Taito: Wear Your Sword

Taito (tai-to) is a command and means "wear your sword".

You have a shinai in your hand and carry it in your left hand in the sageto position.

Sageto is the position in which we carry our sword while walking.

We have our sword in our left hand and naturally hold it with the arm straight as shown in Picture 1.

The tsuka-gashira (the end of the grip) must be kept within your body. It should not be outside the body.

When you hear a command "Tai-toh!", lift your left hand to the hipbone. This is actually an imitation of a samurai who carries a sword.

Samurai used to carry their swords by placing them in their belts.

The tsuka-gashira should be in the center of your body.

Some kenjutsu schools prefer to place the tsuba (hand guard) in the center of the body. However, in kendo we keep the tsuka-gashira in the center of the body.

<<ATTENTION!>>

Point 1: When you wear a sword, you do not want to lift the sword higher than the hipbone.

Some people tend to lift the other end of the sword higher than the tsuka-gashira because they are grabbing the sword too tight.

Point 2: Some bow in and out with their shinai in the tai-to position. It is not right. We have to bow in and out in the sageto position.

Point 3: Lock your sword with the left thumb as shown below.

Point 4: As you can see, the thumb should be placed off the centre of the shinai. This is because you would cut your thumb with the blade if you were using a real sword.

Point 5: The right hand should be on the side of the thigh.

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