Does this swordsman pose have any significance?

Question

Does this pose of raising your sword with your right hand have any significance? For example, is this a famous pose used by a real life legendary swordsman? Both Zoro of One Piece and Erza of Fairy Tail have used this pose.

Zoro's pose Erza's pose

Please let me know if the images used are a problem. I will replace them depending on what the problem is. — Masked Man, Feb 03 '13 at 06:29
I don't think the images are a problem based on the replies I got to [this meta question](http://meta.anime.stackexchange.com/questions/334/how-graphic-is-too-graphic). — Cattua, Feb 03 '13 at 18:10
The images are not a problem because they are *needed* to illustrate the question. In other words, they are not a problem because they are not added gratuitously. — Robert Cartaino, Feb 04 '13 at 19:47

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 03 '13 at 12:25

14

I don't think it is reference to anything specific since it's overly common whenever swords are (and sometimes when they aren't) involved in media.

In general:

it looks cool
it's usually a show of triumph by combining display of:
- dominance (as other poses that make body "unwrap")
- combat impracticality (no one is doing this in the middle of it)

tvtropes call it StabTheSky.

answered Feb 03 '13 at 12:25

Rarst

615
3
7

2

And it shows the audience that the user can still rise his sword and isn't destroyed to the bone, maybe. – Tartori Feb 04 '13 at 13:41
In both the above pictures, the characters took up the pose not during a battle, but to signify a "badass moment", so this makes sense. I think it would look quite lame if someone just stands in that pose for long during a battle. :P – Masked Man Feb 04 '13 at 17:44
1

Yep, that's under combat impracticality point - it can signify "everyone who can take advantage of me doing this posh vulnerable pose is lying around in pieces" - Erza's case. :) – Rarst Feb 04 '13 at 17:51
Hmm, good to join this site. tvtropes looks like interesting. thanks for link. :):) – Feb 14 '13 at 19:08
As said above. I would say it is not specific to anime / manga, Frazetta painted barbarians with this attitude long before manga was popular in the USA... See for example the http://galaxywarriorsbysungold.blogspot.fr/p/artwork.html page showing several of these poses. – PhiLho Apr 17 '13 at 12:09

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 04 '13 at 12:30

To add on to Rarst's answer, the pyramid-shaped stance naturally channels the viewer's gaze to the sword, especially to its tip. This places focus on the "warrior spirit", typical of a declaration of victory. The "warrior spirit" is raised to a high position by the stance, which further befits the idea of "dominance".

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 03 '13 at 17:08

I don't think there is a hidden meaning behind this. In my opinion, it is just a pose that shows determination. It could be also used a salute. For example, a "classical" sword salute looks like this:

The Olympic Flame is also carried this way:

So I would say that this pose means just that, no special hidden meaning involved. And yeah, it also looks cool.

Does this swordsman pose have any significance?

3 Answers3