The Sakabatō (逆刃刀, Reverse-Blade Sword) is the last of the strange swords forged by master swordsmith Arai Shakkū. However, 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.
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 and a shinuchi, as was the custom. However, each copy eventually makes its way into the hands of Himura Kenshin.
Sakabatō
Sakabatō Kageuchi
Given to Himura by Arai Shakkū immediately after the Battle at 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.
Sakabatō Shinuchi
While the kageuchi was given away, the Sakabatō Shinuchi was prepared for and given to the Hakusan Shrine in Kyoto as the temple's holy sword. Of stronger forge than Kageuchi, the shinuchi was hilted and sheathed in carved wood 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 Himura Kenji as his own genpuku gift.
Trivia
- The Sakabato 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 dojo.
- In the live-action series of RuroKen films, Sakabatō Shinuchi is apparently known as Sakabatō Keishi.