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Demonstration: Oleksandr Matskaniuk Sensei Tameshigiri (試し斬) is a targeted cutting with a sword test. During tameshigiri a swordsman skill is testing these days. Different materials are used to test. Mostly rice straw (wara), top layer of tatami mats (goza), bamboo and much more. It all started in the 17th century (Edo Period in Japan) and thing were quite more brutal than now. Most skillfull swordsmen were chosen to execute tameshigiri and the purpose was to understand the quality of a sword. People were the targets of the sword testing games too. Dead ones or even the alive ones in case they were criminals. Today tameshigiri evolved to a martial art and the main idea is to demonstrate a skill of a performer. Performers have some other names for tameshigiri like shito or shizan. Tameshigiri is perfomed with the different weapons also, not only the swords. With the naginata for example.
