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I know that "tsuba" is the handguard that you use to push katana out of its
scabbard and "nuke to" means to draw a sword I think.

I'm curious how would you say/write down "draw a little bit of blade from the
scabbard with your thumb via tsuba", which could indicate the intent of the
blade wielder wanting to start trouble.
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2021-03-06T08:14:35.453
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2021-03-06T22:38:19.720
2021-03-06T22:38:19.720
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question
translation words phrase-requests
What is the Japanese wording for unsheathing a sword (katana) for about half an inch with your thumb?
This is called 鯉口を切る. In some monolingual dictionaries, there is even an entry
for it:

> **鯉口を切る**  
>  すぐに刀が抜けるように、刃を少し引き出しておく。鯉口をくつろげる。 「刀を引き寄せ、―・って見せた」〈藤村・夜明け前〉  
>  Source: [大辞泉 via
> kotobank.jp](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AF%89%E5%8F%A3%E3%82%92%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B-493565)

the description roughly translating to

> Pulling out the blade a little bit so as to enable quick drawing of the
> sword. Loosening the mouth of a sword sheath.

鯉口 _koiguchi_ literally means "carp's mouth", because, well, the mouth of the
sheath resembles an open carp's mouth.

The verb 切る _kiru_ has many different meanings ([大辞泉 lists 22
meanings](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B-480486)) and here 切る
should maybe not be understood with its common meaning of "cutting" but
probably with the meaning of "opening something sealed/closed" (point 3 in
_ibid._ ).
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2021-03-06T09:16:08.157
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2021-03-06T09:16:08.157
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answer