According to "Secrets of the Samurai" (Tuttle, 1973 or Castle
books, 1999) by Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook, "There were
2 major turning points in th life of a child born (or adopted) into
the buke. The first was the introductory ceremony in which he
was given his first sword, the mamori-gatana, "a charm sword
with a hilt and scabbard covered with brocade, to which was
attached to a kinchaku (purse or wallet)... worn by boys under 5
years of age" (Stone, 433). The second ceremony was the
gembuku, which signified his acceptance as a man amoung
men. At this time the child recieved his first real swords and
armor and had his hair dressed in an adult coiffure. From this
point of his life onward, he would be expected to specialize in the
functions typical of his rank within the heirarchy of the clan, but
without ever neglecting his training in the art of using the
weapon that had been defined in the military code as the "living
soul of the samurai.""
Just read that the other day. Found it interesting that the "charm
swords" were called mamori-gatana. Could almost mistake that
pheonetically for english of similar meaning. Some bearing on
your boy's day sword question I think.
Brandon
--- In samuraihistory@y..., Tom Helm wrote:
> Boys day being just a month away here is a newbie question;
>
> All the research (which ain't much) I have done suggests that
boy's didn't wear swords. They had there
> Genpuku thus were
> adults and strapped on an adult sword. in the Edo period
young boys may have worn a tanto if they were
> of a good family
> but didn't wear swords in public until their coming of age.
> The swords we see in tachi mounts made by well known
names are actually kazari tachi. Light elegant
> sometimes flashy
> little blades for courtiers or for ceremonial. NOT for boys but for
adults who needed to wear a sword but
> didn't need to
> lug around a 3 shaku nambokucho blade to attend some eight
hour paper wasting ceremony (still
> popular today).
> Does anyone have evidence or reference to how we came to
call these boys' swords or boy's day
> swords? Is there
> somewhere definitive scholarship on what boys wore, if
anything?
>
> Tom 'big boy' Helm