History Main / BareHandedBladeBlock

** Absolutely nothing, unless they were using leather ''swords.''

** ''Series/{{Engine Sentai Go-Onger}}'': One-time character Bukkorin, apparently a pampered debutante, proved herself to be worthy of her father's Yakuza status by doing this to stop him from splitting Ren's head.

* The BigBad does this against [[JasonStatham Farmer]] in ''InTheNameOfTheKing''. Farmer keeps pushing and the sword nicks his forehead before he shoves it away.

A common trope in Manga and Anime, it is known in Japan as ''Shinken Shirahadori'' [[hottip:*:catching a moving blade]], which is part of Martial Arts training. The RealLife technique, however, does not actually involve blocking the sword with a bare hand, but ''preventing the opponent from drawing his sword''. Well, nobody in Japan probably was [[WhatAnIdiot stupid enough to catch a sharp blade in his hands]], especially as swords in Japan were forged with the purpose of [[IaijutsuPractitioner making a clean strike to an enemy]].

* Some standard combat techniques in longsword fighting are performed while gripping your ''own'' sword's blade in the middle with your off hand, which lets you use your sword like a short spear for more precise thrusts or strike your opponent with the pommel or cross like a mace. It was the favored technique for sword fighting in full plate armor because cuts would be almost useless against an armored opponent, but you can thrust very accurately at the gaps in the plates or bludgeon your enemy on the head very hard from the half-sword. It was also used fairly often in unarmored sword fighting with bare hands. The trick is to pinch the flat of the blade between your fingers and palm and avoid drawing your hand along the edge. and that the middle of the blade is thicker and less sharp than its tip. Less accurate modern sword replicas are often razor-sharp from tip to cross guard, which makes bare-handed half-swording too dangerous.

* Some standard combat techniques in longsword fighting was to hold on to your ''own'' sword's blade so you could use the pommel and handguard as a mace, or the entire sword as a short staff for blocking. This would normally be done wearing leather or chainmail gloves, or even full plate gauntlets, rather than with bare hands.
** Some [[{{BFS}} Scottish claymores]] have about six inches or so of bottom portion of the blade wrapped in leather so that you hold the sword by the blade, effectively shortening its considerable length for fighting in close quarters.

* Goemon has done this against rival swordsmen at least once in the ''Anime/LupinIII'' movies.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'' does this with Berserker catching Saber´s **invisible sword** barehanded.

* Subverted in ''Manga/SetoNoHanayome''. Slow motion goes into effect as Saru gives a dramatic monologue while preparing to perform a blade block... only to fail to grab the sword in time after his speech, resulting in a [[BlackBlood colorful]] spray of blood.

* It's mentioned in ''Eldest'', the second book of ''Literature/InheritanceCycle,'' that one of the Varden's soldiers attempted this, but only got his fingers cut off for his trouble.

* While Kenshin performs this move against Aoshi in an episode of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' (and does, indeed, cut his hands), the person most known for this is Yahiko who is known as the "man who has caught 1,000 blades". He uses the blade block because his sword style, the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu is conceived for self defense. During ''Yahiko No Sakabatou'' Yahiko breaks a blade one handed.
** To be more specific about Yahiko's blade block, his is the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu's ultimate technique taught to him by Kaoru (thus making her a practitioner of this trope as well). Unlike the traditional blade block pictured above, the technique is done by crossing your arms and catching the blade with the back of your hands while still grasping your sword (which in this case is a bamboo sword or a wooden sword) so that you remain armed even after disarming the opponent.

** Even ''VRTroopers'' gets in on the action. What do you do if using trial-and-error with a dimension portal device [[spoiler: lands you ''in the BigBad's lair'' instead of letting you follow your lost teammate, and now you're face-to-face with TheDragon?]] Well, if you're Kaitlin, you catch his sword between your bare hands... ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome without bothering to morph first]].''

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQlB9XPb7sU Trunks' sword against Goku's finger]].

* Some standard combat techniques in longsword fighting was to hold on to your ''own'' sword's blade so you could use the pommel and handguard as a mace, or the entire sword as a short staff for blocking.

* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQlB9XPb7sU Trunks' sword against Goku's finger]].

** With only a few exceptions, this is interestingly one of the more realistic depictions of this trope. Characters who catch incoming blades are often seen getting cut by the blades they have caught. This is evidenced by the technique Kenshin uses against Aoshi, which looks the closest to the most common form of this trope, where he reveals that the object is actually to allow oneself to be cut but to clamp down on the blade to prevent it from slicing, which is where a slashing sword like a katana does its real damage. On the other hand you do have people like Shishio and Aoshi, who are badass enough to do it in a less bloody fashion.