What you have here is a fictional character, fighting with a fictional sword. There is no such thing as a sakabato. I searched in my books--how old-fashioned--and was puzzled. Then I went to the web. Someone has imagined a Japanese sword with the inside, rather than the outside, of the curved blade made sharp. There are such swords in the world; there are also scythes.
You caused me to learn that saka-ashi is synonymous with yakiba, which is the word for the junction between the misty bit of a Japanese blade and the shiny bit. Some of the common patterns are:
sugu-straight notare-wavy gunome-regular scallops nokogiri-saw-toothed yahazu-like the nock of an arrow hyotan-gourd-shaped ashi-rat's leg chojii-like cloves laid side by side The text doesn't say what kind of rat or cloves. David Ritchie, Portland, Oregon On Nov 3, 2008, at 2:41 PM, Ursula Stange wrote:
One of my students, in citing one of his moral exemplars, mentions a fictional character named Kenshin who fights with a sakabato. I could google this, but I'm sure Mr. Ritchie will be much more fun.------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
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