about that reverse blade stuff....

if the person did not intend to kill the other person with a sword, then why not just go ahead & use a regular sword anyway? Because I thought the Japanese had that custom about when they lose a battle they kill themselves in shame, or was that just from the movie "The Last Samurai"?. I mean....just defeating them means like they kind of killed them anyway, or do you think they are suppost to be too spineless for honor???

Suicide upon losing a battle was not mandatory. In the case of the situation in the movie, the general in question was too ashamed of his own involvement in the new government, and the shame at having failed to win the day. Seppuku was his chance to regain some of his lost honor.

Typically the average foot soldier would not be expected to commit seppuku if a battle went badly. I seriously doubt that the average field commander would be expected to do so either. It's an issue of shame not loss. It is not always shameful to lose a battle. Some battles simply cannot be won.

Long story short. It's complicated.

As for sakabatou... it's a figment of a manga writers imagination. They never existed. Period. If you wished to have a non-fatal duel, you used a bokuto or during the time of the fictional Kenshin, you might use a shinai.

well I is not just from anime I believe that it wasnt uncommon for a samurai when taking a bath that they would have a wooden or non-bladed sword with them I will have to get the name of the book from which i read this i believe it is one of the books that explains bushido.....that doesnt really help but i will try to get the name


and a metal reverse blade katana is a lot more durable than a wooden one so that could be another reason why it would be good to have an reverse blade than a bokken

Now you're rationalizing.

Fact is there is NO historical evidence of a reverse bladed sword in all of the very well documented history of Japan. Nor is there an example in any sword museum anywhere. It is also true that the author of the manga is on record as having said that he did in fact make it up. This topic comes up all the time, and it is routinely shot down. Feel free to surf over to http://www.e-budo.com and search the Sword Arts forum. Also search the forums at http://www.swordforum.com Those two forums are where most of the academic types hang out. This topic has been done to death.

They simply did not exist.