Right now I'm 13 years old, and I'm playing the most amazing game in the world -- The Legend of Zelda. I've just named my character, and I'm walking into the cave on the first screen. I'm scared. I'm just three hearts strong, the only thing my shield can block is Octorok spit, and I'm completely weaponless. There better not be any scary stuff down here....
Fortunately, there are no enemies. There's just an old man, some closed captioned advice, and -oh- what's this? A present? Cool!
Unfortunately, the "present" is just a wooden sword. "What!?!" I remember thinking. "A sword made from wood?!? Isn't that called, like, a club? Whose bright idea was this?!" Well, it's a question that's been with me for 15 years. Now I know ....Lots of kids in Korea take komdo classes. (검도, or 劍道 if you are really into Chinese 漢子, is 剣道 in Japan and kendo in the U.S. ) Some of my students even wear their komdo clothes to class, and from time to time one will even bring their practice sword (목검).
Of course, for practice no one ever uses a real sword -- they're more expensive than a car and kids'd be hacking off their limbs like butter. Nor do they use unsharpened metal blades (though they are available) -- the cheap steel is brittle and they bust into pieces with a few good whacks.
No, beginner students use - get this - a wooden sword. They're cheap, about $8, fairly lightweight, and they can take take a decent amount of abuse. If the kid every loses it, it's easy to replace, too. Ah-haaaaa!
Zelda's Japanese game creators had Link start with a wooden sword because that's what it's like in the real world. Students begin with a wooden sword, work their way up.
Who knows? If they're Samurai Jack-type lucky, maybe someday they'll get fourteen hearts strong and prove themselves worthy to wield the Magical Sword....
