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59-year-old Japanese master swordsman shows off awesome two-sword samurai slash【Video】

Casey Baseel Sep 27, 2019
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Kyoto swordsmanship teacher was asked to replicate video game attack.

If Japanese video games, anime, and period movies have taught us anything, it’s that there’s nothing cooler than dual-wielding a pair of samurai swords. With a katana in one hand and a wakizashi short sword in the other, twice the weaponry means twice the slicing before your opponent hits the ground, and so of course it’s also twice as awesome.

As we’ve learned time and again, though, quite often reality isn’t anything like anime, and so someone recently asked Yasuhiko Kawada, an instructor at Kyoto’s Yushinkan swordsmanship dojo, if he could execute a video-game style two-staged two-sword slash, below is his awesome video response, posted by the Yushinkan official Twitter account (@yushinkankyoto).

「某ゲームみたいに大小２振りで攻撃って出来るの？」との疑問にお応えました。

技斬り『蜻蛉』 pic.twitter.com/bDG35LFymb

— 居合道場勇進舘京都 (@yushinkankyoto) September 23, 2019

Not only can the 59-year-old Kawada pull off the attack, there’s even a special name for it, as it’s called the tombo (“dragonfly”) slash. Swinging his right-hand sword first, in an upward motion, the blade passes so cleanly through the tatami reed target that the cylinder hangs in the air for a split second without tilting to either side, giving Kawada just enough time to make his second cut by swinging his left-hand sword down to sever the target once again.

The stunning display has other Twitter users leaving comments like:

“What amazing concentration and control.”
“So precise and swift.”
“There’s no shaking in his core as he makes the cuts. He must have tremendous abdominal strength.”
“He looks so calm and unhurried, then <SLASH>-<SLASH>!”

▼ Kawano is pretty skilled with a two-handed single-sword style too.

こちらは大刀一振りでの技斬り『蜻蛉』です。 pic.twitter.com/LqD9AwNaEX

— 居合道場勇進舘京都 (@yushinkankyoto) September 23, 2019

If you’d like to become one of Kawano’s disciples, Yushinkan is currently accepting sign-ups, and has even had some foreign students.

▼ Kawano teaching a class

こちらは聖護院道場での練習風景です。人数が多くても広々と安心して刀を振れます！
上記ツイートの新人さんもそれとわからないくらい馴染んでいますね！この調子で本番もかっこよく決められるよう頑張っていきます。 pic.twitter.com/Fmd2q6v03u

— 居合道場勇進舘京都 (@yushinkankyoto) September 6, 2019

https://twitter.com/samuraijukuJP/status/1176358897012969472

Oh, and as for why the double cut performed by Kawano is called the dragonfly slash? He’s got no idea, and says that many traditional sword techniques have names that aren’t particularly descriptive, so as to hide their nature from uninitiated opponents. But when your sword technique looks as cool as Kawano’s it really doesn’t matter what you call it.

Related: Yushinkan official website
Source: Twitter/@yushinkankyoto via Hachima Kiko
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