What are the chances of accidently hurting yourself with a katana?

Question

I am looking into buying this 300$ katana to use for fun stuff like cutting water bottles or whatever. I have no experience in how to wield a katana. Are there any hazards that i should be aware of, like accidently slicing myself or the blade breaking from hitting something hard and injuring me. Please list all the possible hazrds i face and their probability.

Answer 1

People who know what their doing slice themselves with katana.  Since you've had no training, I'd suggest a good life insurance policy.  Blades can bend, twist, and break.  You could just simply drop it or not have a good grip when cutting and it will rip out of your hands.

On top of that, with no training, how do you know if you're getting a quality weapon?  Cheap ones break and will cut flesh but little else.

These are weapons, not toys.  Get some training before you even think about ordering one.

Answer 2

A katana is not a toy. Do yourself a favor and find an instructor if swordsmanship is a serious interest for you.

Answer 3

IMAGINE THIS:

You get your new Katana and are about to test it out. You grab a piece of wood and place it over two frames creating a bridge-like structure to cut the piece of wood in half.

You stand over your cutting board and breathe, and in a second swing the sword right down the middle of the wood. The wood collapses immediately as your blade slices through it with ease - you smile in amazement.

However, you notice a slight tingling sensation on your foot and look down. You realized that you applied too much strength and dragged the Katana over your toes - 3 of which is lying a few inches away from your foot in a pool of blood.

What now? Now the tingling sensation becomes a pain that I can't even describe.

Time to go get some duct tape.

Answer 4

You shouldn't weild a katana with no training. Even people who know what they're doing get nicked by the blade sometimes. With a sharp katana, you're likely to give yourself a nasty slice, especially if you're just playing around cutting bottles and stuff. A katana is not a toy.

Also, a $300 katana is cheap tat, and is most likely for display only, rather than actual cutting. If you try to cut with it, the blade will get damaged, or the katana will fall apart.

They banned cheap imitation swords here in Scotland, because people who had no clue what they were doing were buying cheap c**p swords and injuring themselves and even murdering others with them. Now, the only people allowed swords are collectors and people who practice iaido and kenjutsu, and you have to be over 18 of course. The swords are quality tested, and if they find that you've ordered a low quality sword and have no experience with one, you could face a huge fine and a jail sentence.

Answer 5

Your personal chance is 100%.  There's a 100% chance that you could injure or kill yourself or someone else.  Especially considering you admittedly have no training or skill.  Weapons of any kind are no joke and shouldn't be treated as such.  Find a professional to teach you the proper way to use one, then consider buying a Katana to keep in your home.

Answer 6

I can tell you that weapons are the number one cause of injuries in martial arts studios and that's from the insurance companies that provide that type of insurance to the martial arts industry.  Usually if you mess around with something like a weapon you will hurt yourself with it sooner or later; especially a poorly or cheaply made one.  Most quality swords for cutting start well over that price.

Answer 7

cutting your hand - most likely. while cleaning the blade or drawing out your sword

cutting your ear off - likely if your going to try fancy moves.

stabbing yourself - not likely. this needs some serious skills

katana breaking - not likely if it is a proper katana

Answer 8

You must remember that a katana is not for "fun stuff". It is a deadly weapon and you can find out the hard way.

The most common injuries with one of these pieces of equipment are cuts when drawing or sheathing the blade. Just a little inattention will slice a hand pretty good.

The chance of the blade breaking, unless you are really stupid, is fairly small. However you could chip the edge on a hard object and this chip becomes a dangerous piece of shrapnel.

Trying to whip your blade around like the Highlander is a good way to slice up a leg. A katana can remove fairly large chunks of flesh without much problem.

Any moves other than drawing and cutting are best practiced with a wooden sword rather than the katana. Practice your draw and cut, beginning slowly until you build up speed.

Good luck. Keep large bandages handy.

Answer 9

At that price it will probably have a dummy blade.

If it doesn't, and the blade is sharp, and if you are inexperienced and untrained, then you have a very high chance of amputating something, an ear or a finger..

Get some training before you play with a live blade.

Answer 10

Excellent, there is a very good chance of injuring yourself, usually unexpectedly.

Always carry the katana in its scabbard (saya) to prevent if falling and causing you an injury.

When drawing the katana out of the scabbard (saya) the blade (ha) must be facing up.

Since the scabbard is rather tight fit at the opening where the collar (habaki) is fit (koiguchi), the initial pull must be very carefully made so that only the collar's length gets drawn out. Giving a sudden powerful pull may not only impair the opening of the scabbard but also might result in an uncontrollable jerk leading to injury. Holding the blade still, pull it entirely out of the scabbard very slowly making certain the cutting edge never faces down or sideways.

When a blade is placed back in the scabbard (saya), its case must be held by the left hand and the hilt (tsuka) by the right hand as in the pulling-out process. The tip of the sharp edge (ha) facing up must first rest gently on the opening of the scabbard. Again, holding the blade still, slide the blade along the ditch into the scabbard. When the collar reaches the opening of the case, a firm push is necessary to ensure steady settlement.

As before, the cutting edge must not face down or sideways.



Do not try to see if the sword will cut things - it will. The Japanese sword was designed to cut only one thing - FLESH!  Cutting hard objects like weeds, scrubs, tree branches, etc will damage the sword, usually beyond repair.

Do not EVER grab for a falling or dropped blade. You can, and probably will lose a finger or two - or at least get a very nasty laceration. If the blade drops just get out of the way. (This does not apply to super, high grade blades - I personally would risk a finger or two rather than have a really fine blade be damaged by hitting a hard floor,etc. But that's MY feeling and MY fingers - you may not feel the same way. :)

Do not attempt to sharpen the blade. The use of sharpening stones or (heaven forbid) a grinding wheel can cause the total destruction of the sword.

The following is why any weapon must be treated with the respect that it deserves:

Answer 11

I'd say around 100%, especially if you are going to be fooling around with it and have no training.

I remember my lesson was a pair of home made nun chucks when i was 12. (I just saw a movie). Anyway long story short when I woke up and realize dtht my brains wer not actually leaking out of my head, I just thought they were, i swore off weapons such as these until I could get proper instruction.

Messing with a katana, especially a sharp one, when you have no training is like giving a monkey a loaded gun, you just know it wont end good.

If you do decide to disregard every one's advice, at least video tape yourself every time you are using it, so that we have a resource to put on here to show people that ask this question again why they should listen.

Answer 12

There have already been several good answers. I will add these. Just before drawing the katana the thumb of the left hand is hooked over the Tsuba/Hand guard. When you begin to draw the sword the thumb goes behind the Tsuba and gives it a slight push just as the right hand starts the draw.  Many times people will forget to move their thumb out of the way of the cutting edge. I've seen several Iaido students make that mistake and split their thumb all the way down to the bone.

Another injury that can easily happen involves the sword falling out of the Saya/Scabbard. normally as I said before the left thumb is placed on the Tsuba to keep the sword secured in the Saya and prevent someone from drawing your sword. Swords normally fit snugly in the Saya. However over time the fit may become loose.  I saw a sword demonstration that went very wrong. The person demonstrating went to bow before starting. He did not have his sword secured with his thumb. as he bowed the sword started sliding out of the Saya. Before he thought the guy reached out with both hands to grab the sword.  He caught the sword but not before splitting both of his hands deeply.  I guess he will never make that mistake again.

Seriously, a Katana is not something that you play around with. there are so many things that can go wrong. It only takes one mistake to do serious injury. Many of these injuries end up being life changing in a negative way.  Best if you want to learn, to find a qualified instructor.

Answer 13

Retardation !