Quote:
Jun Akiyama wrote:
I, too, found the "looks like an (arabic numeral) 8" description very lacking. I think it comes from the visual of Saito sensei's "hassou" series in his jo suburi.
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I concur.
The explanation I heard in Japan was that the scabbard and raised sword create the shape of the kanji for 8 [八] lying on its side. I have nothing more than anecdotal evidence for this so far.