剣

sword; double-edged sword

Kanji 1214

This packed-to-the-gills essay teaches everything about the Japanese sword, from its connections to Buddhism and samurai to its metaphorical role. You'll learn how people use 剣 and 刀 quite differently. Fantastic photos provide glimpses of sword-bearing martial arts, supplementing the discussion of kendo. In one quiz, you'll even consider which animals come equipped with swords!

Revision history

Dec. 13, 2024: p. 12: Deleted the reference to the so-called Chinese expression 口蜜腹剣. It turns out to be longer than that, rendered differently in Simplified versus Traditional Chinese, and it's outside the scope of the discussion to get into all that here.

Sept. 6, 2024: p. 1: Deleted the link to Mariusz Szmerdt's now-defunct website. 

Jan. 13, 2023: p. 10 sidebar: Reversed the yomi of 剣客 so that the order is now “けんかく or けんきゃく.” Also adjusted my comments about the sequence of these readings.

July 2, 2021: 

• p. 2, Etymology Box: Replaced the Henshall etymology with the new one.
• p. 2, main text: Presented the two Joyo yomi of 剣 more clearly.
• p. 13: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

Aug. 3, 2012: Fixed a link.

April 10, 2012: Changed the definition of 呑 from "to drink" to "to swallow" in Quick Quiz 1.