Paul,

Swords aren't for waiving at burglars. Using a weapon to intimidate an evildoer has a high percentage of going wrong. If one feels justified in using countervailing force (hopefully your feelings are based on concrete evidence which may explained to a jury of your peers), it should be used to stop the situation from escalating. Making a force-threat display with one's sword is performing an escalation of violence and not actually dealing with the threat of imminent harm beyond hoping you can scare off one or more maurader hopped up on adrenaline and Lord knows what else. See Marc and Dianna's site for more details.

Swords may be used as weapons for several arts and one may enjoy the athleticism and discipline (and fun) and can be used for cutting all sorts of materials (the kenjutsu/iaido crowd cut fresh bamboo, tatami, and Funnooodles and the Fikes crowd cut dried bamboo and trees).