Woah SF! Your knowledge of the topic is staggering! Is it safe to say you study Aido? I'm not sure if you saw the movie "The Last Samurai" with Tom Cruise, but your mentioning of the wooden sword is seen there and matches up with what you say. It appears that the director tried to stick with reality as much as possible. I believe I saw an older Samurai move a couple of years ago where the Samurai, just like you said, only used a wooden sword. I wasn't sure if it was a thing of respect. You know, the enemy he's fighting wasn't worthy to die by his blade. The Samurai only used his metal sword on a couple of people. Great infomation <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />