Carrying a Sword Across the Back

A

Anthony

Joined
Jun 11, 1999
Messages
47
Hello Everyone,

I'm still somewhat new to swords so please forgive me if I sound like a victim of the movies.

Are there any historical examples of swords being carried across the back either in Western Europe (especially Italy) or in the Far East? Is it a practical carry and drawing method?

If such practical method exists which one do you feel is the best? Is there anyone out there today making a scabbard/rig to carry a sword in this way? If yes, who?

For years I have watched countless actors carry and draw short, medium, and even long swords from scabbards carried across their backs. It never struck me as awkward, but talking with a respected scabbard maker (name withheld for political reasons) who claims it just doesn't work makes me wonder.

Before any of you crack some "closet ninja" jokes it is not my intent to carry one this way for fighting. Rather it stems from a practical need. While talking with a custom scabbard maker about having a unique sheath made to carry both a sword and dagger simultaneously with a method of carrying the rig across the back, he remarked that it was not possible to draw the sword from this position. He was not aware of my reason...which is simple. I don't want my metal/non-sharpened sword, scabbard, and dagger to get all scratched up in my gear bag banging up against my sticks and other equipment on the way to my Filipino Martial Arts (Modern Arnis) class.

Any and all opinions are welcome.

Thank you for the help.

- Anthony
 
If you don't want it -displayed- on your back you have options.

I have a carry bag that came with my sheathed jian.
(Chinese straight sword)
Hanwei / Paul Chen / CAS Iberia dealers would carry the same.
Or find a bag made for fishing poles or other sports equipment.
Or get a bag made.

I believe Japanese sword shops sell bags for shirasaya storage.
Tie a cord/strap on the bottom and a slip-knot at the top.

Good luck.
 
I'm pretty sure the O-Dachi was carried on the back, but only for transport. I think some large European swords might also have been carried this way. In ninjutsu the sword was carried at the side and it was not the straight sword you see in movies or martial arts catalogs. Rolling with a sword on your back is not a good idea.
 
I do not believe that any of the great swords that were used in Western Europe were carried across the back. When not in use or ready for use, they were carried wrapped up in an oilskin and other protection. But, when going into battle, their owners would carry them in their hands, ready for use, with the blade flat laid across a shoulder. Movies to the contrary, it is too damned difficult, or so I have been told by those who have tried, to carry one in a scabbard across your back and then get it out with any facility. I have heard this of the Scots' claymore up too and including the great two-handers used by the landesknechts front line double pay men whose job it was to break up the pike phalanx.
 
instead of a belt mount scabbard. This allowed the sword to slung in any number of ways, and shield and sword were foten slung to keep the hands free during boardinng and de-boarding from boats. Also kept the blade outta the salt water and kept the scabbarded sword from interfering with the legs.

When battle was imminent, they'd move the sword on the baldric so it hangs at the side for easy access and resheathing.

Bis swords were often carried without a sheath, like claymores and greatswords. They might be slung on the back for transport, but wer impractical to draw from the back.

Keith
 
If I am not mistaken, swords carried across the back are done in ancient China when the man is on the move on horseback. It was probably more convenient to do so.

Once a swordsman dismounts, the sword is carried in the hand. The rule is if you are slow in drawing a sword, you will be a dead swordsman.

Some swordsmen are known to wrap up their swords in rags or other kinds of materials to avoid detection, especially if they are swordsmen of some repute.

In ancient China, a well known swordsman can be identified by the sword he wields. There are usually some distinguishable features of the sword he used.

If you were wandering in the city (ancient China), it wouldn't be wise to openly carry a sword. Ordinary city folks are supposed to be peace-loving people. People who carried their swords openly were soldiers. The others who do so were deemed as undesirable characters, or assassins, or swords-for-hire.
 
Ferrous, if you have ever tried moving around much with a sword slung from a baldric, you will find that it is best if you tuck one or the other of the baldric straps under your waist belt to keep it from flopping about too much. If you were shifting the carry of the sword around very much while you had it slung with a baldric, the only way to do that would be to keep doing and undoing your waistbelt every time that you changed your carry position. I don't say that they never carried swords any other way, but I cannot imagine a Norse sailor, Viking or otherwise, going ashore without having his sword conveniently ready for use unless he knew he was gong where he would not need to use it. We also know that their sword scabbards were usually lined with sheepskin with the wool still on and the oils left in it as a protection for the blade, so it is not as if the sword was unprotected.

And one final thought: swords of any type were very costly items throughout most of the period under discussion, at least in Western Europe, and were not carried by just anyone. They were initially carried by the wealthiest or the best fighters and, as their manufacture became somewhat easier, their use bagan to trickle downwards to the common soldier who may have been issued an old one or an ammunition grade one by his lord or have have scrounged on from a battlefield, until, by the time of the Hundred Years War, they had become fairly common. But remember that we are now talking 14th and 15th Centuries.
 
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