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Tameshigiri (試し斬り, 試し切り, 試斬, 試切) is the Japanese art of target test cutting. The kanji literally mean "test cut" (kun'yomi: ためし ぎり ''tameshi giri''). This practice was popularized in the Edo period (17th century) for testing the quality of Japanese swords.〔Kapp (1987), p.41〕 It continues to the present day, but has evolved into a martial art which focuses on demonstrating the practitioner's skill with a sword. == Origins == During the Edo period, only the most skilled swordsmen were chosen to test swords, so that the swordsman's skill was not a variable in how well the sword cut. The materials used to test swords varied greatly. Some substances were ''wara'' (rice straw), ''goza'' (the top layer of tatami mats), bamboo, and thin steel sheets. In addition, there were a wide variety of cuts used on cadavers and occasionally convicted criminals,〔Sesko (2011), p.148〕 from ''tabi-gata'' (ankle cut) to ''O-kesa'' (diagonal cut from shoulder to opposite hip). The names of the types of cuts on cadavers show exactly where on the body the cut was made. Older swords can still be found today that have inscriptions on their ''nakago'' (tang) that say things such as, "5 bodies with ''Ryu Guruma'' (hip cut)". Such an inscription, known as a ''tameshi-mei'' or ''saidan-mei'' (cutting signature) would add greatly to a sword's value,〔 compensating the owner somewhat for the large sums of money typically charged for the test.〔Sesko (2011), p.149〕 Aside from specific cuts made on cadavers, there were the normal cuts of Japanese swordsmanship, i.e. downward diagonal (''Kesa-giri''), upward diagonal (''Kiri-age'' or ''Gyaku-kesa''), horizontal (''Yoko'' or ''Tsuihei''), and straight downward (''Jodan-giri'', ''Happonme'', ''Makko-giri'', ''Shinchoku-giri'' or ''Dottan-giri''). There is an apocryphal story of a condemned criminal who, after being told he was to be executed by a sword tester using a ''Kesa-giri'' cut, calmly joked that if he had known that was going to happen, he would have swallowed large stones to damage the blade. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tameshigiri」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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