Cleaning The Sword
Cleaning The Sword-Large Swinging Motion
Before sheathing a sword, it must be cleaned (of blood). This action is called “Cleaning” and there are many varieties.
- From a finishing cut (Basic Downward Cut), Snap the right wrist turning the sword to the left. The left hand relaxes and the right wrist has a feeling of thrusting upwards slightly.
- Bring the left hand to the left hip with fingers together and thumb extended, while swinging the sword to the right.
- Allow your right wrist and elbow to bend and your hand to invert so that the tip of the sword continues to swing to the rear.
- Keep the upper arm close to the body and allow the elbow to bend further so that the blade passes upward past the right ear.
- Cut strongly toward the right outside diagonal
- When completing the cut, snap the blade to a stop so that it points forward with edge slightly forward. The right wrist must not bend. This action is somewhat because of the potential to cut the right ear or knee if mindfulness is not maintained. It is also easy to ruin the blade if you relax the wrist enough to allow the tip of the sword to strike the floor.
- Actions 2-6 should be done in a single whip-like slash action of the blade with a feeling of flinging something off the blade.