side in one fluid motion. This way, you'll slide in between the ribs, and exit out the side. When striking to the throat, do the same: turn the blade sideways and thrust in, then push out the side to free your blade .

Armored Targets

Kesa giri ("monk's robe" cut)
You'll notice in the diagram above that the "X" pattern for an armored samurai has sharper angles. This is because you want to cut from the base of the neck to the armpit. This is where Japanese armor is typically vulnerable. If you tried to cut from shoulder to hip, you would run right into the breastplate and wouldn't do much damage.

Do (abdomen cut)
Same as described above for an unarmored samurai, but you'll have to be more precise. The target area is much more narrow since the gap between the breastplate and the hip guard is minimal.

Kiriage (upward cut)
This is the opposite of a Kesa giri cut. It follows a diagonal line from the armpit to the base of the neck. Follow through several inches past the target.

Kote (wrist cut)
Same as described above for an unarmored samurai. There is some light armor on the wrist, but a heavy blow can still cut through.

Men (straight down head cut)
Same as described above for an unarmored samurai. If you can smash through the helmet, you still won't get very far, but it is possible to cut through the helmet with a heavy blow.

Ski (straight thrust)
You are limited to only a few targets with Ski: eyes and throat. The ribs and abdomen are covered with a breastplate. There is a throat guard, but it's possible to pierce or slip under it.


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