Bad Day for Samurai Wannabes

[sanjuro_ronin]

[Lucas]

now THATS hot!

[TaichiMantis]

Dang, can't find the video but the current season of "So You Think You Can Dance" had a warrior/princess dance that featured a katana...pretty cool!

Ok, found a link...it was a bollywood dance with sword that looked like a katana...except he's gripping the blade end with his hand

[GeneChing]

But none best SJ's fan & sword post above...

Arrest warrant for sword man
2:30pm Wednesday 25th November 2009
By Alex Hill »

A 47-year-old man alleged to have been found in possession of a sword faces arrest after failing to appear in court.

Stuart Cannings, of Chauncey House, Croxley View, Watford, was due to appear at St Albans Magistrates' Court this morning.

When Cannings did not turn up, District Judge Gill Allison issued a warrant for his arrest at the request of the prosecution.

Cannings faces a charge of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, namely Chauncey House, Croxley view on Wednesday, August 12.

Man Stops Intruder With Sword
Contributor: Dave Clark
Last Update: 11/23 10:47 am
Middletown police say a 40-year-old man used a Samurai sword to defend himself when a dispute over a business transaction turned violent.

Police say 42-year-old Milan Reid made threats and indicated that he had a weapon when the resident of a Middletown, Delaware home asked him to leave on Friday night.

The resident, who does subcontracting work for Reid, ran inside but Police Chief Henry Tobin III says Reid kicked in the door and attacked him in the hallway. That's when Tobin says the resident grabbed the sword on display in the living room and chased Reid out.

Police say Reid, who also was wanted on an outstanding warrant, was arrested a short distance away and charged with burglary, aggravated menacing and five other offenses. No weapon was found.

Coquille man charged in sword death of brother
By Karen McCowan
The Register-Guard

COQUILLE — A man accused of killing his brother with a homemade Samurai-style sword was arraigned in Coos County Circuit Court Monday on murder and methamphetamine possession charges.

Bail was set at $1.5 million for Nathan Todd Wallace, 41, Coquille Police Chief Mark Dannels said.

The stabbing reportedly occurred early Sunday morning at a trailer Wallace leases in exchange for care-taking duties on the grounds of the Veterans of Foreign Wars building.

The victim, Lee Edwin Wallace, 38, died at a Coos Bay hospital about six hours after police responded to a 2:36 a.m. 911 call.

El Mirage police: Man uses sword to rob another man of cell phone
by Christina O'Haver - Nov. 23, 2009 03:16 PM
The Arizona Republic

A man was arrested in El Mirage early Saturday after he allegedly robbed another man of his cell phone while armed with a sword, police said.

At approximately 3:38 a.m., a man arrived at the police station and told officers that while he was attending a bonfire, another man threatened him with a sword and threw his cell phone into the fire, said Assistant Police Chief Bill Louis, a spokesman for the El Mirage Police Department.

According to Louis, the victim and the suspect were both attending the bonfire at a residence in the 14100 block of North Verbena Street when the suspect reportedly demanded that the victim give him his phone.

After the victim refused, the suspect allegedly held up a long renaissance-style sword to the victim's throat and threatened to kill him, Louis said. The victim then handed the suspect his cell phone and charger.

The suspect kept the charger but reportedly threw the phone into the fire. The victim, who was not injured, left the scene and went to the police station.

When officers arrived at the residence, they found 26-year-old Angel Tonchez Reyes sitting on the sword with the phone charger in his pocket, Louis said.

The victim positively identified Reyes as his attacker, and police arrested him on suspicion of armed robbery, criminal damage and threatening.

Louis said both men had friends at the bonfire and it appeared they were welcome at the gathering, but they did not know each other.

Police did not have details about Reyes's motive for throwing the phone into the fire as of Monday afternoon.

[uki]

i have a hanwei "banshee" on the dashboard of my truck.

[GeneChing]

In PA. Good thing he didn't cross paths with uki.

Posted on Fri, Nov. 27, 2009
Pa. man jailed in Thanksgiving sword stabbing
The Associated Press

AMBRIDGE, Pa. - A black western Pennsylvania man has been charged with attempted homicide after police say he used an 18-inch sword to stab a drunk white man who yelled racial slurs at his own dog and the suspect.

Forty-four-year-old Vernon Bridges, of Ambridge, allegedly stabbed 48-year-old Ronald Book with an 18-inch blade concealed in a cane on Thanksgiving. Police say the blade went in Book's abdomen and came out his back.

Book was in critical condition at UPMC Presbyterian hospital.

Police say the stabbing happened after Bridges overheard Book, his neighbor, yelling racial slurs at the animal and Book's son , who is also white and had allegedly let the animal run free. Police say Book began yelling slurs at Bridges after he told Book to quiet down.

It's not clear if Bridges has an attorney. Police say Bridges is claiming self-defense.

Ambridge man still hospitalized after being stabbed with sword
By: Bill Vidonic
Beaver County Times
Saturday November 28, 2009 11:54 AM

AMBRIDGE — An Ambridge man stabbed with a sword blade hidden in a cane remained hospitalized Friday.

Ronald Book, 48, was run through with an 18-inch blade by Vernon Bridges during a fight filled with racial slurs, Ambridge police said. Book underwent surgery Thursday evening at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh; employees there refused to release additional information on his condition Friday, though police said he remained hospitalized.

Bridges, 44, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, owning a prohibited offensive weapon and reckless endangerment; he remained in the Beaver County Jail Friday.

Bridges confessed to stabbing Book, according to Ambridge police officer James Mann, but said he did so because he wanted Bridges to stop attacking him and that he not mean to stab Book in his upper body.

“(Bridges) stated God was testing him today and he failed God’s test miserably by stabbing Mr. Book,” Mann wrote in a police report.
Advertisement Beaver Valley Federal Credit Union

Mann said a drunken Ronald Book was arguing with his son, Joseph, 18, outside their 78 12th St. apartment building. The elder Book was upset that the family dog had gotten loose, calling his son and the dog racial slurs, Mann said.

Bridges, who also lives in the apartment building, came outside and commented on Book’s racial slur, Mann said, and Book then began using the slur toward Bridges while telling him to mind his business.

Book punched Bridges, knocking him to the ground, Mann said, and Bridges pulled the sword out of the sheath of the cane and thrust forward, the blade going all the way through Bridge’s abdomen and out his back.

Book collapsed, then tried to go after Bridges again, Mann said, but family members pulled Book aside.

Bridges told police that he meant to stab Book in the leg “to get him off of me,” Mann wrote in the police report, and continued to express remorse hours after the stabbing.

And another, for good measure... clearly swords and racial slurs don't mix.

Man arrested after he assaults man with sword
By Staff Reports 8:08 PM Sunday, November 29, 2009

Jimmy D. Eads, 24, of Sherman Avenue, was arrested Saturday, Nov. 28, on charges of felonious assault and criminal damaging.

According to a police report, Eads was yelling racial slurs at a man. When the man turned toward him, Eads went into his apartment and returned with a sword.

Eads chased the man and cut him on the hand with the sword, the report said.

The man went into a house, then Eads put the blade of the sword through a window in the front door, shattering it, according to the report.

Eads told police he got the sword to defend himself after the man pepper-sprayed him, but the report stated a witness told police he saw the man walk away from Eads twice.

Eads was placed in the Clark County Jail.

[uki]

In PA. Good thing he didn't cross paths with uki.

if someone pulled a sword on me i'd probably laugh...

clearly swords and racial slurs don't mix.

i do my best to be honest and sincere with everyone... if i was to degrade myself by using a racial slur that inadevertly results in me getting stabbed with a sword, obviously i had it coming. i marvel at the entire racism agenda, it makes no sense to me... people are different, if you can't accept who you are, you are never gonna be able to accept who someone else is.

[Skip J.]

...i do my best to be honest and sincere with everyone... if i was to degrade myself by using a racial slur that inadevertly results in me getting stabbed with a sword, obviously i had it coming. i marvel at the entire racism agenda, it makes no sense to me... people are different, if you can't accept who you are, you are never gonna be able to accept who someone else is.

Amen brother, keep on truckin'........

[Dragonzbane76]

i marvel at the entire racism agenda, it makes no sense to me... people are different, if you can't accept who you are, you are never gonna be able to accept who someone else is.

nail on the head

[GeneChing]

You'd think we'd sell more samurai swords. Not that I condone sword attacks in any way. I'm just sayin...

Police find samurai sword in Bondi raid
December 2, 2009 - 7:34AM

A Samurai sword, ninja jacket and Indian Gurkha knife were among a stash of weapons discovered in a unit in Sydney's east, police say.

The weapons were allegedly uncovered during a search of the Ramsgate Avenue home at Bondi on Tuesday morning.

Police also allege they found a black dive knife, fireworks, a set of silver nunchaku and two silver flick knives in sheaths.

A 51-year-old man was charged with 13 counts of possess prohibited weapon and resist and intimidate police.

He was also charged over a domestic assault matter.

The man was refused bail and will appear at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

I'd be so busted in Sydney. I have all of that and more stashed away.

Man 'attacked Pc with samurai sword'
02 December 2009
By Karon Kelly

QUICK-thinking and "blind luck" saved a policeman from serious injury when an attacker smashed a samurai sword down on his head, a court heard.
Pc Dave Martin had been called after reports of trouble to Drummond Crescent in Simonside, South Shields, in the early hours of May 6, where he was confronted by David Golightly, armed with two samurai swords.

Newcastle Crown Court yesterday heard only his own quick thinking saved Pc Martin from serious injury when Golightly used one of the weapons to strike his head.

Julian Smith, prosecuting, said: "In deliberately and viciously bringing that sword down on Pc Martin, actually striking his head, he was intending to cause really serious bodily harm.

"The fact he did not cause really serious bodily harm is only due to the actions of Pc Martin in defending himself and acting quickly to essentially protect himself and perhaps, frankly, blind luck."

The court heard police had been called after reports of cars being damaged in the Drummond Crescent/Henderson Road area.

When Pc Martin arrived at Drummond Crescent, he was confronted by Golightly, who lived in the street.

Mr Smith said: "As Pc Martin looks towards the front door, it bursts open and out comes Mr Golightly. He has a weapon in each hand. He comes across the drive and approaches Pc Martin, both (weapons) are raised and he's saying 'come on, I'm going to kill you', words to that effect.

"Pc Martin, who will tell you he was very frightened, has drawn his CS gas from his hip and raised it.

"He said 'put them down' but there was no effect on the defendant at all, he just kept coming towards him.

"He sprays him in the face but that has no effect, it does not slow down Mr Golightly.

"With great presence of mind, with Mr Golightly still coming towards him, Pc Martin lunged forward at the last moment as Mr Golightly brings down, quite deliberately, this sword.

"The Crown say a blow was struck with the sword. The intention is very clear. It is as well he stepped forward and became entangled with the defendant in the way he did because maybe that is what spoilt the aim.

"There was contact. Pc Martin's recalls a blow to his head with the flat of the sword."

The court heard Pc Martin's colleagues arrived at the scene and Golightly was restrained.

Golightly refused medical treatment to injuries he received in the struggle during his arrest.

In a police interview, Golightly admitted he had picked up a piece of wood but denied being armed with swords.

Golightly, 32, denies attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, affray, assault, having offensive weapons and damaging four cars.

The trial continues.

[GeneChing]

But I'll try....

Sword-wielding mum lashed out at crowd as she hunted for son
By Eimear Cotter
Monday December 07 2009

A MOTHER-of-three brandished a large sword while she shouted at a group of people after fearing her son had been shot.

Jean Ellis (35) said she was at home making dinner when she heard a bang and thought her 16-year-old son had been shot.

When she couldn't see him, she got into her car and started trawling the neighbourhood looking for him.

She then came across a gang of people who verbally abused her and threw a hammer and the sword at her car.

Ellis was shouting at the gang and brandishing the sword when gardai arrived on the scene, a court heard.

A judge said that a sword is a "horrendous and frightening" implement, and she feared Ellis would have used it if the gardai had not come along.

Judge Mary Collins ordered Ellis to donate €400 to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children and said she'd leave her without a conviction.

Ellis, with an address at Lissadell Road, Drimnagh, admitted before Dublin District Court to threatening and abusive behaviour and possession of a dangerous weapon.

The incident took place at Knocknarea Avenue, Drimnagh on July 3.

Threatening

Garda Peter Dunne said he was on mobile patrol around 10pm when he saw Ellis standing at the passenger side of her car and holding a sword. She was shouting and threatening a nearby group.

The court heard that Ellis, a childcare worker, has no previous convictions.

The court heard Ellis needs garda clearance to work in childcare and a conviction would affect her job.

Cathal O'Braonain, defending, said Ellis was at home making dinner when she heard a loud bang and her son screaming, and thought her son had been shot.

She went looking for him, and while she was searching the neighbourhood she came across a group of people who started shouting abuse at her and throwing items at her car.

Mr O'Braonain said Ellis had just got out of her car and was holding the sword when gardai arrived.

The gang that was hanging around quickly dispersed.

Mr O'Braonain said that Ellis is hard-working and of good character. She had simply found herself in an "extraordinary" situation while she was searching for her son.

This one has video.

Police searching for armed robbery suspects
Posted: Today at 6:45 am EST

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Police in Manchester, New Hampshire are searching for three suspects involved in a bizarre early morning armed robbery.

According to police, two masked men armed with a sword held up a Tedeschi Food Shop on Maple Street around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. A third female suspect acted as a getaway driver.

The two men forced the clerk to open the register after they attacked him with a sword.

“He described this knife as having a curvy blade and two skulls around the handle area...The subjects entered the store, pushed him up against the counter, he was able to break his way free of them,” said Lt. Ernie Goodno of the Manchester Police Department.

Police said the suspects ran after the clerk when he tried to escape.

He attempted to fight off his attackers in the parking lot with the coffee pot in his hand when one suspect stabbed him in the back with the sword.

Customers are shocked.

“A sword? That’s crazy. Manchester’s turning into a bad city,” said Ashley Brown, a customer.

The two men then forced the injured clerk back inside the store to open the register. The suspects demanded money and got away with an unknown amount of cash.

Police in Manchester are increasing patrols and are hoping the surveillance pictures and unusual weapon choice will help them catch these violent suspects.

Police said the men escaped in a red car that was waiting for them in parking lot.

The clerk went to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries and is expected to be okay.

Barefoot bandits armed with shovel, 'sword' hold-up service station
Sophie Elsworth
December 08, 2009 06:15am

BAREFOOT bandits armed with a "sword-like" weapon and shovel held up at service station south of Brisbane last night.

About 10pm three men approached the service station on the corner of Park Ridge Rd and Chambers Flat Rd at Park Ridge and two of the men demanded money from the console operator.

One man was armed with a weapon similar to a sword and another with a shovel.

The third did not have a weapon.

Two of the men entered the service station while the third men keep at look out.

The console operator handed over cash to the men who then ran from the store.

All of the men were described as Caucasian and about 175cm tall.

The first man who was barefoot and was wearing white board shorts with black marking on the sides.

He had a purple beanie with holes cut into it covering his face.

The second man who was also barefoot was wearing a black baseball cap and a blue bandanna over his face.

The third man was wearing a black beanie with holes cut into it over his face and had black sports shoes on.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

4 nabbed with swords from PU

One of the youths was posing as a Punjab Police officer

The Chandigarh Police arrested a youth posing as a Punjab Police officer from the Panjab University campus on Monday evening and recovered a sword from his possession. His three accomplices have also been rounded up by the police.

Manminder Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, was arrested from near the Law Department auditorium where he had come in his Tata Safari around 5.15 pm.

Sukhbir Rana, station house officer of the Sector-11 police station, said the youth was caught when the police searched his vehicle (CH 03 J 0001) and found a sword in it.

The youth told the police that he had come to the city to take Rs 20,000 from a boy whom he had lent money some time back. “Manminder, who is in his mid-twenties, said the boy had been evading him,” the SHO said.

[TaichiMantis]

Man, you are really running with this theme! I salute you sir!

[GeneChing]

another samurai sword... click link for vid.

Bend teen gets 7 1/2 years in samurai sword stabbing
Posted: Dec 7, 2009 09:22 PM
Last Updated: Dec 8, 2009 09:22 AM
By Barney Lerten and Kelsey Watts, KTVZ.COM

One year, two months and a day after Tracy Rost was stabbed through the chest with a samurai sword, his girlfriend's now-17-year-old son, Kaleb Brown, was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison in a packed courtroom Monday afternoon.

Brown, initially facing murder, manslaughter and assault charges, entered a conditional "Alford plea" of guilty in mid-October to lesser charges of criminally negligent homicide and unlawful use of a weapon. It's a plea that means the teen was not admitting to the charges, only that evidence could convince a jury to convict him.

Brown, dressed in a dark suit and wearing handcuffs and waist chains, sat beside defense lawyer Aaron Brenneman, listening in Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Sullivan's courtroom as Deputy District Attorney Darryl Nakahira laid out the details of what Brown, his mother, Kelli Fischer, and younger sister said had happened the night of Oct. 6, 2008.

But first, Sullivan warned the crowd to turn off its cell phones, or risk being kicked out of court, and to do as directed. "I know people feel strongly about this case," the judge said, describing what constitutes contempt of court.

The teen had moved from his grandparents' home to his mother's only a month before, and he and his mother said Rost, who had lived with Fischer for about 10 years, was heavily intoxicated that night, and prone to getting angry and picking fights in that condition.

"They had decided a week (earlier) to break up," Nakahira said.

The medical examiner found that Rost had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit that night.

Nakahira said Rost was arguing with and accusing the teen of smoking marijuana in the house, which he steadfastly denied. After Brown went to his room upstairs in the home, Rost followed, and the argument intensified, with Brown shutting the door on Rost, and his mother trying to keep Rost from bursting in, as he pounded on the closed door..

"Leave my mom alone – don't touch her!" Brown was quoted as saying, before Rost got through the bedroom door and threw him to the bed.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Brown told Rost, his mother told police.

According to the accounts shared in court, Brown picked up a hammer he had been using to put decorations on the wall, and Rost grabbed the hammer and all three fell on the bed.

At some point, Rost let go of the hammer, but raised his fist, at which point Brown grabbed a samurai sword off the wall, pulled it out of its sheath, and the stabbing took place.

Fischer, frantic, put pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding and had her daughter call 911; Rost died later at the hospital.

"Mom, I'm sorry," Brown reportedly told Fischer, "but I didn't want him to hurt you."

Brown told a neighbor he stabbed Rost after "he came at me with a hammer."

Brown did not speak at his sentencing, having been advised by his lawyer not to speak due to a $3 million civil lawsuit filed by Rost's ex-wife. The suit alleges Brown's guardians were negligent for buying him the sword, and describes the killing as an accident.

But Sullivan said Brown's refusal to speak in court offered no closure for Rost's family.

"So I will say, to the family and friends of Mr. Rost, I'm sorry abut the tragic and needless death of your loved one," the judge said.

Brown is eligible for early release, but Sullivan told him he must earn it. The teen also can appeal the sentence, but must file the papers within 30 days.

Both the teen's and victim's families offered emotional pleas in court, and both sides said it wasn't the outcome they wanted.

Rost's family, as it has before, expressed anger over the sentence, saying it was not long enough, and that the justice system had failed them.

Meanwhile, Brown's family said the teen acted not only in self-defense, but also defending his mother, and that he did not deserve to go to prison as a result.

During the emotionally charged sentencing, members of Rost's family - many of whom traveled long distances to be there - spoke to the judge about the man they love and remember, begging for Brown to get the maximum sentence possible.

The Rost family had wanted brown to be sentenced on a murder charge - a Measure 11 crime, with 25 years behind bars, if convicted.

One family member said, "I had a discussion with God the other day. He said everything would work out. I want him (Brown) to know, he's going to carry this with him the rest of his life. Every day he wakes up, he's going to carry this bag of rocks with him."

Brown's mother also spoke before the packed courtroom, telling her son not to listen to the "negativity."

"I am not without sorrow or sympathy for the loss of Tracy's life," Fischer said. "However, it is my family and my children that I will continue to love and support as we all go through the healing process, and go on with our lives."

But Brown's attorney said the potential for a long prison term, if convicted of murder, prompted them to accept the plea deal.

"I don't think it's a happy ending for anybody," Brenneman said. "I think the families - and I can't speak for the Rosts - are glad this is over."

"It's not closure," the victim's tearful brother, Bobby Rost, said outside the courtroom. "It's the end of the criminal phase, but there's a civil litigation that's starting. But it's far from closure - this is ... a very disappointing day for us in the justice system."

"We really miss Tracy," he added, tears filling his eyes. "Sorry. It's just unbelievable how much we miss him."

[GeneChing]

samurai sword vs. tazer

Suspect dies after being tased by Hampton police
by 13 News
Posted on December 11, 2009 at 11:18 AM

HAMPTON -- A 36-year-old man died after being tased by police in Hampton Thursday night.

Police say they were serving a warrant at the man's home on Overlook Court about 11:00 p.m. when the man started swinging a samurai sword at the officers.

Police say they used a taser to subdue the man but he removed the taser probes and continued to swing the sword at the officers.

Police used the taser a second time on the man and attempted to place him in custody. That's when police say the man stopped breathing.

Police called paramedics and began CPR. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.

Police say they will release the man's identity when family members are notified.

The officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Police say this is standard procedure.

Dec 11, 2009 11:44 am US/Eastern
Sword-wielding Va. Man Shot With Stun Gun Dies
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) ― Hampton police are investigating the death of a man who was shot twice with a stun gun by officers after he repeatedly swung a samurai-style sword at them.

Police spokeswoman Cpl. Paula Scheck says the 36-year-old man was pronounced dead at a local hospital at about 1:15 a.m. Friday. He wasn't identified.

Scheck says the officers went to the man's home Thursday night to serve an emergency custody order to take him for a mental evaluation.

A police statement says the man swung the sword at the officers and they shot him with a stun gun. He continued to swing the weapon and was shot again.

He then stopped breathing. The officers began CPR and called medics.

The officers are on administrative leave.

[GeneChing]

This sort of dangled anywhere else so I'm posting it here for contrast.

Yemeni daggers convey history, changing times
Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
Sunday, December 13, 2009
(12-13) 04:00 PST Sanaa, Yemen --

There's disagreement in the dagger market.

The old man with the gold-threaded turban and magnifying glass has set a price, but the younger man examines the curved blade, shakes his head and walks away into the shadows that play off awnings in the late morning light.

"He'll be back," says Shalan bin Yehaye Hbubari, a merchant of supreme patience, sliding the magnifying glass into his blazer pocket and brushing dust from his tunic. He offers a piece of candy.

Another man makes an inquiry and conversation turns to the black rhinoceros, whose horns for centuries were carved into dagger handles. Today, molded plastic and horns from lesser beasts are used.

"I refuse to sell those knockoffs. I get sad when I see them," says Hbubari, gripping the rhino-handled dagger, known as a jambia, stuffed into his belt. "This will endure forever. Those cheap plastic ones last only a few months, like a pair of shoes. This dagger has been in my family for 800 years. It's a symbol of honor, and besides, we Yemenis like our weapons."

Yemen began losing its stake in the trade in 1982, when international regulations were strengthened to protect the endangered animal from poachers. Since then, rhino horns occasionally appear on Sanaa's black market, but daggers these days are made mostly with other materials, which Yemenis refer to as "Chinese products," even though none of them comes from that far away.

"If something bad pops up in the market, we blame the Chinese," Hbubari says. "My business has dropped 1,000 percent over the years."

To purists such as Hbubari, the pervasiveness of knockoffs has damaged the majesty of the dagger and degraded tradition in a land where a man's identity and standing can be gauged by the shape of his sheath, the quality of his hilt. It also has inflated prices of rhino-handled knives, which can sell for tens of thousands of dollars; there are reports of thieves blowing spices into the eyes of old men and vanishing with daggers in the alleys around the 1,400-year-old Grand Mosque.

Slip through the old city gate, past spice, salt and linen sellers to the spot where steel glints in the sun and boys in workshops soften leather and hammer gold studs into sheath belts. Dagger handles catch the light; their colors, ranging from brackish green to lighter shades of mixed yellow and shallot onion, are examined by men who hold the jambia as if it were as delicate as a bird's wing.

They feel the weight, the balance of metal and horn. The bargaining begins, and men, sometimes with their sons trailing, traipse from merchant to merchant, offers and counteroffers echoing through the souk. Those who aren't buying ask for estimates of their jambia's worth, discussing its age, who wore it, whose father's father bought it and where, in the mountains or along the sea.

Sparks flying off his grinder, the scent of plastic hanging over him, Abdullah Kaidami is not so wedded to tradition.

"The rhino dagger is decreasing by the day," he says. "The prices rise and rise. It's good for our business, though. We make handles out of plastic and cow horns from India. Look at it, it looks just like a rhino horn, except if it falls and hits the ground, it'll break."

He smiles, gives a reassuring nod.

"We add chemicals to make the rhino color."

His daggers sell for $15; the rhino jambias are priced from $1,500 around the corner. Yemeni men like to say that President Ali Abdullah Saleh's dagger is worth $1 million, made before anyone thought of protecting the rhino or sprinkling the powder of its horns into aphrodisiacs.

"A lot of people have been deceived by jambia knockoffs," says Kaidami, a slender 17-year-old with a shopkeeper's quick eye who has been selling jambias since he was 10. "Many tribesmen still believe in the power of the rhino. They think if a snake bites you, you put the rhino dagger on the bite and you will be healed. The kings used to have rhino cups, and if anyone tried to poison them, the cup would absorb the poison and the king would be saved."

Kaidami begins smoothing the edges of another imitation handle.

"I wear my rhino jambia at weddings," he says, "but in everyday life, I wear this one made of cow horns."

A woman dips her hands into sacks of cashews and pistachios, a holy man hurries toward the mosque, and a few men try on sheath belts at Luft Abdullah Sanubani's shop on the corner, a crossroads of commerce, lore and gossip. Sanubani says his rhino dagger is 150 years old, worn proudly over his belly like a huge belt buckle shaped like a glittering crescent moon.

"I was 15 when my father gave it to me. It was then I became a man," he says. "I was married quickly after that, the same year, in fact. I had 14 children, but seven died. My wife is a strong, good woman."

He doesn't say how they died, and nobody presses him. He goes silent for a moment and then comes back to himself. His son, Abulmalik, sits nearby surrounded by shiny threads and studs, a small hammer in his hand, rows of sheath belts hanging from the ceiling.

"A good jambia handle has three colors for morning, afternoon and night," Sanubani says. "The morning color is yellowish. In the afternoon, it is green, and by night, it deepens close to black. That's because the rhino horn was created by God, not man. There's something alive inside the horn, inside the handle. It grows and changes colors."

He slides his dagger out of its sheath. It is worn, the way a river smooths a stone; the handle's gold and silver designs and speckles have faded. It might have been a weapon years ago, but these days, it is an ornament, a link to who he is, and sometimes, when he passes other men, he recognizes in their daggers a tribal flourish or the blade of an honored elder.

In the next alley over, the man who walked away from Hbubari returns like the old man knew he would. More bargaining; men gather to listen. A radio is turned down, and even passing women, loaded with bags in the way that men are not, take a quick glimpse.

"What can you afford?"

The man purses his lips, consults a whispering friend.

A brief silence, a bit more haggling. The price is agreed at $29,000. A certificate is drawn up, hands shaken. Hbubari is happy, another rhino dagger sold amid the knockoffs.