Sakabatō
The Sakabatō (
Design[]
Unlike all his previous known works, whose designs all contain elements that make them tools not of combat, but of gruesome death, the Sakabatō is designed as a simple katana with its blade forged on the opposite side than normal, making it a sword ill-fit for killing. Features of the blade have it depicted as a shinto era katana, its hamon in an extremely rare recreated hitatsura notare midare on both sides of the blade, making it hard to differentiate the cutting edge from afar, while its tang/nakago ends with a kengyo shape, which is also a rare feature found on Soshu or Masamune school era katana. Its fittings are humble and simple, but vary upon depictions throughout.
Forged as a holy sword, the last of Arai Shakkū's blades were made in offering to honor the new peace that the Meiji Era would bring, and for him and its wielder, the end of his career of creating weapons for violence and death, and for Kenshin, the end of his days as a hitokiri, and the promise to never take another human life again.
Like with all manufacture of holy swords, two copies of the Sakabatō were made, a kageuchi (影打, Shadow Performer) and a shinuchi (真打, Star Performer), as was the custom. However, each copy eventually makes its way into the hands of Himura Kenshin.
History[]
Sakabatō Kageuchi[]
Given to Himura by Arai Shakkū immediately after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, Sakabatō Kageuchi served as the rurouni's trusted sword for ten years afterward. Its hilt is without decoration and set in a simple, oval handguard and the sword itself is worn in a black steel sheath. The sword was broken in May of 1878 when Kenshin dueled Seta Sōjirō in Shingetsu Village.
Despite only being the kageuchi or shadow of the true Sakabatō, this sword possessed superior quality than a normal Japanese sword, having easily broken one used by Saitō.
Sakabatō Shinuchi[]
While the kageuchi was given away, the Sakabatō Shinuchi was prepared for and given to the Hakusan Shrine in Kyōto as the temple's holy sword. Of stronger forge than Kageuchi, the shinuchi was hilted and sheathed in a shirasaya mount for storage and adorned with paper charms. After Himura took possession of Sakabatō Shinuchi with the permission of Shakkū's son Arai Seikū, using it against Sawagejō Chō of the Juppongatana, the wooden hilt is unable to withstand being used for Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū: Ryūkansen Tsumuji and crumbles, revealing a hidden engraving. On the steel inside the hilt, Shakkū had engraved a short poem reading "Slashing myself, I have trained countless blades. My son reviles, but for my grandson, I bleed." After transferring Shinuchi into Kageuchi's old hilt and a new steel sheath, it becomes Kenshin's new Sakabatō until 1882 when he passes it on to Myōjin Yahiko as a genpuku gift. In the non-canon OVA Samurai X: Reflection, Yahiko in turn passes the sword on to Kenji as his own genpuku gift.
As a testament of its quality, when this sword clashed with Sōjirō's Kikuichimonji Norimune, which was far superior to the Nagasone Kotetsu which snapped the Sakabatō Kageuchi, on an even Battōjutsu, it wasn't even scratched while landing a crack on Sōjirō's sword.
In the Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc, Yahiko gave the Sakabatō back to Kenshin. Kenshin then takes and uses the sword while in Hokkaido.
Users[]
Trivia[]
- The Sakabatō that Kenshin uses in all versions of the series are visually identical, with the sole exception of the one introduced in the first Rurouni one-shot drawn by Watsuki, where the decorations around its hilt are very different. However, this story is also the only one-shot which is not canon, as the characters Megumi, Kaoru and Yahiko are siblings who inherited the Kamiya Dōjō.
- In the live-action series of Rurouni Kenhin films, the Sakabatō Shinuchi is apparently known as Sakabatō Keishi.
- True to the concept of how the soul of a weapon must match its wielder in Japanese samurai philosophy, the Sakabatō appears to be made in mind by Arai Shakku with allusive features that derive inspiration from swords and schools of swordsmithing known for weapons of benevolence and peace. In some examples:
- The tang, aforementioned, is done to shape in a kengyo pattern, which while not exclusive, is known to be synonymous with the Soshu and Masamune era of swords. Along with Masamune having said to be reputed as a weaponsmith of valiant warriors of peace and benevolence, the kengyo pattern is also said to be synonymous with kongoken or the tsurugi/double edged vajra sword of Fudo Myoo, the fierce but benevolent Buddhist deity of purification and redemption. While when depicted outward on the blade, the sword shows the weapon being capable of slaying evil, a kengyo nakago represents the spiritual sword that slays the evils and malign passions within, demanding its user be rightfully disciplined and pure of heart to wield it.
- Though simple and unpretending, the tsuba of the Sakabatō are evocative to that of those made and used by Miyamoto Musashi. Formally known as the namako sukashi pattern, Musashi's tsuba, like many others, were made to express his ideals and thoughts. Patterned after the sea cucumber, it is representative of one of his most imperative teachings on battle, being to be slippery in movement against one's foes, than to "cling" and be encroaching and overly imposing. True to Hiten Mitsurugi's speed and internal methods, so too would its "dragons" seek to be as slippery as the humble sea cucumber. Alternately, its more circular shape is evocative of the phrase "itto ryodan", to cut down, or rather in this case, defeat merely in one blow.
- The Sakabato's blade does have some real world basis, being likened to ikebana swords used by daimyo and shogun in Japanese tea ceremony, and to kubikiritou, being wakizashi or tanto sized daggers meant to decapitate corpses to identify kills on the battlefield. While the former has recognition with establishing conferences peacefully and where live weapons were not allowed within teahouses, the former has themes of purposeful execution, and with the blade's sharp edge on the inside, being symbolic as a last resort.
Gallery[]
To be added