<entry id="2279937" stat="A" corpus="jmdict" type="jmdict">
<ent_corp type="jmdict">jmdict</ent_corp>
<ent_seq>1626420</ent_seq>
<k_ele>
<keb>刃渡り</keb>
<ke_pri>news1</ke_pri>
<ke_pri>nf22</ke_pri>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>刃渡</keb>
<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
</k_ele>
<r_ele>
<reb>はわたり</reb>
<re_pri>news1</re_pri>
<re_pri>nf22</re_pri>
</r_ele>
<sense>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<gloss>length of a blade</gloss>
</sense>
<sense>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<gloss>walking barefoot on the edge of a sword blade (acrobatic stunt)</gloss>
</sense>
<info>
<audit time="2011-10-05 22:37:05" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Paul Upchurch</upd_name>
<upd_refs>daijr daijs
ALC</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -19,1 +19,4 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;length of a (sword) blade&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;length of a blade (sword, knife, etc.)&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;/sense&gt;
+&lt;sense&gt;
+&lt;pos&gt;&amp;n;&lt;/pos&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2011-10-06 05:09:40" stat="A">
<upd_uid>rene</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Rene Malenfant</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_diff>@@ -11,0 +11,1 @@
+&lt;ke_inf&gt;&amp;io;&lt;/ke_inf&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-03-12 05:03:22" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Other terms:  剣渡り(つるぎわたり) 剣の刃渡り　（つるぎのはわたり) 　刃渡り神事

This term is evidently [news1] because it is a common way to report the length of knives/blades used in crimes.

The $64k question: are 剣渡り, 剣の刃渡り, 刃渡り, and 刀の刃渡り different things.  In modern use, at least, it doesn't *seem* like it.

daijs does identify explicitly as barefoot, and as a feet of acrobatics.  no-sword.jp references a historic sketch where an acrobat performs in tabi(socks), lined with something protective. (so, as a cheap acrobatic performance, even "barefoot" would not seem to strictly be required, though this disagrees with the kokugo).  

dictionary entry aside, 剣の刃渡り is actually best known as the name of a particular mountain peak, where there is a particularly long, narrow peak one must cross, with the possibility of falling from either side if careless. (this is all google will find if you search, many hits) 
https://souraku.jp/home/newpage424html.html

Apparently a successful Japanese ballplayer practiced 刃渡り as a means of training... Also included firewalking
https://yakyutaro.jp/r.php?hash=d71AE
“刃渡り”のほか、火が残る炭の上を歩くという“火渡り”まで練習に取り入れ、精神力を鍛えてきたというから、恐れ入る。
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ3X6RLJQ3RPTIB00F.html
精神修養のため、2本並べた日本刀の刃の上を素足で歩く「刃渡り」を実施。

2本並べた日本刀 ... is 並べた end-to-end, or side by side? I imagine side by side, one foot on one blade, one on the other?</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>Video of combined fire walking, sword-ladder-climbing ritual.  
神事　火渡り　刃渡り
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VREpjBFZVAM

Lots of pictures, modern execution of the ritual
刃渡りを (2007/05/08) の記事画像
https://ito3382.exblog.jp/iv/detail/?s=6037241&amp;i=200705%2F08%2F75%2Fc0009475_22332188.jpg

Long writeup on the practice of sword and fire walking as Shinto religious/miracle practice.  Illustration with a ladder.
https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/32730/

(This is a chapter in a book, a 40-page narrative 1st-hand account of witnessing the ritual)
"Occult Japan; or, The way of the gods; an esoteric study of Japanese personality and possession"
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Occult_Japan/Miracles
We now come to the third miracle of the three ; the Tsurugi-watari, or the Climbing the Ladder of Sword-blades.
...
Evidently this was the material means to the miracle, for against it a ladder with notches suggestively vacant of rungs, led up to a frail plank platform raised astonishingly high into the air. We had somehow assumed that the sword-walking took place on the flat, and not, as it appeared it was to be done, skyward.
...

剣の刃渡り（つるぎのはわたり） の意味・使い方
https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%89%A3%E3%81%AE%E5%88%83%E6%B8%A1%E3%82%8A/
刀の刃の上を素足で渡る曲芸。転じて、きわめて危険なことのたとえ。かみそりの刃渡り。
「我輩の生涯は―だから」〈魯庵・社会百面相〉

刃渡り
２ 刀の刃の上を素足で歩く軽業 (かるわざ) 。

This form includes the religious reference:
かたな【刀】 の 刃渡(はわた)り
刀の刃の上を渡り歩く曲技。社寺の境内などで山伏や行者がやって見せて剣難よけの守り札を売った。
daijs:
刀の刃の上を人が渡り歩く曲技

nikki は‐わたり【刃渡】
② 刀剣の刃の上を、素足でわたり歩く軽業。


With picture of acrobatic stunt walking blades lengthwise.
http://no-sword.jp/blog/2010/08/tsurugi_watari.html
In ancient times, walking on swords was a Shinto ordeal called Tsurigi Watari [sic!]. However, after Japanese conjurers learned the secret, the Shinto priests abandoned the rite. Later, Far Eastern performers brought the feat to Western audiences (Gibson 1967, 91). Resembling a stepladder consisting of five to seven rungs of broad swords placed edge upward, the ladder of swords is a sideshow mainstay.</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -24 +24,4 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;walking on the edge of a sword&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;xref type="see" seq="1724530"&gt;火渡り・ひわたり&lt;/xref&gt;
+&lt;misc&gt;&amp;rare;&lt;/misc&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;traversing the length of one or more swords barefoot, edge up ( acrobatic stunt )&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;sword-walking (barefoot. oft. in reference to Shinto ritualistic ascent of a ladder of sword blades)&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-03-17 04:06:35" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>I'll just cut the fire-walking xref preemptively. It would be nice if these two paired Shinto rituals, performed for similar purposes, could be tied together, but the fire-walking xref is generic, so this doesn't really work anyway.</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -24 +23,0 @@
-&lt;xref type="see" seq="1724530"&gt;火渡り・ひわたり&lt;/xref&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-04-04 09:06:50" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Trimming considerably. The proposed version was too complex and detailed.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>Koj, Daijr/s, etc.</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -25,2 +25 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;traversing the length of one or more swords barefoot, edge up ( acrobatic stunt )&lt;/gloss&gt;
-&lt;gloss&gt;sword-walking (barefoot. oft. in reference to Shinto ritualistic ascent of a ladder of sword blades)&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;walking barefoot on the edge of a sword blade (acrobatic stunt)&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-04-04 09:09:29" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_refs>刃渡り	38120	91.3%
刃渡	2061	4.9%
はわたり	1561	3.7%</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -11 +11 @@
-&lt;ke_inf&gt;&amp;io;&lt;/ke_inf&gt;
+&lt;ke_inf&gt;&amp;sK;&lt;/ke_inf&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-04-05 23:00:10" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>robin1354</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>I don't think "(sword, knife, etc.)" is needed on sense 1.
I can't see why [rare] has been added to sense 2. Is there a more common name for this stunt?</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -20 +20 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;length of a blade (sword, knife, etc.)&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;length of a blade&lt;/gloss&gt;
@@ -24 +23,0 @@
-&lt;misc&gt;&amp;rare;&lt;/misc&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-04-06 01:08:28" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-10-12 08:08:34" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>I take your point on [2] not being rare in the context of "walking barefoot on the edge of a sword blade". 

The issue is that stats attach to the entire term, and [1], surprisingly, appears as "common" (due, it seems,  to news stats on crime reporting). This inadvertently gives the impression that maybe sword-walking is a commonly-recognized cultural activity in Japan.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  [2] is an arcane religious ceremonial activity(or an extremely arcane form of entertainment).  Yes, it is sometimes enacted, yes, this is the word for the activity. No, it is not something an average Japanese person would have any familiarity with. (vs., say, 綱渡り tightrope walking, or maybe even fire walking). 

To answer your question directly, "is there a better word", no, there isn't.  But that doesn't make this a good word.  The couple of Japanese news sources that mentioned this included a definition, presumably because the specific details of "刃渡り" are not comprehensible on their own(unlike 綱渡り, which brought me back here). So, if an E-&gt;J translator wanted to describe "sword walking" to a Japanese audience, they shouldn't expect to have success using this term to do it(without supplementary information).  Perhaps that does justify [rare].

My actual motivation was that a learner can safely discard [2] as "not worth learning"(due to cultural rarity, not just low ngrams).  It was also as to counter the stats on [1].  Lots of online Japanese learning resources just scoop up "common" terms from jmdict and present them as-is.  In this specific context, I think [rare] is the lesser of two evils, but I understand if this is rejected.</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -23,0 +24 @@
+&lt;misc&gt;&amp;rare;&lt;/misc&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-10-12 23:59:00" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Although it's recorded at the sense level, the [rare] tag applies to the term itself, and is usually intended to signal a lesser used alternative.. Perhaps we need a standard way of noting uncommon senses.</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -24 +23,0 @@
-&lt;misc&gt;&amp;rare;&lt;/misc&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
</info>
</entry>