"Youth Swords"

Okay, so a while back, perhaps on the old forum, there was a very brief discussion on what swords currently on the market would be deemed suitable for the er...significantly younger sword enthusiast. Naturally, the subject was primarily leaning toward blunted training swords of small size and weight, with some padded wasters thrown in.

Befuddled as to what to get my (oldest) nephew(s) this Christmas, I'd been playing with temptation on Nerf's newest melee gear, the Stonewall short sword and shield (see here: www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm? ... src=endeca ).

Since some of you may be curious about the parentheses, and this part is important, I'll explain. Depending how one chooses to look at things, I technically have three nephews. One was something of a surprise, shall we say, stemming from a relationship that went bad, about the time "the 'P' word" slipped out, but that was eight years ago now, and the boy himself is 7, in second grade, and of reasonable intelligence. He is also very much his uncle's nephew; he spent his first two years in the same house as me and, of course, was surrounded by my shiny sharp and pointies. Needles to say, he's got a bit of an affinity for them, himself.

Through my sisters wedding earlier this year, we gained her husband's son, from a previous marriage that ended on some rather complicated notes, but long story short, he's about the same age as the first. VERY shortly after that wedding, we learned my sister was expecting. A few months later, the ultrasound showed...another boy. That one was just born earlier this week.

Now, back to the initial topic, I shared my "idea" for the nerf kit with my sister, to see if she thought it would be an appropriate gift for the two older boys, and she not only approved but mentioned that, in an amusing twist, her first son (the eldest nephew) had, in fact, specifically requested "a sword" on his Christmas list.

Needless to say, I'll be buying two of the Stonewall sets tomorrow after work. I only hope the two that were left when I left today will still be there. Had I heard back from my sister before leaving, I'd have gotten them today, but such is life, eh?

So, that said, my inability to sleep tonight has left me pondering, exactly what options are there for the young enthusiast today, as far as proper swordly training tools? Something that looks, feels, and acts like a sword...but doesn't leave things lying in bloody pieces. WIth the Japanese sword arts being the more prevalent, I consulted with Google for "youth size iaito" in the name of testing waters.

I was first greeted with an offering by Tozando, a company well-known for quality product, but the size (and cost) is a wee bit much, I fear. (see here: www.tozandoshop.com/101_Tozando_ ... 70-101.htm ) Two shaku minimum nagasa, so about 23-24". The boy's only about 4'?" or so, so I was hoping to find something a bit closer to 20" or 22" max, but with the right mix of other dimensions, 24" could be workable, with extra caution. Just a hair over 1.2 pounds, I suppose the weight is also manageable for a reasonably athletic 7+ boy...again, with caution. Now...28,000 YEN...kind of leaves this uncle in a bit of distress, so I kept looking.

Enter, the Munetoshi Junior Edition series. (see here: www.swordnarmory.com/category-s/366.htm )

These two seem about the same dimensions as the Tozando...but a much more pleasant price point. I'm undecided if the stainless or the aluminum alloy would be a better choice, but as I intend to preach very hard the merits of NOT HITTING THINGS, I figure the aluminum should be sufficient. Keep in mind this thing will be considered my nephew's property, but kept in my own possession at all times, until I feel he can be trusted to have it at his own home.

Now...the most bothersome aspect of all three of these swords...they are THICK and WIDE. Not that I mind this for myself, but I have to wonder if a nearly 0.3" blade thickness...pretty much the whole length, very little taper on the aluminum model (not much more on the stainless, but it's at least almost a tenth of an inch, as opposed to a few hundredths on the aluminum) and a blade width on par with some of MY swords...is this really so "youth" friendly? Shouldn't there be more to a "youth" sword than simply being shorter? I'd think thinner and narrower would be good, too, no? At least, for iaito. Not like it needs to be extra beefy for a kid to just practice swinging it, if I may oversimplify.

Thus, I wonder...is this truly something deemed suitable for a young, aspiring swordsman? Or would this lean more toward the smaller adults among us? I do know a few of us have Kris Cutlery's 24" katana, and speak very highly of it, but these are adults, for the most part... I can't help but think these dimensions might be just a tad much for anybody younger than 16 or so, by which point most people would be just as well served by a more "normal" sized blade.

Probably bears mentioning again, my nephew is by no means a small, frail child, and when he's at his best behavior he is very much an intelligent, mature young boy. ...At his very best. (Mostly...when his uncle is giving him the eye...) so I have no doubt that he would be able to handle something this size, for a brief time, but I mostly ponder his longevity. I don't want to wear the kid out to the point that he loses interest, but I want to give him something substantial enough that he feels like it's "not a toy" to him.

I have absolute faith that he would treat anything I do end up giving him, in the realm of swordly goods, with the utmost proper respect such things require, especially since, as mentioned previously, he will not have this thing except when with me. At least, until he can prove to me that I am not mistaken about him.

So...with all that (much more than I'd anticipated writing) out of the way...are there any BETTER OPTIONS out there? Perhaps something in the Euro crowd, even? Are there any narrow, short swords with thin, small hilts (I guess a gladius or the like could work, but I'm thinking narrower, maybe longer) blunts that might be good? Something akin to Hanwei and Valiants' so-very-successful lines of training blunts...at 1/2 scale?

The two boys are definitely getting the Nerf sets, but I'd like to think I could fulfill the wishlist a bit better. For $50-ish, that Munestoshi aluminum seems a great starting point to teach this kid some good stuff...but I'm just worried that it's still too big. The length being less of an issue than the thickness etc. I mean, come on, I have swords thinner than that!

Anywho, so what does anybody think, not about whether a child is prepared to hold a weapon...but about which training sword would be feasible for a child to hold?

Actually, that was supposed to be my closing, but I literally JUST remembered the old karate class I used to attend, many moons ago, that was pretty much overrun by the 10-and-under crowd by my final days. Quite a few kids in there learning the few sword kata we had, now I find myself wishing I'd bothered to check the specs on the swords they were using. Specifically to mind comes a young girl, who at one time lived next door to me, and actually introduced me to the class, which her mother also attended. She was about 9-10 years old, and had her very own sword kata, custom tailored to her own abilities. I suppose if she could make a sword that was likely about the same size as these move the way she did, my nephew ought to be able to pick it up easily enough in time... Goodness knows how long she'd been practicing that kata, after all. At least a year or two by the time I'd seen her do it...so about the same age range as my nephew.

Bah, what the heck, I guess it's an okay size to work with for now...but I do wonder if one might be easier to grind down, if need be...

...So. Thoughts? Should I shut up and go to bed? I think so.