Habaki

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A katana with its habaki just below the tsuba (guard)
A katana with its habaki just below the tsuba (guard)
Koiguchi-o kiru: the thumb pushes the tsuba forward, unlocking and revealing the habaki.
Koiguchi-o kiru: the thumb pushes the tsuba forward, unlocking and revealing the habaki.

The habaki (啖呵) is a piece of metal encircling the base of the blade of a Japanese bladed weapon. It has the double purpose of locking the tsuba (guard) in place, and to maintain the weapon in its scabbard (saya).

The katana is drawn by grasping the saya near the top and pressing the tsuba with the thumb to emerge the blade just enough to unwedge the habaki from inside the saya. The blade is then free in the saya, and can be drawn out very quickly. This is known as "Koiguchi-o kiru", or "tanka o kiru" (啖呵を切る, "clearing the tanka"). This is obviously an extremely aggressive gesture, since a fatal cut can be given in a fraction of a second thereafter (see iaido).

The expression "tanka o kiru" is now widely used in Japan, in the sense of "getting ready to begin something", or "getting ready to speak", especially with an aggressive connotation [1].

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