[[quoteright:254:[[Manga/UruseiYatsura https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bare_handed_blade_block.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:254:[-Stopping a razor-sharp blade requires only your hands... at least as long as it's not IRL, anyways.-]]]

->''"Grabbing a sword by the blade isn't a valid move, is it?"''
-->-- '''Antimony''', ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt''

%% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entries on the quotes tab.

No sword on hand, and about to be slashed? No problem! Reach out and ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve... you can stop a blade barehanded, presumably by applying friction to the sides, since BlockingStopsAllDamage. At the extreme end are characters capable of stopping a blade between two ''fingers'' or -- if MadeOfIron -- simply bouncing the blade off their finger or arm, though this trope is typically based on technique rather than invulnerability (which would render ''any'' defense superfluous).

A common trope in Manga and Anime, it is known in Japan as ''Shinken Shirahadori,''[[note]]catching a moving blade[[/note]] which is part of Martial Arts training. The RealLife technique of this name, however, does not actually involve blocking the sword with a bare hand, but ''preventing the opponent from drawing his sword''. Well, it seems likely that nobody in Japan was stupid enough to catch a sharp blade being swung at full speed with his bare hands.

As the Series/MythBusters [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters demonstrate]], the "clap between your hands" trick of stopping a full-speed sword cut won't work: The reflexes and speed needed to catch the flats of a blade coming at about 40 mph/65 kph[[note]]ballpark figure for a European longsword quoted by ''WebVideo/{{Skallagrim}}''[[/note]] between two hands ''without'' touching the edge are beyond most people.[[note]]This is more difficult than, say, catching a baseball, where you don't fail by moving "too early" because it won't maim you if you just stick your palm in its path to intercept it.[[/note]] This means that the blade will probably either avoid your block completely if you clap a fraction of a second too late, or else slice your palms and/or fingers off when you catch it imperfectly and probably continue cutting to your head without losing momentum. Furthermore, if the attacker twists the sword to present the edge diagonally instead of vertically, the defender will get cut through one hand or the other regardless of timing. However, a trained martial artist using hand protection like the metal grips used to help climb walls could pull off this technique while (depending on size) presenting the illusion of doing it barehanded, which is likely where the myth came from in the first place (see the entry on ninjas in the RealLife section below).

In a case of RealityIsUnrealistic, if you are a skilled fencer there ''are'' actually ways to grab an opponent's blade with your bare hands, immobilizing their weapon or wrenching it out of their grasp with little or no harm to yourself if you succeed. The key is that you are ''not'' supposed to catch the strike itself, which is when the blade is moving at its highest speed. Instead--if you have nothing but bare hands--you need to either rush in and seize his arms while he's in the middle of drawing back to strike, or dodge his strike in such a way that you're in a position to grab his sword when it's come to a stop at the end of the swing. If you have an object to block with such as a lantern or a rolled-up cloak, you can stifle the movement of his sword before grabbing his arrested blade with your free hand. The appropriate grip will try to put most of the pressure on the flats of the blade instead of the edge(s), and hold it firmly enough to prevent the edge from sliding in one's grasp, which is how one tends to get cut. That's the theory, at least. Don't try this with sharp blades unless you're some kind of expert.

If done almost right, and the user retains their hand, don't be surprised by a BloodyHandprint to emphasize the injury. Characters may need to enter a MeditationPowerup to be able to catch the blade. An offensive counterpart would be RazorSharpHand.

BulletCatch, ArrowCatch and PunchCatch are counterparts for JustForFun/{{gun|Counterpart}}, (cross-)bow and GoodOldFisticuffs respectively, as this trope is roughly "Sword Catch". Also compare PointThatSomewhereElse and FingerInABarrel.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Animation]]
* ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': A variant. Mr. Gobi describes Sumorai, the robot who robbed his store, by saying that "he was huge, tall, and carried a really long sword". Upon that last phrase, he swings down a broom towards Amato, who catches it between his hands, and an unsheathing sound can be heard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* [[HotAsHell Hild, the demon queen]] from ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' does this a couple times, once in the ''Fighting Wings'' arc/OVA and again in chapter 248, both times against [[{{Valkyries}} Lind]].
* Done on occasion by Courier in ''Anime/AkudamaDrive''. More justified than most as he's doing it with a [[ArtificialLimbs prosthetic hand]] which is one of the few things that ''isn't'' instantly cut through by the electro-''jutte'' used by the Executioners.
* IntrepidReporter Rocky from ''Manga/Area88'' pulls one off in a duel with the chief of the BedouinRescueService that saved him after his helicopter was shot down. The chief thought Rocky might have been a spy for the anti-government forces that had attacked his tribe earlier. Unlike most examples, Rocky winds up cutting his hands badly.
* ''Manga/ArmedGirlsMachiavellism'' presents a more realistic example than usual: Nomura wears mail gloves to protect his hand and blocks the blade attacks with his ''fist'', and it's noted the sword users he fights use ''dulled'' swords. He then tried it with Mary's rapier, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome only to be reminded the hard way that mail does little to block thrusting attacks from a thin sword]].
* DoubleSubversion in the first episode of ''Literature/{{Baccano}}''. At first the guy [[DecoyProtagonist Carol pins as]] TheHero (Firo) gets his fingers sliced clean off trying one of these on a mugger with a knife... and then it becomes immediately clear that the reason Firo was willing to do something so apparently dumb is because [[HealingFactor he knows those fingers are coming right back in a second]], freaking the mugger out enough to make way for an easy shot at his face while delivering a BadassBoast.
* ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'' features an unconventional example when Akeginu tries to kill Josuke at the Iga clan's compound. Akeginu uses her ability to [[BloodyMurder manipulate her own blood]] to conceal herself in mist, getting the drop on Josuke and striking his head with her sword. Her satisfaction at apparently killing him turns to consternation when it becomes clear that Josuke--who is a combination of {{Acrofatic}}, RubberMan, and {{Kevlard}}--has safely caught the blade between two rolls of fat on his cheek!
* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'':
** Alita does this in the OVA 2 and manga while fighting with a dual-sword-wielding bounty hunter; being an advanced cyborg, she then adds some AppliedPhlebotinum to her Bare-Handed Blade Block and calls down a lightning bolt to fry the baddie.
** A gag panel between two chapters of ''Battle Angel Alita: Last Order'' volume 11 shows Sechs attempting a Bare-Handed Blade Block -- but being too slow. The sword breaks on his cyborg skull.
* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'':
** Guts has done this more than once. One time during a sword fight with [[spoiler:Casca]] he stops a thrust by grabbing the point, although he still gets wounded and his hand bleeds severely. After he loses his left hand, he frequently uses his metal prosthetic to swat away sword blows. Eventually he manages to pull this trick on Serpico using his good hand without even taking noticeable damage.
** Puck the elf does this is in the Count's run when he tries to prevent [[spoiler:Theresia from committing suicide by slitting her wrist]], even though the wielder is a human and the knife is as big as he is. In this case it's more of a symbolic gesture of putting his life on the line rather than stopping the knife by force, since he was counting on them to hesitate to kill him.
** Puck tries to catch the Apostle Rosine's WhipSword-like proboscis between his palms when she lashes out to kill him in Volume 15, but this ineffective move proves moot because her strike misses him altogether and slices open the cocoon behind him instead.
* ''Manga/BlackButler'':
** Sebastian manages to do this against a shinigami wielding a chainsaw.
** The same chainsaw is then thrown incredibly hard by Sebastian at the Shinigami's boss, and is casually caught in between two fingers.
** Ciel does this during a sword fight with Alois.
* Lucifero, the King of Devils from ''Manga/BlackClover'' displays how much of a threat he is by blocking Asta's Devil Union empowered Demon-Slayer with a single hand. And yet, he's upset to see it manages to make him lose a single drop of blood.
* Happens a lot in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''.
** During their climactic fight where Ichigo revealed his Bankai for the first time, Byakuya caught Ichigo's sword. His hand got really bloody, but he at least saved himself from getting impaled.
** Aizen demonstrated just how much of a badass he was when he blocked Ichigo's sword's powered-up form ''with a single finger'', also cutting his ThemeMusicPowerUp off in the process.
** Ulquiorra has a habit of blocking blades (and [[KiManipulation energy beams]], and people drawing swords) with just one hand, and [[RuleOfCool looking really cool]] while doing so. It reaches the point that that the protagonist's [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours Kung Fu is shown to have become stronger]] when Ulquiorra can't even block the attack with ''both'' hands.
** In the case of Ulquiorra, he and all other Arrancar are specifically stated to have "Iron Skin" as one of their abilities and Soul Reapers can achieve a similar effect with [[BattleAura reiatsu.]] Consequently, they tend to do a ''lot'' of catching swords with their bare hands, since their bare hands are basically armor.
** A variant where Nelliel knocks Nnoitra's blade away with her bare foot.
** In their final battle, Ichigo shows that the tables have turned, by blocking Aizen's sword with his bare hand, shutting down ''his'' theme music as well.
** A less dramatic example occurs after the time skip. A thug has just pulled a knife on Ichigo, and Ichigo manages to catch the blade between his fingers. While Ichigo is depowered at the time and thus physically an ordinary human teenager, his combat experience and TrainingFromHell have still given him superior reflexes that make an ordinary thug like that seem as if he's moving in slow motion.
* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** Since Touma has [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]], he can do this as long as he's facing a supernatural weapon. If it is a normal weapon, he has to dodge it. When Accelerator tries to strike him down with 100 razor sharp wings at once, he simply catches one and twists and pulls it, throwing Accelerator off balance and making the other wings miss. He even managed to catch Fiamma of the Right's [[{{BFS}} 40km long]] FlamingSword!
** Subverted when Saiji attempts this with Itsuwa during a sparring session. Unfortunately for him, Itsuwa retried it several times to avoid embarrassing him and when it was suggested that the bamboo blade may be throwing their timing off, switched to a metal imitation blade, then finally a real sword. Whether or not Saiji succeeded with the last one isn't yet known.
* ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'': In the last arc of the series, Marcus Damon stopped Craniamon from stabbing [=ShineGreymon=] by punching Craniamon's weapon. Bear in mind that both Digimon are the size of office buildings and that Craniamon's sword is many times larger than Marcus's entire body. Marcus's fist stops the blade cold.
* ''Manga/DogSoldier'': Hiba does this once to stop a knife.
* ''Manga/DragonBall'' / ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** Man-Wolf pulls a knife on Jackie Chun, but Jackie easily catches it with his thumb and forefinger and then sends Man-Wolf flying.
** Swords tend to be a bit useless, as almost everyone is able to block them: Tien, Goku (with a ''finger''), 18, Trunks (with his own sword wielded by King Cold), and Gohan have pulled it off on some occasion. Justified by the fact that they are all superhumanly powerful.
--->'''Bulma''': I'm glad that kid (Trunks) put his sword away.\\
'''Krillin''': I'm glad Goku put his finger away.
** And again in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] when Goku, in Super Saiyan 3 form (which is no longer his most powerful transformation), catches Super Saiyan 2 Future Trunks' most powerful sword attack between his fingers with zero effort.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', Goku catches both of Ledgic's swords and breaks them, only to immediately get kicked in the gut.
* ''Manga/DropkickOnMyDevil'': Parodied like many other things when Jashin-chan catches a spiked club, not realizing the spikes will mess up her hands.
* ''Literature/FateZero'' does this with Berserker catching [[ActionGirl Saber´s]] ''invisible sword'' barehanded. [[spoiler:It's a hint to his identity as [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Lancelot]], as it shows that he knows the exact shape and length of the blade despite it being invisible.]]
** The original ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' had Caster's Master [[spoiler: [[BadassTeacher Kuzuki Souchirou]]]] employ a ''slightly'' more realistic variation, again to Saber's invisible sword. He caught the blade between his elbow and knee (it was a horizontal slash). Even more impressive considering [[BadassNormal he was an ordinary human]], just with insane martial arts skills. Of course, he is a master of ConfusionFu and was magically augmented by Caster for his fights.
** ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'' has an original scene where Berserker catches Saber's invisible sword.
** Similarly, in ''Anime/FateStayNightHeavensFeel'', Lancer blocks [[spoiler:one of True]] Assassin's blade by catching the flat ends between his elbow and knee.
* A random {{Mook|s}} tries this on Kenshiro in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' after Kenshiro relieves him of his sword. Unusually for a setting where ludicrous martial arts are the norm, Kenshiro quickly demonstrates why this is a bad idea for very realistic reasons--the blade catch does nothing to stop the blade from moving ''parallel'' to one's palms. As one might expect, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztSroX0Oqn4 this does not end well for the mook in question]].
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** A favored tactic of Greed [[spoiler:(both versions)]], thanks to his ability to turn his skin into diamond-hard InstantArmor.
** In the first volume of the manga, Edward does a blade block with his "arm". Justified in that it's made of automail.
** After getting new automail made from carbon-fiber, Ed takes a cue from Greed and transmutes the arm to diamond in order to up its blade-blocking abilities. It even works against Pride's shadow blades (which have been shown effortlessly piercing steel).
* [[SuperStrength Nuriko]] pulls this trope off in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''. Heck, ''he even snaps the blade in half''.
* An episode of ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' has Cure White appear to do this to a Zakenna's titanic sword... But there was actually a tree stopping its downward descent.
* Not only does Ryoma Nagare manage to pull this off in ''Manga/GetterRobo'' (though with some injury to his hands), he also manages to redirect the blade into another man's skull and then sever another man's arm clean off by [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throwing it]]. The fight is replicated in the ''New Manga/GetterRobo" OVA.
* ''Manga/GoodLuckGirl'': A variation with Ranmaru Rindou, who can catch knife attacks with her bare feet.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' had the Strike Freedom catch the Destiny Gundam's anti-ship sword in this fashion. It made a little more sense than most examples because 1) the Freedom used its beam shields to slow the impact, and 2) it caught the solid part of the sword rather than the energy blade. However, FridgeLogic kicks in when one remembers that this is an '''anti-ship''' sword, packing extra weight to help it cut through the hulls of enemy battleships. Of course, Photoshopped images exist that show a more realistic outcome, with Freedom's hands clapped around air and Destiny's sword half-buried in its head.
*** It ''shouldn't'' have worked... had Kira[[note]]pilot of the Strike Freedom[[/note]] tried it on anyone else. Also, it's very probable that he would've failed to stop the sword had Shinn decided to exert more pressure and press through, but Kira countered with a point-blank shot from the waist railguns quickly enough before Shinn could shake off his shock from the initial block and press the attack.
*** The incident apparently made an impression on Shinn, as he would try to use the same trick in the finale against [[spoiler: Athrun and the Infinite Justice]]. However, since his opponent ''was'' using Energy blades, the ''Destiny'' is cut to ribbons.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': Used ''beautifully'' when "Mr. Bushido", the human incarnation of EverythingsBetterWithSamurai, shows up in season two using every {{samurai}} trope in the book. Setsuna responds by executing a perfect Barehanded Blade Block, and then casually snapping Mr. Bushido's katana in half with a flick of his wrists.
** ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'': The Crossbone X-3 can do this to ''beam sabers'' because it has I-field generators in its hands. Though those I-fields cannot be turned on all the time due to the heavy power drain they cause.
** ''Anime/SDGundamForce'': Captain Gundam manages to parry Commander Sazabi's beam sabers with his (albeit powered-up) bare hands.
*** Comander Sazabi lampshades this, and Captain apologizes as he squeezes the saber blades hard enough to explode the handles with the feedback.
* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. In her climactic fight with Pinocchio, Triela catches the knife-wielding assassin off-guard by breaking his knife with her bare hands, then stabbing him in the arm with his own blade.
* The title character of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' does this almost offhandedly with two fingers during his "duel" with Wataru and tosses the sword aside. [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower He's just that good]]. In a manga chapter, Hayate also manages to grasp a sword wielded by Athena with one hand, although he bleeds from it.
** When he is fighting with Hinagiku, he does manage to catch her blade barehanded. It isn't a bladed sword, but it still cuts extremely well.
* Ichika pulls this off against Houki's wooden katana in ''Literature/InfiniteStratos''. It's played more for laughs, than for awesome.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'':
** In the third [[TheMovie movie]], ''[[Anime/InuyashaTheMovieSwordsOfAnHonorableRuler Swords of an Honorable Ruler]]'', the title character's AloofBigBrother Sesshoumaru does the trope one better by ''punching'' his opponent's blade out of his way.
** During the series, Inuyasha's SuperpoweredEvilSide does the same thing to Sesshoumaru's sword. But due to the special properties of the sword, not only his fist but his entire forearm is sliced up in the process.
* In ''Literature/IsThisAZombie'', Ayumu catches Kyoko's katana with one hand, and then breaks it.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'' has a variation: Jonathan's first encounter with Speedwagon entailed the street thug attempting to mug him with a bladed bowler hat. Jonathan manages to block it with just his forearms, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome enduring a nasty cut in the process]], though it didn't stop him from laying Speedwagon out in one kick.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': In episode 5 of the Egypt Arc, Jotaro's Stand, Star Platinum, not only catches the evil Anubis Sword with his bare hands by the blade but he snaps it in half with ease. It doesn't go nearly as well the second time however as Anubis memorizes the move and his current wielder (a brainwashed Polnareff) swings it faster than Star Platinum can react, earning Jotaro a blade in the gut...which he smashes to pieces anyway.
* A signature move of ''Anime/JubeiChan'', it's a very relevant plot point in the second to last episode of the second season. This is taken to an extreme. It's not only bare-handed, the blade is stopped with ''bare-fingers'' (thumb and index finger) with only one hand. With absolutely no effort regardless of how much force was being put into the slash. It's also relevant earlier in the second season when Jiyu performs this in her civilian form, showing that her Ninja Girl skills are not limited to when she uses the [[TransformationTrinket Lovely Eyepatch]]. She does this in the first season as well. When Shirou and Hajime are fighting she stops them by [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome calmly stepping in between them and stopping]] ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome both]]'' [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome swords barehanded.]]
* Parodied like so many other things in ''Manga/{{Keijo}}'' When IaijutsuPractitioner Saya attacks Kaya ''with her breasts'', Kaya counters with a [[{{Pun}} Bare Breasted Boob Block]].
* in ''Manga/KotaroMakaritoru'', Kotaro does this when stopping Tenkoji's attack regularly, as [[KendoTeamCaptain Tenkoji]] carries a sharp (though sheathed when he's not attacking) katana almost everywhere he goes. He doesn't necessarily use his hands, either -- at least once he does it with his ''toes''.
* A subversion happens in ''Anime/KotetsuJeeg''. The titular HumongousMecha blocks a downward, vertical swing... by crossing its forearms above his head. Of course, given that it is a robot, hence [[MadeOfIron it is not made of flesh]], it is not worried about the weapon slicing it, and the blade shatters upon impact.
* Madoka from ''Anime/LagrangeTheFlowerOfRinne'' tries to block Kirius' blade ''twice'' and fails both times, and when a third attempt was made, Lan stepped in and did it successfully.
* ''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub'':
** Ogami Itto does this. A {{ninja}} sent against him does a double subversion -- he deliberately aims the sword into ''his own skull'', so that his partner would have a chance to kill Ogami while the sword is stuck.
** [[spoiler:The protagonist and the villain. Having killed '''every single ninja in Japan''', hero Itto Ogami faces down his enemy Retsudo Yagyu, armed with only a broken sword against Retsudo's spear ''and'' sword. Ogami blocks the spear and breaks it in half, then blocks Retsudo's sword and disarms him, taking a mortal wound in the process. Retsudo then blocks ''Ogami's'' final strike, tells him that the heavens desire Ogami's death more than his own, and gently lets go of the blade. Ogami dies on his feet, sword in hand.]]
** Also, Itto usually doesn't just catch the blade. He also tends to flip up and yank away the blade (or just snap it) and throw it into whoever struck at him. [[spoiler:In the last fight, this doesn't work since Yagyu is good enough to flip with him and thus not lose the blade.]] Which is especially impressive when you consider that Retsudo is [[CoolOldGuy at least thirty years older]] than Itto.
* In ''Manga/LoveHina'', Keitarō manages to do this against Motoko, which has her worrying that her abilities are slipping. She starts to completely lose it, though, when Tama-chan (the turtle) manages the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihDh85DWbY same feat.]]
* Goemon has done this against rival swordsmen at least once in the ''Anime/LupinIII'' movies.
* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'':
** Nanoha pulls this off during the White Devil training incident, stopping a powered punch with one hand and a magical blade with the other. She grips the blade, which draws blood, and uses magic to halt its wielder's momentum. Considering her talents, she had plenty of alternatives, but would they have [[OhCrap freaked out]] her opponents as much?
** Jail Scaglietti also does this to Fate during an incredibly impressive scene-especially considering the sheer size of Bardiche's energy blade and the way Scaglietti is ''driven partially into the floor, which shatters from the force'', whilst still standing upright. His claw-hand may have helped with this. The block didn't help in the long run though, which just goes to show ou Can't Fight Fate.
* Ginji does this to Pixy Misa in ''[[Anime/PrettySammy Magical Project S]]''. It's almost plausible, considering that Misa is quite physically weak.
* ''Mazinger'':
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Kouji was forced to pull this maneouver sometimes. A specially awesome example happened in episode 52: he is fighting a [[{{Robeast}} Mechanical Beast]] [[BladeBelowTheShoulder armed with scythes]] can easily slice and dice his HumongousMecha. During the fight the Beast tries to cleave Mazinger in half... and Mazinger blocks the scythe with both hands and splits it. And then he grans his enemy's broken weapon, slice its remainder scythe off, and stab the {{Robeast}} with its own weapon! JustifiedTrope since Kouji does this using his HumongousMecha, so he does not need get worried about losing a chunk of his hands.
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': Tetsuya introduced the HeroesPreferSwords in {{Super Robot|Genre}} anime. Sometimes he did this as dueling with War Beast, but during its duel with Ankoku Daishogun he used a very unorthodox version: he stopped a sword blow with Great Mazinger's forearm.
** ''Manga/NewMazinger'': In one of the first scenes, a mecha enemy attacks Mazinger with a laser blade. Mazinger easily grabs the mecha's wrist and then he slices it in two with a single stroke.
** ''Manga/MazingerAngels'': Sayaka and her team pulled the movement several times, usually inside of their {{FemBot}}s.
** ''Anime/ShinMazinger'': In one scene Aphrodite grabs a Beast's weapon and breaks it in half.
* Mega Man.EXE does this twice to [=ProtoMan.EXE=] in the fourth volume of ''Manga/MegaManNTWarrior2001''.
* Michiko from ''Anime/MichikoAndHatchin'' does this in one episode.
* The title character of ''Manga/MidoriDays'' manages to pull this off, of all people. To be fair, it is a fake sword, but she's the size of your hand using her own tiny hands. And she's a 16-year-old girl. A bystander thought the main character had caught it with just two fingers.
* ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'':
** Lunar's Dad catches Kai's katana between his fingers and then snaps the tip of the blade.
** Subverted when 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.
* [[spoiler:Miyu]] from ''Anime/MyHime'' blocks a BrainwashedAndCrazy Mikoto's sword just as she's [[BackFromTheDead rising out of her coffin]]. In a piece of official artwork, Haruka blocks Miyu's sword arm during a trip to the beach. The ''Manga/MyOtome'' version of Haruka tries this with Shizuru's staff while they're sparring at the academy, but only ends up getting a CranialEruption and causing Shizuru's staff to [[MadeOfIron bend on impact]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Killer Bee does this with ''[[{{BFS}} the Decapitating Carving Knife]]'' (granted, the size might have made it easier to grasp, as it would have more room to grasp and move slower).
** A little earlier, Tobi pulled a somewhat different version of this by blocking it with just his forearm. It is implied he used a jutsu to make his arm hard, so justified.
** Naruto himself pulls this against Karui, which impresses her a little, although she had flipped the blade around anyway because she was trying to get information from him. And even earlier he breaks one of Pain's blades with his hands, though admittedly he was in his SuperMode at the time.
** This trope is first used in the series by Kakashi, who blocks a giant shuriken with one hand. Granted, he wears hand-guards, but still... ow. Later in the same arc he goes and does it again. This time he skewers his hand on a kunai which was [[EyeScream aimed at his Sharingan]].
** Naruto tries this in a fight against Kabuto, who is wielding a Kunai. His [[SarcasmMode brilliant tactic]] is intercepting Kabuto's fist, earning the blade cutting the space between his middle and ring finger. Good thing he can heal. In the manga he doesn't have those plates on his hands and it cuts to the bone. His plan was actually to let Kabuto stab his hand in order to grab him long enough for him to use his Rasengan on him. It works, and he more or less beats Kabuto with it.
** In the Pain attack arc, Kakashi grabs Pain's chakra blade in mid-swing in order to protect Iruka.
** Jiraiya blocks Kisame's sword, Samehada, with the ''palm'' of his hand when Kisame tries to cut off Naruto's legs.
** Hashirama Senju's giant Wood Golem statue does this to Madara's Susano'o blade twice.
* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''. Lord Yupa does this to prevent a slaughter aboard a ship, taking a sword point in the forearm, through his armor. Despite Yupa's calm, unflinching demeanor, Nausicaä is the only one who notices the blood dripping from the hilt, and the shudder of pain in Yupa's body, showing the extent Yupa will go to to keep the peace. In the film, he does this to block [[BewareTheNiceOnes Nausicaä's sword thrust]] when she's going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge [[spoiler:against the Torumekian soldiers who invaded her home and murdered her father]]. The visual imagery and basic EstablishingCharacterMoment are still the same, just in a different context, since it's this action and the sight of the blood that calms Nausicaä down.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** Negi manages to stop a dagger stab at the very last moment using two fingers immediately after he learned [[BlackMagic Magia Erebea]].
** Earlier, Jack Rakan does the same thing with a tendril of shadow magic.
** And now Negi has done a Barehanded Blade Break!
** In one of the OVA's, Fate Averruncus nonchalantly swats one of Setsuna's daggers with his hand, shattering it. {{Justified|Trope}} in that he's a freakishly powerful master of earth elemental magic.
* ''Manga/NijigaharaHolograph'' has a variant which is {{subverted|Trope}}. Amahiko tries to hit Takahama with a broom in a sword-like overhead chop but Narumi gets in front of Takahama and tries to catch the broom in this way. However, she either misses or it goes through her hands and hits her hard enough to break the handle and split her forehead open.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** In a filler episode, Zoro tries to do this, but never actually manages it due to the interference of his perennial rival, Sanji.
** Hachi tried to do this in his duel with Zoro, but utterly failed despite using all [[MultiArmedAndDangerous six of his hands]].
** Luffy also does something similar ''one-handed'' in his match against Arlong, but it was more with his [[SuperStrength monstrous strength]] than any learned skill.
** "Fire Fist" Ace grabs a Baroque Works member's sword during his visit to Alabasta.
** Shu grabs Zoro’s [[CoolSword Yubashiri]] when it’s swung and using his rust powers completely [[WreckedWeapon wrecks it]]. Zoro has a OhCrap moment.
** Kuma manages to block Zoro's slash and knock him back. It may help that he has paw pads that NoSell everything and also the fact that [[spoiler:he's a cyborg]].
** Trebol tried to do this with ''his snot''.
** In chapter 789: [[spoiler:just as a [[PeoplePuppets string-controlled Rebecca]] was about to cut Viola down, [[BigDamnHeroes Luffy stepped in]] and blocked the sword with his ''head'' (Though it was covered in Haki, of course), breaking it]].
** Big Mom doesn’t even need Haki as she snaps a giant’s broadsword [[NighInvulnerability with her wrist]]... as a little girl.
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'':
** Saitama once caught a kunai thrown by [[SuperSpeed "Speed-O'-Sound" Sonic]] between his fingers. In another instance, Sonic tried a sword slash and Saitama caught (and broke) it with his ''[[NowThatsUsingYourTeeth teeth]]''.
** The Dragon-level monster [[AnthropomorphicTransformation Nyaan]] performs an {{exaggerated|Trope}} version of this. When a hero tries to [[GoForTheEye stab him in the eye with a knife]], he catches and shatters the blade with his ''eyelids''.
* The implausibility is inverted in an episode of ''Manga/OutlawStar'' where Gene fights Suzuka. Gene isn't even using his bare hands but rather a bullet-deflecting force-field ''focused to a very small space'' while Suzuka is using a [[WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter bokuto]] and he ''still'' can't hold her off.
* ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'': In episode 3, the titular mecha used both forearms to block an axe blow. Galient blocked the weapon, but the blow was powerful enough to knock it down.
* ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'': The first time that Migi, the parasite that's replaced Shinichi's right hand, speaks to him, Shinichi tries to stab the thing with a kitchen knife. Migi catches the point by clapping it between two of his miniature hands, and uses a third appendage to slice the blade in half.
* ''Manga/PeterGrillAndThePhilosophersTime'': Peter saves a female goblin from being beheaded by catching the executioner's blade with his finger.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
** Steel Wing is the mons's counterpart to this. And in one famous battle, Ash's Charizard, while he's already battered and exhausted, managed to block ''two'' Steel Wings. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome It helped him win.]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Against a LEGENDARY Pokemon.]]
** Norman's Slaking does this against Ash's Grovyle's Leaf Blade.
** As does Clemont's Bunnelby to Ash's Pikachu's Iron Tail, [[OutGambitted though they didn't count on Pikachu doing this so he could fire Electro Ball point-blank…]]
* In ''Rain'', [[WorldsStrongestMan Rain]] does this in chapter 10. Made even more impressive because he does this to a demonic blade wielded by a powerful demon king. After suffering a near mortal wound earlier in the fight.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** Ranma and Akane regularly pull this off against Kunō. On the one hand, it's easier to catch his sword since it's a wooden bokken; on the other, he regularly projects a RazorWind with it.
** Ranma also uses this technique against Mousse, who favors bladed and piercing weapons in his vast arsenal.
** Later on, Ranma uses this technique with the soles of his ''feet'', facing ''away'' from the attacker, to stop his mother's katana. She doesn't know it is him at the time, but she is very impressed.
* ''Manga/RaveMaster'':
** Haru's sword is in a [[MorphWeapon form]] that uses magic to create explosions while he's attacking Sieg. Sieg is an expert sorcerer who just happens to cast spells by making various gestures with his index and middle finger. He casts a spell to stop the sword at his fingertips. It's averted not to long after when Haru switches his sword to a form without magic and Sieg ends up getting hurt.
** Demon Lord Berial catches Haru's sword in his teeth in their first battle. Later in the series, Haru shows just how much stronger he has become since then [[spoiler:when he kills Berial with one swing of his sword without missing a beat]].
* Used once in ''Manga/RealBoutHighSchool'', though there it was with Ryoko's wooden sword, making it much more plausible.
* ''Anime/ReCreators'' takes this [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] when Altair stops the Vogelchevalier's sword by catching the blade between her left hand's ''index and middle fingers.'' The Vogelchevalier is a HumongousMecha whose sword is equally scaled up to size. And if that wasn't enough, she then [[BeyondTheImpossible proceeds to throw the mech to the ground using those same two fingers holding the sword.]]
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'':
** While Kenshin performs this move against Aoshi (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 non-lethal self-defense. During ''Yahiko No Sakabatou'' Yahiko breaks a blade one handed, which 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 so that you remain armed even after disarming the opponent.
** Aoshi also breaks a blade with one hand at the end of the manga's Jinchu Arc. Into multiple pieces.
** Make sure you never ever use your sword techniques on Shishio more than once. Once Shishio knows how an attack works it's almost always guaranteed to be blade blocked with just three fingers.
** 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, and notes that the ''entire'' katana isn't as sharp as the cutting-point half-way up. On the other hand you do have people like Shishio and Aoshi, who are badass enough to do it in a less bloody fashion.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': Sailor Uranus tries to attack Galaxia with her sword. Galaxia, without even getting up from her throne, catches it with one hand, effortlessly holds it in place as Uranus struggles to free it, then hurls the sword and her away.
* In ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', Shiryu manages to do that to Shura's attack, which was done with the arm but it was treated as a Sword attack by them. He then proceeds to explain the technique.
* Kanbei does this to the robotic Kikuchiyo in ''Anime/SamuraiSeven''.
* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'' manga: The Russian catches Mugen's sword. In his teeth.
* ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'' showcases the entire range of sword catches. But the real kicker (pun intended) is when Yuan of the Taishiro catches Hotaru's sword between his toes!
* Shana pulled this one off in the ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' {{backstory}} episode when she awakens to her abilities.
* ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'' has a more realistic take on this when Mitsuhide, who is unarmored at the time, traps a blade between his arm and side to disarm an opponent trying to assassinate Zen. It works to disarm the would be assassin but Mitsuhide doesn't get away unscathed and ends up requiring stitches.
* In a later episode of ''Manga/{{Sola}}'', Matsuri attempts this when fighting Takeshi. {{Justified|Trope}} in that [[spoiler:she's immortal and has the power to instantly decay any object she touches (she's quickly rusted metal scaffolding and induced mild necrosis in Takeshi's arm earlier)]]. It still draws blood since [[spoiler:Takeshi's sword turns out to be immune to Yaka powers]].
* In one episode of ''Anime/SonicX'', Emerl does this this against Mr. Tanaka in a tournament. A somewhat odd example because Emerl, being a robot, has metal hands, and Mr. Tanaka is using a wooden bokken.
* ''Manga/SoulEater'':
** Professor Stein is able to do this and does so quite often. In fact, there are loads of examples throughout the series.
** And one of the best of these has to be Maka stopping Ragnarok's blade on her arm after using the [[SuperpoweredEvilSide black blood]].
** Crona does the [[CallBack same thing]] [[EstablishingCharacterMoment in their first appearance]], quickly letting the viewers know that they really are [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds bad news]].
* ''Manga/SpaceAdventureCobra'':
** An interesting case in one episode and manga chapter. The title character and his female cyborg sidekick are fighting apparently [[AnimatedArmor invincible suits of armor]], and Cobra does a Bare-Handed Blade Block on one sword (not that hard for him considering his superhuman reflexes). He subsequently breaks the sword and the armor crumbles, empty. [[spoiler:He discovers later that they are fighting a race of living, telekinetic swords -- or depending on the dub, ([[NotUsingTheZWord unnamed]]) liches using the swords as phylactery.]]
** It is shown later in a flashback that Cobra once [[spoiler:got his left arm cut off by an axe]]. Right after, he blocks it with his right hand's fingers.
* In ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'', Miu tries to hit Nobue with a katana. Nobue catches the blade with her hands twice. Good thing the katana was plastic.
* The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' AdaptationExpansion ''The Inspector'' includes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FfN65U1OIM an iconic scene]] where Sanger Zonvolt acquires his Dygenguar {{Super Robot|Genre}}. Vigagi has the inactive Dygenguar on the ropes until its OS is rebooted... at which point it responds with lightning speed and massive strength, allowing Sanger to stop the Galgau's multi-ton armblade bare-handed.
* ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger'' does this twice, by the same guy. Luo Lang, big blond BloodKnight that he is. When he does it in the final fight you're pretty much expecting it because he already did it once. Which is the REALLY unlikely one, since he performed the Blade Block ''IN THE RAIN'' and metal gets really, really slippery when wet.
* ''Literature/TheTestamentOfSisterNewDevil'': Chisato Hasegawa demonstrates her power by catching Basara's {{BFS}} with one hand and crushing it.
* Referenced in ''Manga/TigerMask'' when Star Apollon blocks a karate chops from Tiger Mask this way and explains he got the idea from this trope.
* Ryuuji pulls this off against Taiga in the first episode of ''Literature/{{Toradora}}''. Played realistically since it's a wooden sword, and Ryuuji is still hurt by the maneuver.
* Inverted in ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'', where Endorsi stops Serena's second BitchSlap with the broadside of the Ignition Weapon [[CoolSword Narumada]].
* Megatron does this to Vector Prime in the first episode of ''Anime/TransformersCybertron''. It helps the fact that he's made of metal.
* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'':
** Ataru regularly foils [[KidSamurai would-be samurai]] Shutaro Mendō with this maneuver (pictured above). For extra effect, he once pulls it off with his stockinged feet (which also has the expected effect on Mendō).
** And in another story he pulls it off against a swordfish. Then he gloats he has honed his technique thanks to his frequent quarrels with Mendō.
* In the original novel/anime of ''Literature/VampireHunterD'', Count Lee is able to block a sword strike with his two bare hands. Justified because he's a vampire with superhuman speed and strength, and that he was taught the technique by ''Dracula.''
* ''Anime/VividredOperation'': In the beginning of episode 3, Akane catches Wakaba's [[WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter bokken]] with her hands after the latter attacks her.
* An entire episode of ''Anime/VoltesV'' was devoted to Kenichi learning this when the eponymous {{Super Robot|Genre}} was fighting against an enlarged swordsman. He doesn't take very well to the training for the technique, so he decides to modify the process by doing a ''bullet'' catch using a pair of rocks. Earlier in the episode, Daijirou performs this against Megumi's blade after she had disarmed him of his staff earlier in a sparring session.
* ''Manga/{{Wagnaria}}'' has a particularly egregious example - the store's general manager manages to pull this off with no wounds, despite the fact that [[{{Yandere}} Yachiyo]] had just finished sharpening her katanna (though she ''might'' not have gotten around to sharpening the part he grabbed).
* Tate from ''Manga/YamiNoAegis'' (also in ''Manga/UntilDeathDoUsPart''), whenever he fights an enemy who uses a blade. Helps that he has a metal arm also capable of [[BulletCatch deflecting bullets]].
* Whisper from ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' attempts this and gets split in half. He's a ghost {{yo|ukai}}kai so he ends up unscathed.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhCapsuleMonsters'': La Jinn blocks Celtic Guardian's attacks this way.
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':
** Just before the Dark Tournament begins, Hiei decides to see how far Yusuke has come by attacking with his sword. Yusuke effortlessly dodges a barrage of lightning-fast slashes before catching it between his thumb and forefinger.
** During the Dark Tournament, the team realizes they are still really outclassed by Toguro after Toguro uses only 45% of his strength to catch a battleaxe wielded by a powerful demon -- which harmlessly bounces off his skin before he grabs it one-handed.
** OldMaster Genkai does this to the demon Shishiwakamaru and his [[ArtifactOfDoom demonic blade]]. In the English dub Kuwabara at least acknowledges the unlikeliness of the feat by shouting "Whoa, that's ''hardcore''!" in response.
** Hiei catches a humongous axe that Bui throws at him by the blade.
** During the Chapter Black storyline, Yusuke blasts away a couple dozen flying knives with his Shotgun. He misses two, but manages to catch one in each hand by closing the fingers of his spread hands.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'' issue 21, Snake-Eyes does this in response to a blade thrown at Scarlett.
* In ''Dead Man's Hand'' crossover, [[Characters/MarvelComicsMattMurdock Daredevil]] managed this on a knife-wielding [[Characters/MarvelComicsFrankCastle Punisher]]. The Punisher, an experienced knife-fighter, then whipped the knife out with a slight twist, leaving DD with two handfuls of blood.
* ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]]'' once blocked a katana between the foreheads of two {{ninja}} that he had rolled up into a carpet. He's also done the more traditional version of the trope a time or two, which is much easier for him than most people since his Spider-Sense combined with his superhuman reflexes makes it ease for him to get the timing right and his wall-crawling powers mean that he can get a firm grip on the flat side without putting himself at risk of being cut.
* ''ComicBook/AggretsukoOni'': Resasuke blocks Haida's attempt at shoving him away using a mop with his bare hands... then promptly sneezes at him. Haida was unamused.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Kairos}}'', Anaëlle does this when a dragon is about to kill Nills.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics:
** While depowered by red sunlight in "[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Breaking the Chain]]", Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} catches Cassandra Cain's katana... only for Cass to kick her down.
** Justified in ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'': During their first battle, Supergirl grabs Reign's massive sword with one hand when it is being swung down on her, and shatters the blade easily. Of course, a large chunk of sharpened metal did not wound her super-tough skin.
** ''ComicBook/SupergirlWomanOfTomorrow'': When [[BigBad Krem]]'s goon swings his sword at Supergirl, she indifferently catches the blade. Since she was weakened but still very hard, her hand gets bloodied instead of lopped off.
** In ''ComicBook/EscapeFromThePhantomZone'', Magog flings his spear at Supergirl, who ducks and grabs the bladed projectile with both hands.
* ComicBook/WonderMan has used this fairly often, notably in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'': It's a quick way to show his experience and set him up for a [[TheWorfEffect defeat]].
* During the ''ComicBook/TransformersGenerationOne: The Dark Age'', the Fallen catches Grimlock's energo-sword in one hand.
* ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo does this several times with no explanation save his being just that good. In one case a ninja does it with a single hand, but it turns out he had a spiked metal bar in his palm to climb walls.
* In ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' #589, Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} does this with a ''battleaxe.''
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Longshot]] catches Spiral's sword between his hands in his introductory limited series. It helps that part of his powers is to have [[BornLucky chance fall in his favor]].
* In ''ComicBook/DeRodeRidder'', the {{Ninja}} Kinugasa can do this, which is even lampshaded by the narrator. Johan calls him the most skilled and dangerous opponent he has ever faced.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' ElsewhereFic ''Fanfic/BoyScoutsOneHalf'', one of the characters, Hughes, is shown to be able to do this when he is attacked by an Amazon warrior named Perfume. Since he had not previously been shown to have any particular skills in such areas, it is unclear if he is just darn lucky, she is just that bad, or both.
* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'': El Toro does this during one fight with Right (one of Jade's CoDragons).
* In Animus Rover's story "Ichigo's Rival," from ''Fanfic/BleachFanWorks'', Culth Seborn blocks Ichigo's sword with one hand before [[WreckedWeapon shattering it]]. This, combined with Culth using an attack that ''kills four million hollows in one hit'', causes Dark Kuroda to realize that Culth is a GodModeSue.
* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': Being a Fulgrite Electro-Priest, Current-82 Vellen can [[EnergyAbsorption absorb energy]] through his augmented hands. While escaping from Republic custody, he is able to catch the blade of Ahsoka's lightsaber with his bare hand and drain her weapon of its power.
* In ''Fanfic/UninvitedGuests'', Komamura and Hitsugaya manage to pull this on Aizen. Aizen gets annoyed and complains that it's only cool when he does it.
* In ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'', Grogar, as one of the Ten Espada in this continuity, demonstrates how much he outclasses the heroes by catching Sunset Shimmer's FlamingSword in Shikai state without taking any damage.
* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'':
** At one point during the Sack of Torus Filney, Will does this while fighting a Phobos soldier.
** The mask-empowered Hak Foo does this with Caleb's sword during the fight in the subway tunnel.
* In ''Fanfic/FateLongNight'', Shirou tries to ambush Nymeria with a knife. She catches it with her thumb and pinky, then snaps the blade.
* In ''Fanfic/TheSecretKeeper'' sequel ''The Wisdom Seeker'', Bella Swan demonstrates a variation of this when faced with blunt instruments, when she [[spoiler:deflects a bludger with her bare fist to win her final quidditch game; despite this breaking her hand in the process, Emmett proudly proclaims this bold new Quidditch move ‘the Hand of Swan’]].
* ''Fanfic/FatesCollide'':
** [[EvilKnockoff Jaune Alter]] catches Gawain's sword Excalibur Galatine with his hand, ignoring the pain even though it is red hot. Then Gawain powers up the sword, burning off Alter's fingers.
** Penthesilea catches Ruby Rose's scythe Crescent Rose, though her hand bleeds.
* ''Fanfic/LostToDust'':
** During a sparring match, Bazett blocks Qrow's sword with the back of her hand. She does wear gloves, but Qrow is shocked that his attack did no damage at all. This is because Bazett uses the spell Rune of Armoring to make her gloves harder than tungsten steel.
** The Headless Hunter catches Blake's cleaver and then sends her flying.
* ''Fanfic/ServantsOfRemnant'': Odysseus effortlessly catches Adam Taurus' sword Wilt with his hand and shatters the blade by squeezing.
* The ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeries'':
** Will does this with Bartholomew Chang's clawed prosthesis in "J-WITCH Meets the J-Team".
** Uncle does this while dueling Phobos in "The Labyrinth".
** When Caleb tries to attack Hak Foo from behind with his katana in "Gladiatorial Clash", the fresh Dark Chi Warrior casually catches the blade with one hand.
** A Sumo Khan does this with its fingers when Caleb tries to slice it with his katana in "Black Magic".
** Hak Foo does this again in "The Battle for Meridian Plains"; when Caleb and Aldarn swing their swords at him, he catches the blades with his hands.
** Drago catches Raythor's sword between his hands during their duel in "The Knights of Vengeance".
* ''Fanfic/ReapersAmongFairies'': Kurohebi catches Ichigo's sword with his hands and gloats. Ichigo nonchalantly fires a [[SwordBeam Getsuga Tensho]] that knocks him out.
* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': Jade uses her SuperStrength to block a rebel soldier's sword while battling at Snowpoint.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'' short "Program", during a climactic sword fight, the protagonist Cis grabs the katana on its descent in BulletTime, then snaps the blade off the sword and stabs [[MeaningfulName Duo]] in the neck with it. Justified because it takes place in the Matrix and by the RuleOfCool.
* ''Franchise/KungFuPanda'':
** In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'', Master Shifu manages this trick by catching a thrown sword, spinning it around his body, and then burying the blade in the floor.
** In the opening of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'', Kai makes his first appearance by throwing his chained-blade at Oogway, who effortlessly catches it...''while his eyes were closed''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': Pulled off in desperation, [[spoiler:literally in her dying moment, by Anna, as she magically freezes]]. Justified in that [[spoiler: she is in the final stages of turning to ice]] and we can see the blade crystallize and grow brittle just before it hits. Ultimately she was merely trying to throw herself in front of it to save [[spoiler:her sister Elsa]], rather than consciously trying for this technique, but this is what eventuates.
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'': Snake-Eyes does a very unconventional/[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments extremely badass]] variant of this when he stops Storm Shadow from scoring a killing blow by ''letting the blade pass through his palm, then breaking the sword with his free hand''. Afterwards, he nonchalantly pulls out the section of the hilt still stuck in his hand.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' have this occurring when the Uber Immortal (a GiantMook version of an already formidable enemy) fights King Leonidas, the latter slashing his sword only for the Immortal to grab it by the blade. And yank it off. The Immortal's hand is clearly bleeding from the cut, but it FeelsNoPain.
* Pubert Addams in ''[[Film/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family Values]]'' manages to catch a guillotine blade with his thumb and forefinger just before it decapitates him. Doubly badass because he's ''[[BadassAdorable not even a year old yet]]''.
* ''Film/Aquaman2018'': Arthur Curry catches blades with his hands several times. His skin is impervious to ordinary steel weapons, but he also manages it a few times against Atlantean weapons, which can pierce his skin.
* Done by Ash in ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', though he ''is'' using his recently-acquired medieval robot hand.
* Subverted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdkrFBaXabg this]] amateur short film ''Blackpowder Vengeance''. A man catches a knife as it's thrust at his eye, but unfortunately it's a flintlock knife!
* Characters/{{Blade}} does this in ''Film/BladeII''. At quite some length. He is, however, [[{{Dhampyr}} half-vampire]]. Earlier in the same film, a reaper (super vampire) does this with Snowman's katana. He simply pulls it away, injuring the reaper's hands.
* ''Film/BastardSwordsman'': In their one-on-one duel, Master Qing Song leaps at Chief Dugu with his sword, unaware that the latter's skill have improved to the point where he's effectively invulnerable. He ends up having one serious OhCrap moment when Chief Dugu grabs his blade with his bare hands without flinching.
* ''Film/{{Bleach}}'': Byakuya catches Ichigo's sword between two fingers.
* This is expected to happen in a film titled ''Film/BuddhasPalm''. Notably when Long Jian-fei fights Ouyang Hao, Long blocks Ouyang's sword with his palms and flings Ouyang aside while grabbing the blade!
* In ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy has a knife thrown at her by Merrick. She picks it out of mid-air and looks incredulously at him, saying, "You threw a knife at my head!", to which he matter-of-factly replies, "And you caught it."
* Eric used this technique to catch a knife thrown at his head in ''Film/TheCrow1994'', after dodging one such knife and deflecting a second.
* Creator/JohnCandy catches a thrown knife by the blade in ''Film/{{Delirious}}''.
* ''Film/DrillbitTaylor'' did this. Somewhat subverted because while he did technically stop the sword [[spoiler:he lost his pinky]].
* Subverted/deconstructed during the final fight of kung fu movie ''Film/DuelToTheDeath''. Hashimoto tries to kill Ching Wan with a thrust of his katana. Ching Wan, out of desperation and due to being caught by surprise, grabs the blade with one hand. Hashimoto responds by calmly rotating the blade, [[{{Fingore}} severing all of Ching Wan's fingers on that hand]].
* Treated with extra realism in ''Film/TheDuellists'', as trying to grab a Rapier/Smallsword with your hand is going to result in nothing but your palms divorcing your hand. Those things are almost completely unrelated to the fencing foils that Hollywood thinks such weapons are.
* A variation occurs in the German movie ''Film/DasExperiment'' based on the infamous StanfordPrisonExperiment. The main character stops a knife blade by... gripping it with his hand! It sounds as painful as it actually looks, and the attacker is as perplexed as the defender by the unexpected move. It's made even worse because he apparently can't just open his hand again, so he has to pull the knife out from his closed fist, effectively slicing his palm and fingers even more.
* A slightly more mild case in ''Film/{{Fearless 2006}}'': Huo Yuanjia stops Qin Lei's sword by grabbing its blunt edge.
* ''Film/FingerOfDoom'' has the hero fighting ''zombie'' swordsmen, resurrected by the main villainess who is a {{Necromancer}}. He's unaware that his enemies are undead, until one of them grabs his sword's blade by the ''bare hands'', which starts dripping blood, while the grabber doesn't even register the slightest sign of pain on his face, leading to the hero realizing he's fighting some powerful supernatural forces.
* In the climactic fight scene of ''Film/FiveFingersOfDeath'', the hero does this to the katana of the leader of the ronins employed by the BigBad, going on to break off the blade, leading them to fight hand-to-hand.
* Creator/ChuckNorris gets in on the fun in ''Film/ForestWarrior'', catching a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdwC4vhc594 CHAINSAW with his bare hand.]]
* ''Film/FreddyVsJason'': During their confrontation with Jason in the dream realm, Jason swings his machete overhead at Freddy, only for Freddy to clap his hands together and catch the balde between them.
* Treated semi-realistically in ''Film/GodfathersOfHongKong'' starring Creator/AndyLau. The main villain tries stabbing Lau with a machete, and Lau blocks the machete from the ''blunt'' side... and still ends up having lacerations on his arms.
* Deconstructed in ''Film/GodOfCookery'', Turkey's left hand is lacerated severely from grabbing a machete but she's just too angry to let that stop her, leading to an OhCrap moment on behalf of the wielder.
* In the duel between Legolas and Bolg in ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'', Bolg does a variant by trapping Legolas' sword under his armpit. It works because the blade is single-edged: If it was double-edged, or the other side had been up, Legolas could have sliced his arm off.
* In ''Film/IRobot'', when a rogue robot attacks Spooner with a metal pipe, he instinctively tries to defend himself by blocking the blow with his forearm. [[spoiler:This is where we find out Spooner's left arm is actually a superstrong metal prothesis.]]
* ''Film/HeroesAmongHeroes'', a lesser-known Creator/DonnieYen film and one of the many films featuring UsefulNotes/WongFeiHung has Yen's character [[note]]he's ''not'' Fei Hung by the way, but Beggar So[[/note]] fighting a pair of DarkActionGirl assassins. One of them thrushes her ''jian'' into his direction, but he blocks it with both palms and somehow wrestles her weapon out of the way without getting his hands injured.
* The BigBad does this against Farmer (Creator/JasonStatham) in ''Film/InTheNameOfTheKing''. Farmer keeps pushing and the sword nicks his forehead before he shoves it away.
* The titular character from ''Film/TheKidWithTheGoldenArm'', thanks to his powerful Golden Arm kung-fu, which allows him to block all kinds of weapons including snapping a {{BFS}} and crumpling the blade like a handful of nachos.
* ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': In the opening scene, Marlow catches Gunpei's katana with his hands. His hands get bloody and he screams in pain, but he manages to pull the sword out of Gunpei's hands. However, he's unable to use his hands for the rest of the fight.
* In ''Film/TheKunoichiNinjaGirl'', Shimotsuki does this to block Higetsu's sword and prevent him killing Kirasagi. This becomes a ChekhovsSkill later when he uses the same technique to block Kirasagi's sword during their fight in the cave.
* In ''Film/{{Lockout}}'', the hero stops a stabbing attack by blocking a knife with his barehand. Obviously this action has not caused any noticeable injury.
* In ''Film/MacheteKills'', Machete catches Luther Voz's katana with his left hand, which bleeds.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** [[Characters/MCUSteveRogers Captain America]] in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' catches the blade of a Chitauri polearm/rifle-bayonet while defending Manhattan.
** [[Characters/MCUHelaOdinsdottir Hela]] in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' blocks Gungnir's strike with the back of both her hands effortlessly.
** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[Characters/MCUThanos Thanos]] blocks [[Characters/MCUStephenStrange Doctor Strange]]'s [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation conjured sword strike]] one-handed. Thanos does the same thing in an earlier scene during the confrontation in the Collector's vault, blocking [[Characters/MCUGamora Gamora]]'s sword single-handedly and breaking it to half, but Gamora managed to use the broken sword to stab and kill Thanos. [[spoiler: And then a moment later, all that was revealed to be an illusion caused by Thanos and his newly-obtained Reality Stone]]...
** ''Film/{{Eternals}}'': When the Eternals [[spoiler:fight Ikaris]], Thena materializes a bladed weapon and swings at him. He casually catches it bare-handed, [[spoiler:demonstrating that he had been WillfullyWeak before]].
* Neo stops a sword with the side of his hand in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', his [[SuperToughness Made of Diamond]] NighInvulnerability leaving him only with a small cut to the hand. The Merovingian is quite surprised by Neo's durability before drawing his mook's attention to the cut and how [[TheChosenOne The One]] can still be hurt.
-->'''Merovingian:''' You see. He is just a man.
* Liu Kang does this in the final battle of ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie''.
* Master Xie from the ''wuxia'', ''Film/OdeToGallantry'', whose ''qi'' is so powerful, he can block the hero's BFS with ''two fingers''.
** The same goes for the titular hero in ''Film/TheIronBuddha''. Both movies are produced by Creator/ShawBrothers, by the way.
** Taken to the extreme in ''Film/SecretServiceOfTheImperialCourt'', with the villain, Eunuch Wang, grabbing the hero's {{BFS}} with his bare hands... and snapping it in one move!
* In ''Film/{{Passchendaele}}'' , a Canadian soldier grabs a German's bayonet with his bare hands, though more out of desperation than badassitude. It also ends realistically, with him having a deep stab wound in his palm.
* ''Film/PlayMistyForMe'' has the climactic scene in which StalkerWithACrush Evelyn goes AxCrazy with a carving knife. She's been lunging at Dave, leaving some nasty gashes until one tussle has Dave grip the blade to prevent Evelyn from wielding it further. Dave's hand gets quite bloody from this effort.
* ''Film/PsychoII'': Norman grabs a butcher knife that Mary Loomis is stabbing him with. She yanks it through his hands, with wince-inducing results.
* Treated fairly realistically in ''Film/RobRoy''.
** A funny invocation of the trope occurs early in the film. Rob avoids combat with a bruiser who's trying to pick a fight with him by getting the guy to agree that their duel only be to [[VictoryByFirstBlood first blood]], then immediately reaches out and cuts his hand on the guy's sword. Rob is even gracious enough to compliment the guy on his "victory".
** Used in deadly earnest during the final duel. Archibald Cunningham uses his superior fencing skill to toy with Rob, gradually weakening him with a DeathOfAThousandCuts. At one point Archie is threatening Rob with his point and Rob swats it away with his left hand, but Archie effortlessly recovers. Finally Rob collapses, and Archie has the chance to finish him right away, but instead he delays the kill by holding the point of his rapier under Rob's neck and taunting him. Before Archie can thrust into Rob's neck, Rob grabs the tip of Archie's blade with his bare hand. He bleeds a ''lot'' from grabbing the blade, but it buys him just enough time to rise to his feet and slay Archie with a mighty stroke of his highland broadsword.
* In ''Film/SinbadOfTheSevenSeas'', Sinbad grabs the blade of the Ghost King's sword and destroys him by turning it back on him.
* ''Film/SpiesLikeUs''. When Fitz-Hume and Millbarge first arrive at SpySchool they're confronted by ninjas and their reaction does not impress the school's CO, [[ColonelBadass Colonel Rhumbus]]. The {{Wannabe Secret Agent}}s protest that they're not armed, so what are they expected to do against a bunch of ninjas with swords? Handing over his clipboard to an assistant, the colonel proceeds to kick ninja butt, at one point stopping a sword in this manner. Mind you he was wearing leather gloves, for what it's worth.
* During a fight with a [[HandicappedBadass blind swordsman]] in ''Film/TheStreetFighter'', Terry Tsurugi manages to block his opponent's sword with the ''backs'' of his leather-clad hands.
* Yoshio in ''Film/SukiyakiWesternDjango'' performs the standard two-hands-over-head blade block. A Genji {{Mook|s}} who then tries to emulate him, however, fails and ends up with a katana in his head.
* Creator/ShawBrothers repeats the trick in ''Film/TenTigersFromKwangtung'', where the main baddie, General Liang, gets his sword halted by a similar blade block before getting snapped. He then responds after losing his sword by using his secondary weapon, a [[CarryABigStick golden club]]... shaped like a nude woman.
* In ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'', D'Artagnen blocks Rochefort's sword with the back of his hand and later catches it. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Both feats leave his hand bloody]].
* Prisoner [=KSC2-303=] does this in the final battle of ''Film/{{Versus}}''.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'':
** In spirit if not technically. Diana does manage to catch a sword this way, but her forearms and part of her palms are wrapped in leather, with her bracelets layered on top. It helps that she's an Amazon [[spoiler:and a demigod]].
** [[spoiler: Ares not only stops Diana’s God Killer sword with his hand but also disintegrates it.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* ''Literature/WayOfTheTiger'':
** The books' introduction section is that Avenger's ninja costume has thin strips of iron sewn into it to facilitate deflecting or binding blades, to make up for his lack of training with any non-projectile weapon.
** In the second book of the series, Avenger defeats an opposing ninja this way, catching his blade in both hands and then kicking him in the throat.
* ''Literature/FightingFantasy'':
** In the first gamebook, ''Literature/TheWarlockOfFiretopMountain'', the vampire demonstrates it being [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] ([[InformedAbility sort of]], it just has high combat stats) by grabbing the player's sword when the combat begins.
** ''Literature/ReturnToFiretopMountain'' has a (perfectly avoidable) encounter against a monster called a Metallix, who doesn't look threatening but is actually immune to weapons made of metal, hence its name. If you chose to attack the Metallix with your sword, it will snatch your weapon away from you ''by the blade'' and use it against you. You can only fight it by pelting it with rocks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', Granny Weatherwax manages to do this against the main villain at the end of the book, catching his sword in the palm of her hand. While this amazes the opera audience watching the confrontation, Granny proceeds to basically call them gullible saps for believing such a ridiculous fantasy trope, stating she could have had a bit of metal hidden in her palm or something along those lines. [[DoubleSubversion She]] ''[[DoubleSubversion didn't]]'', but she wanted to be contrary and call everyone out anyway, because she's just that type of character. It's only at the very end of the book, after she's made the journey home and set out some boiled water, bandages, and needle and thread, that Granny ends whatever magic was delaying the effects of the injury. Which puts a whole new spin on the old ''Film/{{Predator}}'' quote "I ain't got time to bleed!"
* In ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Yuki Nagato catches Asakura's combat knife with nasty spikes on the backside straight-faced in her BigDamnHeroes moment. Although, her doing this features [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome expectable amounts of blood]]. Yuki, of course, [[FeelNoPain ignores that]].
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Victarion Greyjoy grabs a sword in one hand during a battle on a ship. Despite his metal gauntlets his hand is badly cut and the wound becomes infected.
** Quorin Halfhand earned his eponymous feature when he lost all but his thumb and forefinger on his right hand blocking a wildling's axe barehanded.
** Catelyn Stark catches the knife of an assassin [[spoiler:sent to kill her son]], but she can't use her hand for much for long time afterwards.
* ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'': Vlad Taltos claimed to have lost his finger attempting this trick, though he gives [[UnreliableNarrator a conflicting account]] later on. A later book reveals the real reason.
* In ''Literature/SecretCity'' at one point Santyaga casually grabs katana, apparently to not to allow "fatal" blow to damage his dandy suit. Even though katana is wielded by AntiMagic ninja from Kitano School, who simply ignores all sorts of magic barriers and shields. After persuading ninja to let it down, Santyaga pretends to wipe blood from his palm with hankerchief, but ninja glimpses, that he's actually unhurt and it's just an act of weird "politeness" - to show, that all his effort wasn't so completely futile.
* This is tried by one of the targets of [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfSamuraiCat Samurai Cat]]'s vengeance. He then smiles up to Tomokato. [[spoiler:And then dies due to the razor-sharp katana buried in his skull -- he failed the manoeuvre.]]
* In Creator/PeterDavid's ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'', Mackenzie Calhoun deliberately takes a blade in his shoulder, where it sticks, thus disarming his attacker.
* Averted somewhat in ''[[Literature/TheQueensThief The King of Attolia]]'', in which the king does this one-handed (necessary because that's all he's got) and disarms an assassin. Later, he does it again in practice with a wooden sword. His opponents protest that he's cheating because you can't do that with a real sword, so he shows them the scars on his hand from the aforementioned catch.
* ''[[Creator/RogerZelazny This Immortal]]'' includes a brief mention of badass Hasan "using his hand to parry a sword cut by striking the flat of the blade in an old samurai maneuver I had thought lost to the world forever." Granted, he's slapping it off course rather than blocking it, but....
* In ''The Mage-Born Traitor'' by Creator/MelanieRawn [[spoiler:Josselin]] does this to prevent [[spoiler:Taigan]] from killing someone. It's notable in that she does really hurt his hands, and she's completely inexperienced and using a sword that knows her intention.
* Done several times in ''The Literature/{{Emberverse}}'', although admittedly with supernatural help.
* Attempted twice in ''Empire in Black and Gold,'' the first book of ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt,'' in the slightly more realistic "deflect blade by hitting the flat side" version. Even so, the first guy to try it gets cut open for his trouble, whereas the second is a particularly badass member of a particularly quick and skillful {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}}.
* This technique was used by the [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Jedi apprentice Scout]] against a ''lightsaber'', but justified because the lightsabers were on training settings for a tournament. They wouldn't cut, but they would leave painful burns wherever they hit. Lampshaded by Scout's opponent, who complained that such a tactic would not work in a real fight.
* Lampshaded in ''Literature/GauntsGhosts''. When attacked by an assassin, Gaunt remembers the advice given to him by Colm Corbec; namely that it's better to cut the hell out of your hands and fingers than to let an opponent get an open slash at you. Luckly, Gaunt is badass enough to disarm his attacker without resorting to such a dramatic measure.
* Referenced in ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle''. It's noted that fencers typically carry daggers with sharp points and dull edges, causing a recent fashion for grabbing onto your opponent's dagger with your off hand. Johannes carries a dagger with unusually sharp edges to prevent this from happening to him.
* Bob Lee Swagger tricks a villain into slicing him in his artificial hip so he could stab the man during a sword fight.
* A fairly common tactic used by the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' series' [[TheBerserker Badger Lords]] when they're in full-on [[UnstoppableRage Bloodwrath]]. More than one villain has found their weapon grabbed (and often snapped in half) mid-fight. It always injures the catcher's paws, but the Bloodwrath makes it so they generally don't care until after the fight's over.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'':
** ''Literature/{{The Way of Kings|2010}}'': Dalinar catches the talon of a colossal [[{{Kaiju}} Chasmfiend]] mid-swing, saving the king's life. He's in magical PoweredArmor at the time, and the armor is pushed to it's absolute limits by the feat, but everyone else pauses in StunnedSilence (before recovering and helping him) and are collectively reminded that despite his age he's still every bit the LivingLegend warrior that he was in his youth.
** ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'':
*** [[spoiler:Dalinar]] does this to stop a [[SoulCuttingBlade Shardblade]], in a move sword-master Zahel later refers to as a "lastclap." Kaladin asks Zahel about it, but the latter [[DiscussedTrope mentions]] that this is a desperation move that usually doesn't work and shouldn't be relied on, particularly because it only really works if the Blade is swung overhead anyways, so attempting to dodge the blade in the first place is almost always preferable. It [[JustifiedTrope only sometimes works against Shardblades]] because they are [[{{BFS}} wider than normal swords]], giving more room to grab the flat of the blade and, since they're [[AbsurdlySharpBlade capable of cutting through nearly anything with minimal resistance]] people don't swing them with nearly as much force as normal blades and instead need to focus on control and precision.
*** [[spoiler:Kaladin]] succeeds in doing this when helping [[spoiler: Adolin]] who is outnumber by enemy Shardbearers. It's unexpectedly effective because [[spoiler: Shardblades are actually [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spren]] trapped in "death", and Kaladin is bonded to a living spren. When he touches the "dead" blade, both he and it's wielder hear it ''screaming in agony'', as well as apparently blaming it's current wielder for it's suffering]]. The wielder promptly drops his blade and flees the scene.
*** [[spoiler: The Herald Ishar]] does this casually, combining it with PointThatSomewhereElse. A Windrunner attempts to stab him from behind with a Shardblade in a five-on-one duel, but he twists around and ''pushes'' the [[AbsurdlySharpBlade absurdly sharp]] [[SoulCuttingBlade soul-cutting]] sword aside with a ''single finger'' on the flat of the blade. And he's describes as an ''only average'' duellist among his peers.
* Alan-a-Dale tries this by accident during the battle against Guy of Gisbourne in ''Literature/TheOutlawsOfSherwood'' and pays the price -- the tendons of his hand are so badly damaged that it may be months before he can play the lute again, if he ever does.
* ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'': When the members of Clan Calatin try to attack Jesture Karture, he effortlessly blocks and destroys their weapons with his hands or just his fingers. Jesture says he can do this because he is a vampire which are superior to mere humans, and if he was facing a stronger opponent like a Servant, he wouldn't be able to do it.
* ''Literature/TheWormOuroboros'': At one point, Brandoch Daha catches a lance being thrust at him, unhorses the rider wielding it, and beheads him. Thus ends Corund's son Cargo.
* During the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnAtrueStory Duel of Minions]] in ''Literature/LaDameDeMonsoreau'', both Quélus and Antraguet use this trope against each other. The pairs were supposed to fight with rapiers and daggers, but Quélus lost his parrying dagger on his way to the duel, and Antraguet wasn't going to give him any favors (believing him to be involved in [[spoiler: the murder of Bussy]]), forcing him to parry just with his bare left hand, which soon was completely covered in blood from many shallow cuts. As eventually they were the only ones left standing, the still-unscathed Antraguet offered Quélus an option of surrender, pointing at his obvious disadvantage. Quélus refused, stating that he still has his sword, and lunged at him, to which Antraguet replied "Not anymore", grabbed his rapier by the blade near the guard and wrenched it out of his hand, cutting his own finger slightly in the process (the only injury sustained by him during the whole fight).
* The block with a gloved hand example mentioned in the Real Life section occurs in a duel towards the end of ''[[Literature/TheCinderSpires The Olympian Affair]]''. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for the duelist, Captain Grimm isn't using a light dueling blade like most of the people he had killed over the years, he's using a heavy cutlass, and the strike goes through the glove, and his fingers, and into his neck.]]
* In ''Literature/QianQiu'' by Meng Xi Shi, Zhao Chiying blocks Pu Anmi's attempt to slash Shen Qiao from behind with his saber with her hand which she protects from damage with MagicalMartialArts. PlayedWith, as the narrator points out that using MagicalMartialArts this way is not considered in-universe to be truly bare-handed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/NovolandEagleFlag'': An enemy brings a ''massive'' axe/sword down on Asule's shoulder. Asule grabs it and holds it away. In real life grabbing it would have been useless and the force of that blow would have cut off his arm and probably half of his ribs too. In the series Asule's shoulder is cut, but his hands aren't hurt.
* ''Series/TheDevilJudge'':
** In a flashback Soo-hyun grabs Ga-on's knife. Deconstructed since she cuts her hand.
** Yo-han also grabs the knife when Ga-on tries to stab him.
* ''Series/Mouse2021'': Bong-yi grabs the killer's knife as he's about to stab her. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} because this cuts her hands badly.
* ''Series/QueenForSevenDays'': Lee Yung threatens Chae-gyeong with a sword. Lee Yeok grabs the sword by the blade and pushes it away from her.
* ''Series/PrincessSilver'': Wu You stops an assassin stabbing Rong Le by grabbing the blade.
* ''Series/PrincessAgents'':
** Chu Qiao blocks Yuwen Hao's blade -- which is sharp enough to slice through rock -- with her bare hands.
** Yan Xun grabs the blades of two spears at once, snaps them off, and uses them against the soldiers.
* ''Series/GoodbyeMyPrincess'': Cheng Ji grabs an assassin's sword when they try to stab him.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** In the first season, Catelyn holds an assassin's knife away from her throat with her hands. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Reality Ensues]]: she lives, but her hands are cut deeply.
** Jorah pulls a variation of this to win his fight against Qotho. He catches Qotho's blade with his gloved hand and cuts through his enemy's head with his free one.
** A [[AnIcePerson White Walker]] not only stops Sam's sword with one hand, it ''shatters'' it. {{Justified|Trope}} since the Walkers are only vulnerable to a few {{Kryptonite Factor}}s and aren't at all bothered by normal blades.
** Brienne of Tarth disarms Sandor Clegane and holds him at swordpoint, asking him to yield. He grabs the [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Valyrian Steel sword]] with his bare hands, and despite the blood pouring from them forces it out of her grip. [[CombatBreakdown Their duel renews more brutally than before]].
** In season 5, a disarmed Jaime Lannister pulls this off against a Dornish soldier about to finish him off with a slash to the head, raising his gold-plated right hand and catching the mook's sword (Jaime looks more surprised than the mook, having done it entirely by instinct). Before the man can react, Jaime grabs his own sword and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice skewers the soldier like a kebab]].
** Gregor Clegane catches Sandor's sword with his armored gauntlet, but Sandor wrenches his sword free and continues his attack.
* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'':
** In the ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E22BecomingPart2 Becoming, Part 2]]", Buffy stops Angelus's sword this way, although the attack that she blocks is a stab rather than a swing. Also, she has SuperStrength and enhanced Slayer reflexes.
** Several years later, Glory pulls the same stunt; justified because she is [[spoiler:an actual god]].
** In Season 5's "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E20Spiral Spiral]]", Spike stops a Knight of Byzantium's sword from stabbing through the roof of their Winnebago and impaling Buffy through the skull, managing to hold it in place long enough for Buffy to get out through the roof hatch and take the fight to the Knights. It's played realistically: his hands are gashed and bandaged for the remainder of the episode.
** In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS05E16Shells Shells]]", Illyria does this to ''[[ExaggeratedTrope two swords at once]]''. Also justified because [[spoiler:she's an EldritchAbomination even more powerful than the earthbound Glory]].
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' is fond of doing this, when she isn't pummeling people with her sword, her chakram, martial arts, or makeshift weaponry.
* Sylar pulls this off in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Well, it's more like grabbing the blade and pulling it ''towards'' him, but still. The fact that he's telekinetic probably helped.
* Done once in an episode of ''Series/{{Highlander}}''. Granted, there have been other methods of unarmed defense, such as grabbing the attacker's arms, kicking, punching, etc. The producers claim Creator/AdrianPaul (who plays Duncan [=MacLeod=]) could ''actually do this'', though it should be noted it was the exact inverse of the one tested by the [=MythBusters=]: a swing from below instead of above, the blade caught more along its length instead of width.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** Subverted in part 5 of "Green with Evil" in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. Dragonzord tried to do this with the power sword while fighting the revived Megazord. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvsU5k4_k0U Didn't work.]]
** Played straight in "Hogday Afternoon part 2". Hydro Hog blocks the Shogun Megazord's [[FlamingSword fire saber]] easily. He is not, however, able to block the Shogun Megafalconzord's BeamSpam.
** This is a plot point in ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'', where Alyssa's father figures out she's the White Ranger by seeing her use the technique he taught her, catching Samurai Org's blade, then snapping it with her elbow.
** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' takes this [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in episode 18, when the Gold Ranger stops a ''chainsaw'' like this. Unmorphed.
* ''Series/VRTroopers''. 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... ''[[Awesome/VRTroopers without bothering to morph first]].''
* {{Toku}} shows like ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' would always invoke this as a cultural nod of sorts.
** ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'': In addition to the MMPR example cited above, ''Zyuranger'' also has Goushi doing this in [[Recap/KyoryuSentaiZyurangerE44JapansBestSwordswoman Episode 44]] during his IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight with kendo practitioner Sayaka when she's possessed by Dora Chimera. It works, but his hands are bloodied afterwards. So, [[AdaptationExplanationExtrication if you've been wondering why Zack's hands were bandaged and bloodied in the equivalent episode]], "Lions and Blizzards", that's why.
** ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'': The Dekaranger Robo stops an incoming missile with both hands, but the Rangers refer to this move by the official Japanese terminology for Barehanded Blade Block.
** The same series has a MonsterOfTheWeek ''try'' to do this, miss, and get a sword slash to the face for his trouble. "Man, was my timing off!" he said. (He's also very hard to hurt, with a rubber-like body that means few attacks do real damage.)
** ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'': In the first episode, Kai performs one against [[BlackKnight Wolzard]] to protect his older siblings, earning him the right to become [=MagiRed=].
** ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'': 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.
** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': Chiaki trains himself to master this move through a bit of MacGyvering, tying a wooden sword to a tree and spinning it around, then trying to catch it.
** Subverted in ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', when a MonsterOfTheWeek ''tries'' to do this against Marvelous (even [[CallingYourAttacks Calling His Attack]] with the official Japanese term), but fails completely and even compliments Marvelous's attack afterwards.
** ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'': King does this in episode 12, but he gets cut anyways.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': Ryotaro spends part of episode 41 practicing the maneuver, with varied results; Kin and Ura help out in a rather straightforward fashion, Momo [[SchmuckBait pulls the old "what's that?" maneuver]], and Ryuu [[{{Jerkass}} just smacks him on the head as hard as he can without warning]] (and [[LaserGuidedKarma rightly paying for it moments later]]). The scene ends with Ryotaro successfully pulling the maneuver off.
** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'': In episode 5, Fourze does this with his KNEES while fighting the Monoceros Zodiarts. He follows it up with the standard hands version in episode 6.
* As noted above, busted by the ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}''. Even with superhuman strength, there is no way to catch the sword without taking massive damage to the hands. On the other hand, a one-handed blade block is perfectly possible if you use a palm protector made for the exact purpose, and block the strike before it gains too much momentum. Blocking the blade with two hands on either side of the blade is still quite impossible.
* Averted in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' Season 9 finale, where Clark wraps his arm in his jacket to parry his opponent's kryptonite dagger. Played ludicrously straight everywhere else, though. Blades that make contact with Clark are not only blocked, they ''shatter''. Justified because invulnerability is one of Clark's superpowers. Except for the "shattering" part, because the wielders would have to have superhuman strength themselves for that to make any sense at all.
* Done in ''Series/TheGates'' by a vampire. While normally the whole vampire thing might justify it, she was fighting another vampire who presumably had a comparable level of enhanced speed and strength.
* In a ''Series/NightMan'' episode, Raleigh is forced to fight in a prison ring. Night Man helps him for most of the fight. When the criminal throws a shiv, it is Raleigh who catches it with his palms.
* Series/{{Chuck}} does this when [[spoiler:proving to Ellie he is the Intersect in the 4th season]].
** [[spoiler:Stephen Bartowski [[InvokedTrope invokes]] it from Chuck as a reflex to prove to ''himself'' that Chuck is.]]
--->'''Chuck:''' [[spoiler:"[[WhatTheHellHero You just threw a knife at my face!]]!"]]
* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'' Rumplestiltskin does the two-fingered variant while [[spoiler:fighting Prince Charming]]. Justified in that he ''is'' [[EvilSorcerer the Dark One]], and was for all intents and purposes just doing it for fun and to prove to [[spoiler:Charming]] just how far [[YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith in over his head he was]].
* In the ''Series/{{Shake It Up}}'' episode "Oh Brother It Up", [=CeCe=] Jones performs the technique flawlessly on a quarter flying through the air tossed by Logan. He even compliments her on her cat-like ninja skills.
* In the season premier of ''Series/SpartacusWarOfTheDamned'', Crassus is receiving training from a gladiator. His trainer manages to disarm him and closes in for the kill, only for Crassus to use this. It ''does'' slice up his hand, but allows him to disarm and fatally stab his trainer.
** Both Gannicus and Donar use it later in the series, with similarly bloody if effective results.
** And, [[ChekhovsSkill inevitably]], this comes into play in the finale. Spartacus disarms Crassus and closes in for the kill, only for Crassus to do this [[spoiler:and then Spartacus does it right back.]]
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', Professor Elliot Randolph, [[RetiredBadass formerly known]] as The Berserker, catches Ward's knife with his bare hand and bends it like a paperclip. He's an Asgardian and has superhuman strength and durability.
** '' Series/IronFist2017''. Danny catches a sword between his hands in a fight against the Hand. He also uses his magic glowing fist to block (and destroy!) a hatchet and a bullet at different points in the series.
* [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's Al-Ghul]] pulls this off in the third season of ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. He pays for it, in that it cuts his hand, but he wins the fight.
* In ''Series/{{Black Sails}}'' in the pilot episode, the captain defends himself with his bare hands during a knife fight. Except some bleeding, this has absolutely no consequences on the health of the captain.
* During his EstablishingCharacterMoment on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Castiel bare blocks a katana going for his head without even looking at it. Justified in that he's essentially [[NoSell immune]] to conventional weaponry.
* ''Series/{{Westworld}}''. When the Man in Black jabs his knife threateningly at Ford, a nearby [[ThreeLawsCompliant android host]] grabs it by the blade and stabs it into the table. Only after his bodyguard subroutine terminates and the host goes back to his standard persona does he notice that his hand is bleeding.
* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. When the assassination of Julius Caesar starts he grabs the dagger when the first wild stab is made at him, cutting his hand, but it's [[DeathOfAThousandCuts quickly followed up by others]].
* A flashback in an episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' shows the VictimOfTheWeek stopping an attack like this. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs--her hand gets cut badly.
* ''Franchise/StarWars: Series/{{Ahsoka}}'': [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Ezra Bridger]] is a Jedi who has not had access to a lightsaber in ten years. In that time, he has instead developed a KungFuWizard sort of fighting style combining brawling with Force techniques. Even without a lightsaber, he's able to hold his own in a lightsaber duel by using a variant of this trope, using the Force to catch the enemy's blade a few inches from his outstretched hand.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Manhua]]
* In ''Manhua/InfinityGame'' Trishia attacks the previous DM with her laser sword after he kills her sister, but he blocks it with his forefinger. Justified as he's technically god and has unlimited power.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''Tabletopgame/{{Exalted}}'', by default, you can't parry a weapon barehanded. Unless you describe how you do it in a cool fashion and earn yourself a Stunt, which will both allow you to do it and give you a bonus to the attempt. As a result, ''everybody'' is doing it whenever they need to.
* ''Tabletopgame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** In the first edition supplement ''Oriental Adventures'', the "Locking Block" martial art move can be used to perform a Bare-Handed Blade Block (but it also covers other weapons and unarmed opponents). Success isn't guaranteed, however, and against a weapon the user can get wounded.
** The third edition version of ''Oriental Adventures'' has the feat "Grappling Block" to perform this bare-handed against melee weapons and disarm the opponent (though it can also be used with a sai or jitte). It happens during an attack and count as an attack of opportunity. However, it has no less than ''five'' feat prerequisites, which makes it unlikely that any character will bother with it.
* The "Hand-Clap Parry" in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Martial Arts'' is dangerous and leaves you at a disadvantage, if it works at all.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': A vampire who trains in the Discipline of Fortitude, which grants SuperToughness, can try to block a blade with an unarmed combat roll.
* ''Tabletopgame/{{Scion}}'' has an epic Stamina knack called Impenetrable Thumbnail which makes a small portion of the Scion's body absolutely unbreakable. With a good stunt, the player can parry sword attacks with their pinky finger
* With all the [[ImplausibleFencingPowers skilled swordplay]] in ''Tabletopgame/SeventhSea'', of course this trope would pop up. Eisen swordsmen are known to grab their opponent's rapiers and snap them -- [[AvertedTrope while wearing an armored gauntlet.]] Made of [[{{Mithril}} dracheneisen.]]
* Martial Artists in [[Creator/FantasyFlightGames Fantasy Flight's]] ''TabletopGame/StarWarsRolePlayingGame'' have this as a talent. Allowing them to use the "Parry" skill while not armed.
* ''TabletopGame/StarWarsSagaEdition'' includes a Force power that, among other things, lets a practitioner block a [[LaserBlade lightsaber]] barehanded by redirecting the energy of the blade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{AkaSeka}}'': Tsunayoshi ends up pulling one against an incoming attack from [[spoiler: his younger brother Yoshimune, who is [[ArtifactDomination under the influence]] of the demonic sword]].
* In ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', Ezio does this all the time while waiting to disarm guards. Although he blocks them with his arms, and seeing as a certain metal plate was added to his hidden blade during the story to make it double as a vambrace, it is sort of reasonable. Other Assassins in later games can do this as well.
* Asura from ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' does this to a blade than can extend up to '''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill 380,000]]''' Kilometers in Length, even when being forced back to the planet Earth from the Moon...for a while. Eventually, the force of the strike coupled with slamming his back against ground of Earth makes him him lose his grip and the sword starts punching through his torso ''and out the other side of the planet''.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', a Torture Attack has Bayonetta whip out a chainsaw. The enemy she's about to use it on goes for this trope. Yes, against the fucking '''Chainsaw'''. [[spoiler:It fails.]]
* In ''VideoGame/BillyVsSnakeman'', attacking a village whose leader has the Ascension theme playing means you're automatically defeated as they strike you down. However, if you have The Wind, The Sun and The Rain playing, you catch their blade with your hand and take them down instead.
* ''VideoGame/BushidoBlade'': Many of the blocks in the 2nd game in the series involved variations of this - even if your opponent is using a broadsword!
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', while it is not possible to block without a shield equipped in the left hand or a weapon held two-handed, is ''is'' possibly to parry barehanded. It's actually ''easier'' than it is using some shields! So go ahead and effortlessly swat away that invader's lightning-enchanted {{BFS}} with one hand. Or better yet, do it to the FinalBoss!
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'':
** Played completely straight by Jester in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening''. Seems like everyone in that series either has a HealingFactor or is just plain MadeOfIron anyway...
** The opening cutscene of Mission 20, also in ''3''. Vergil attempts to deliver a vertical downward slash to Dante [[spoiler:using Force Edge]]. Dante, in retaliation, pulls the same attack with Rebellion, and the twins catch each other's swords with their off hands. Granted, those hands bleed profusely, but [[HalfHumanHybrid these are the sons of Sparda...]]
** Happens to Nero in [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 the 4th game]] when he first confronts Agnus. On the note of ''4'', Gloria executes a Bare THIGH Blade Catch.
* ''Videogame/DwarfFortress'': Adventurers, and occasionally AI fighters, can pull this off quite well if they spot the enemy is about to attack them, and grab their weapon before it can happen, interrupting the attack. Not just bare hands either; any grab will do. It's actually ''recommended'', as you can quickly steal their weapon this way and incapacitate a potentially lethal blow. Even easier to do than a PunchCatch, too, as unarmed opponents are much more unpredictable, while an armed foe will just use the weapon.
* It is ''always'' possible to block melee attacks (to what extent depends on your ''Block'' skill) in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', either with a [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe shield]], a weapon... Or your bare hands if neither of the previous options are available. Since you actually use your ''forearms'' to block, it can be [[HandWave hand-waved]] if you are wearing heavy armor gauntlets.
* In the otherwise unremarkable BeatEmUp ''VideoGame/EOEEveOfExtinction'', the first sign (other than being TheStoic) that TheDragon isn't entirely human is when she does this to the protagonist's {{Laser|Blade}} [[EquippableAlly sword]][=/=]{{Love Interest|s}}.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'':
** One of the "Reaction" abilities of the Samurai class, Shirahadori (original translated as "Blade Grasp"), allows you to stop any physical attack in this manner. That includes swords, axes, bashing with a blunt object, and (courtesy of a programming error) ''arrows and bullets''. Depending on a character's Bravery stat, this could have as much as a '''97% chance of success'''[[labelnote:*]]If the character's Bravery is at 100 for the fight, this gives a 100% success rate, but also means enemies won't even bother trying; 97 is the maximum ''permanent'' Bravery stat and more than sufficient for normal use[[/labelnote]], though only for the first swing in an attack round (meaning a dual-wielding enemy can bypass it). Considering that magic is really lack-luster in this game (it's fairly easy to become completely immune to it), this ability is absurdly broken. Note that most special abilities are physical (including the magical physical abilities) and yes, Blade Grasp have a near 100% chance to block those too.
** ''Tactics Advance'' has Strikeback, which allows you to block a basic attack and counter attack. For some reason, Tactics A2 changes the animation to have the character do a spinning dodge rather than stopping it with their hands.
** The Samurai class in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' (from which ''Tactics'' had its job system modeled) has an ability called "Blade Grasp", or "Shirahadori" depending on the translation.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'':
** [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nah]] attempts to learn how to do this in one of her potential support conversations with Morgan, feeling she needs a way to defend herself against a Wyrmslayer sword. Morgan enlightens her on how impractical it is, which culminates in her realizing she'd been wasting her time, as she'd been practicing how to do it in her ''human'' form, when it's her dragon form that needs the protection, plus the form's shape makes it impossible to pull off in the first place.
** In actual gameplay, when two units are paired up on defense, it doesn't matter what class the support unit is, what weapon they have, or even if they're armed at all--they can block attacks, complete with a [[SoundOfNoDamage metal-on-metal clink]] that ''probably'' shouldn't happen when someone blocks a sword with their ''bare hands''. (It's not limited to melee weapons, either--a unit can use their bare hands to block arrows and spells, too.)
* In a flashback cutscene in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'', Atriox does this to an [[LaserBlade energy sword]]-wielding Sangheili, of all things, that was sent to execute him. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome The blade ends up cutting into his hand]], but this doesn't stop him from easily killing the Sangheili after.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] is brainwashed by Hades into a one on one fight to the death with WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}. At the climax of the fight, Auron swings his BFS and Hercules catches it.
* ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'': At the end of [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Magolor's]] first phase in Story Mode, Kirby must use the [[LimitBreak Ultra]] [[BFS Sword]] to deal the final blow, with [[spoiler:Magolor]] trying desperately to hold it off. It doesn't work and he is slashed four more times after Kirby overpowers him.
** [[spoiler:A very similar thing happens at the end of the remake's Magolor Epilogue; after managing to defeat the Master Crown, Magolor finds a sword stuck in the ground and transforms it into his Ultra Sword from ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' to deal the final blow to the tree crown.]]
* The Conqueror in ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'' blocks [[spoiler:Emma Honeywell]]'s sword with three fingers before casually flinging it away. Justified, since the Conqueror is a superhuman badass.
* Ghirahim in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' does this with ''three fingers'' when facing off against Link. Justified, as he's a powerful sorcerer and [[spoiler:he literally is a sword himself]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Loopmancer}}'' have the player hero, Xiang Zixu, stopping Hiroyuki's katana in the end of the boss fight, though it's more plausible than other examples as Zixu's arm is mechanical.
* ''VideoGame/MadWorld'': Has the protagonist Jack Cayman stopping a boss' chainsaw with his bare hands until it stops, allowing a counterattack.
* While not actually possible in-game, the [=AntiSword=] card in the ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' games depicts [=MegaMan=] catching a [=McCleaver=]'s blade this way.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'':
** A QuickTimeEvent has Samuel trying to stop Raiden's sword with the player able to make Samuel fail should they pass the event.
** Raiden also does this twice, but while fighting against [[ExaggeratedTrope giant robots]]!
** [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] not only catches Raiden's high-frequency blade with his bare hand, but also snaps it in two near-effortlessly.
-->''"Nice knife!"'' '''*CRACK*'''
* In the TechDemoGame ''VideoGame/OneTwoSwitch'', the Samurai Training game has you face off against an opponent via this trope. One player swings their Joy-Con in a downward slicing motion like a sword, and the other has to 'catch' it with precise timing.
* Tatsuya in ''VideoGame/Persona2: Eternal Punishment'', but his hand bleeds.
* In ''VideoGame/PunchOut Wii'', Piston Hondo is shown doing this as training in Title Defense mode.
* In the MMORPG ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' [[AllMonksKnowKungFu Monks]] have a skill called ''Blade Stop'' that consists basically of this trope. The skill-user and the attacker go into a BladeLock giving the Monk an opportunity to activate {{combo}} chain.
* This is the main objective of the Clap Trap Endless Game in ''[[VideoGame/RhythmHeaven Rhythm Heaven Fever and Megamix]]''. In the former game, two players need to sync the crash dummy’s arms to catch falling blades before they can bonk their head. Megamix has one player control both hands at once instead.
* Mikoto in ''VideoGame/RuneFactoryOceans'' mentions the fact that certain warriors can stop a blade with bare hands. Then [[TakeThat remarks]] that such a technique is more suited for showmen than for swordsmen.
* Part of the barehanded gameplay of the ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'' games, at least the first four. Still, few players knew of its existence, and fewer still could use it effectively. Notable example is [[OldMaster Nicotine Caffeinne]] in the second game, who can do it with ''one'' hand.
* This is how UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga is shown to ''[[BladeLock blade lock]]'' against all incoming attacks (or, perhaps, via telekinesis) in ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors''.
* ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'':
** The monks of Senpou Temple are skilled martial artists capable of blocking your sword strikes with their bare hands. However, they can only do so a few times at most before you completely break their guard.
** The protagonist can pull off a foot-based version of this with the Mikiri Counter. If an enemy does a thrust-based attack of any kind, Wolf can stomp their weapon into the ground, even if it's a man-sized blade. The description for the ability explictly states that a shinobi requires superhuman reflexes in order to pull this off.
* The KNIGHT boss fight in [[Creator/SonicTeam Sonic Team]]'s ''[[VideoGame/SonicFrontiers Sonic Frontiers]]'' features, among a lot of [[HoistByHisOwnPetard tricks]], a series of [[PressXToNotDie quick time events]] in which [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll Super Sonic needs to block]] KNIGHT's [[{{BFS}} skyscraper-sized blade]] with his bare [[WhiteGloves (actually gloved)]] hands.
** The fact that Super Sonic will eventually hold the giant blade to defeat the boss is somewhat reminiscent of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasySonicX a certain fangame that was popular in the 2000s]].
* In the Platform/{{P|layStation2}}S2 version of ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur II]]'', Heihachi is a GuestFighter from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', a fighting series in which the characters don't use weapons. (Some characters have them, but don't actually attack with them.) In ''Soul Calibur'', all the characters do have weapons and fight with them. Despite this, Heihachi has the best blocking ability in the game.
** ''Soul Calibur 3'' has Nightmare block Siegfried's BFS this way. {{Justified|Trope}} as he's using his mutated claw hand to do it.
** Apart from these instances, ''Soul Calibur'' as a whole is generally pretty good at averting this trope - blocking one weapon is done with another, and attacks cannot be grabbed to counterattack.
* The "Hope" trailer for ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' features Satele Shan doing this '''[[ExaggeratedTrope against a lightsaber. It works.]]''' This is due to the Force Ability known as Tutaminis, which allows a user to absorb energy. Justified in that the ability is extremely rare, and Satele is a very powerful force user, being a descendant of Bastila Shan and Darth Revan.
** Valkorian (the Sith Emperor in another body) does this when his son, Arcann, betrays him, using the Force to stop the blade centimeter away from his hand.
* Darth Vader in ''VideoGame/JediFallenOrder'' does this as well to Cal and Cere's swings.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV''[='s=] cinematic story mode. One of Bison's [[{{Tykebomb}} Dolls]] attacks Zangief with a [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]]; at first it looks like he's going to try this, but then he makes it even ''more'' absurd by letting the blade hit his chest, {{No Sell}}ing it, and then '''shattering''' the blade simply by flexing. All thanks to "Muscle Power".
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
** Zelda/Sheik's congratulatory image for clearing Adventure mode has Sheik stopping Link's sword with her bare hands.
** The reveal trailer for [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Lucina and Robin]] in ''Wii U/3DS'' has [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]] pull off a more realistic variation by parrying Lucina's sword using the back of his hand.
* In both the ''Videogame/{{Tekken}}'' series and the fairly obscure Squaresoft fighter ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'', characters can grab an incoming blade attack and flip the opponent via his sword. Though in ''Tekken'', at least, attacks made with bladed weapons are unblockable, and reversals are shown as grabbing the attacker's arm rather than the blade itself.
* ''VideoGame/WarioWareIncMegaMicrogames'': "Wario Kendo", one of the late-level microgames, asks you to do exactly this. On the easiest difficulty level, you have to catch a ''daikon radish''. On its hardest difficulty level, the ''bokken''-wielding {{samurai}} accidentally lets his blade slip, and you have to catch the falling sword before it bops Wario in the nose.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** The monk class is more or less doing this when they tank. The monk can parry, but monks do not wield their weapons when fighting, meaning the parry is done bare-handed.
** Illidan does this to stop [[spoiler:Turalyon]] from attacking him at the end of the "Rejection of the Gift" cinematic, although instead of clasping it with his palms he just grabs the blade with one hand. Naturally, it results in his hand oozing glowing fel blood.
* Jin blocks Margulis' sword when he is disarmed during a fight scene in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} Episode II'', cementing his status as a BadassNormal.
* Played straight in ''Videogame/{{Yakuza}} Kenzan!'' when an OldMaster does this with TWO FINGERS.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/YoJinBo'' has Mon-Mon do this to Harimoto. [[spoiler:In an unusual twist, he simply throws his arm in the way, instead of actually catching it with his hands. He then [[CasualDangerDialogue tells Harumoto he must be a lousy swordsman, since he failed to cut his arm off]]. Of course, the pain and bloodloss of a cut down to the bone fails to do any damage...[[BeautyIsNeverTarnished or even show up as a splash of red in the art]].]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'': Downplayed in "Sauron VS Lich King". When the Lich King manages to disarm him, Sauron caught his opponent's sword strike with his own (armored) hand. However, this causes his hand to bleed soon after.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** Cinder pulls this off against Pyrrha to show off how powerful she is after [[spoiler:gaining the full power of the [[PhysicalGod Fall Maiden]]]].
** Yang later pulls this off [[spoiler: during her rematch with Adam using her [[ArtificialLimbs mechanical arm]]. And since Adam [[CripplingOverspecialization is utterly dependent on his sword for both his style and Semblance]], it marks the exact point where he starts to lose]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Just to show off how utterly badass he's become, Ian from ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'' performs this on a '''[[https://www.errantstory.com/?p=691 gigantic axe wielded by a GOD]]'''.
* Jones from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' does a [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=380 hands-free variation]], which onlookers {{lampshade|Hanging}}: parrying a blade with your face really isn't a viable idea unless you're [[spoiler:a HumanoidAbomination TimeAbyss with CompleteImmortality]].
-->'''Antimony:''' Grabbing a sword by the blade isn't a valid move, is it?\\
'''Parley:''' It is if you're Jones! Not something you want to try yourself!
* ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido'':
** Brother Wu [[http://nn4b.com/comic/218 blocks]] a {{BFS}}. Emphasis on the "B". {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the strip:
--->'''Yori:''' I seriously need to re-evaluate my list of stuff I thought was physically possible.
** Averted 20 pages later, when Yori blocks Ryoku's blade by ''sliding his sheath over it''.
* Played straight in ''Webcomic/{{Thunderstruck}}''. However, note that it is a practice sword...
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040903 A very disturbing variant of this]] is used by Von Pinn against [=DuPree=] -- the voluntary ImpaledPalm variant.
** Anevka pulls this off [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060828 here]]. Of course, she ''is'' a clank.
* More realistically than usual, Wendy Darling in ''Webcomic/CheshireCrossing'' [[http://www.cheshirecrossing.net/page.php?issue=3&pagenum=13 stops a rapier thrust with her hand]] -- and it is visibly bleeding badly afterwards.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Flipside}}'', Bloody Mary, a [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] villain, blocks a sword strike ''[[http://www.flipsidecomics.com/comic.php?i=522 with her teeth]]''.
* ''Webcomic/DomainTnemrot'' - Angel [[https://web.archive.org/web/20111220123612/http://www.tnemrot.com/?p=120 pulls this off single-handed]], but she's clearly shown to be bleeding and later pages imply she was trying to lose.
* ''Webcomic/KarateBears'' actually take the knife by the blade, spin it around and use it to attack the attacker in [[http://www.karatebears.com/2011/12/kill-or-be-killed.html this one]]
* Another example of a robot doing this occurs in ''Webcomic/BladeBunny''.
* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', [[FearlessFool The Boy]] grabs [[PrinceCharmless Prince Ricardo]]'s sword [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04i-02.html by the blade]] when threatened with it.
* In ''Webcomic/TrueMagic'', Bob performs a variant, catching a blade by slamming a large book on it.
* Near the beginning of ''WebComic/KillSixBillionDemons'': ''Breaker of Infinities'', Solomon David catches Jagganoth's blade coming down from above between his palms. Of course, Solomon is a DimensionLord who also knows the ultimate martial arts form, but it's still pretty impressive considering even the sword is much bigger than himself, and Jagganoth is as powerful as the other Dimension Lords put together. Anyway, Jagganoth continues by pushing the sword so hard Solomon is pushed through the floor.
* [[OurGiantsAreBigger The weapon thief]] in ''Webcomic/VapnthjofrSaga'' stops a sword with her bare hand.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* This is the first thing [[spoiler:3D]] Lee does to President Baugh in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The Bloodwolf of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' is so powerful, sword attacks don't even seem to affect him, but he still effortlessly blocks them with his hands anyway to show he can.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', Terry manages to do this against Talia [[spoiler:or rather Ra]]'s. Possibly justified by the [[PoweredArmor bat-suit]], but then again, the sword's strikes were tearing through it like nothing, ''and'' it was against a rather nasty leap attack. But it was [[RuleOfCool awesome]]. For bonus points, having grabbed the blade, he then slams it into some ExplosiveInstrumentation.
* Bruce Wayne does this, too, to UsefulNotes/JohnWilkesBooth of all people. Of course, that was on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', which positively ran on RuleOfCool.
* Stabbing variation in ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania|2017}}'' when Alucard lunges across and pins his father {{Dracula}} to wall with his CoolSword, Dracula is shown to have caught the sword [[NoSell between his fingers]] harmlessly then still holding onto the blade he literally pushes Alucard back as he walks forward.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'':
** In the episode "Revelation", Ulrich pulls the move against a polymorphic clone that has taken his appearance and stolen his katana, attacking him DualWielding. TheHero then returns the weapon against his {{Doppelganger}} in the same movement, killing it.
** Ulrich gets disarmed the same way by a XANA-controlled Aelita in "Wrong Exposure".
* Danny does it with the Fright Knight in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. Considering how much he struggled with him beforehand, the fact that Danny did it with ease (and won the battle as a result) was unexpected.
* Goliath, in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', catches a sword in his open hand, upon which it starts to bleed from the sword wound. This simultaneously establishes that the gargoyles are extremely tough... but, as the villain notes, not invincible.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': In "The Power Within", Jade accidentally swallows the Rooster talisman, which possesses the powers of telekinesis and levitation, and then uses it to throw a swordfish at Tohru. Tohru stops it with both hands, and then throws it at Jackie.
* Coop from ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' does this kinda like in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Gundam SEED Destiny]]''... only this time it ''is'' fully bare-handed.
* One of the Imakandi manages to catch Jack's blade in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''. Bookended later in the episode, when Jack (with a MeditationPowerup) catches an incoming Imakandi arrow.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': The Force-Wielders of Mortis casually push aside lightsabers by the blades to show how completely they outclass everyone else.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': This is pulled off against a double-bladed spinning lightsaber by Ahsoka. What she actually does is catch the handle and deactivate the blades, but it has a similar narrative function.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Connie tries to attack Blue Diamond with Rose's sword, but Blue Diamond catches the blade between the fingers of ''one hand'' and snaps it to pieces. Which was easier than it sounds, considering Blue Diamond is [[OurGiantsAreBigger so enormous]], even a {{BFS}} for a human is proportionally smaller than a butterknife.
%%* Used several times by several different characters in ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'':
** Megatron does this once; justified because he is a giant robot.
** Followed up by an epic CallBack in the episode "Orion Pax Part 3" where [[spoiler:Optimus is the one who blocks a strike from Megatron, reversing their roles from the above situation]]. Can also count as a {{Bookends}} since it closes a storyline that spanned seven episodes.
** Predaking, near the end of the series, does something similar, blocking Wheeljack's [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks thrown swords]] with his forearm... and just ''leaving them sticking out for a bit'' when they pierce slightly, as they fail to hinder his fighting ability in any meaningful way.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' Season 1, Brock Samson throws his knife at Molotov Cocktease, hitting her square in the head-- she catches it in her ''teeth.''
* Grougaloragran pulls this off a time or two in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', catching Nox's blade between two fingers -- even when the Xelor is ''stopping time'' before attacking. [[spoiler:Of course, Grougal is a freaking ''dragon'' in human form.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Many fencing masters in European sword fighting manuals of the 14th-17th century suggested grabbing your opponent's sword as a possible, albeit risky move to set yourself up for a counterstrike. The sword would be firstly stifled in a bind. Thus, the blade could be more safely (that's more safely, not necessarily safely) grabbed. This includes edgeless "later" rapiers of the beginning of the 17th century espoused by Capo Ferro and similar masters as well as the two-handed war sword.
* Although blade-grabbing in European fencing could be attempted with bare hands, it was safer and more reliable to use some kind of protection. Admittedly, these methods were not "bare handed":
** Fencers would sometimes wrap their offhand in their cape so that they could use it to block or parry their opponent's sword thrusts.
** Wearing leather gloves was also recommended if trying to grasp an opponent's blade. It did catch on enough that dueling daggers were made with wave-edged blades: grabbing the blade only stands a chance of working if the cutting edge of your opponent's weapon is straight; a wave-edged blade essentially acts as serration so that, if your opponent makes the mistake of trying to grab your dagger, the simple act of pulling the blade from his hand will give him a nasty slice, and may actually lop off a few fingers.
** Dueling gauntlets made mainly of either plate or mail often had a bare leather palm for the sword hand but a mail-covered palm for the off hand so that it could be used for parrying without a weapon.
** This is why in sport fencing, the off hand is traditionally ungloved in order to prevent this sort of nonsense.
* Subverted by real life Kenjutsu, in that the style known for doing this, the Yagyū Shinkage Ryū, never said you could ''catch the blade''. Their technique, mutō, lets the practitioner ''take a sword from an enemy, while unarmed''. Notice it doesn't say ''what'' he grabs (it involves stepping inside the sword's reach -- not as impossible as it sounds, especially with the Shinkage Ryū's emphasis on controlling a fight's spacing). The ideal goal, the true mutō or No Sword, was to reach a point where the enemy, knowing you'll take his sword, ''gets so concerned not to let you do it, that he forgets he can cut you''. Knowing how to take swords, and being known for that knowledge, means never having to take a sword.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGmYzOi1BUE This]] short but [[GroinAttack painful]] rapier bout illustrates one of the dangers of a failed attempt to grab the opponent's sword.
* This probably got inspired by {{Ninja}} sometimes doing it, but they were wearing metal hand bands (like these [[http://www.prestoimages.com/store/rd2267/2267_pd1296631_1.jpg climbing claws]]) so they could do it without getting cut. Since ninja typically fought in the dark, the samurai couldn't see the hand bands, so it really looked like the ninja was catching the blade. Since ninja were happy to encourage any perception that they possessed supernatural or otherwise superhuman abilities, they did nothing to correct this misconception.
* Some standard combat techniques in Late Medieval and Renaissance German 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. Many longswords were relatively dull or "chisel sharp" in the middle with only the tip honed to razor-sharpness. Less accurate modern sword replicas are often razor-sharp along the entire blade, which makes half-swording without gloves more dangerous.
** Some [[{{BFS}} German Zweihanders]] have about six inches or so of the base of the blade near the crossguard formed into a blunt rectangular ''ricasso'' so that you hold the sword by the blade, effectively shortening its considerable length for fighting in close quarters. Likewise, some Scottish Claymores have this area wrapped in leather, for the same reason. Certain longswords also had a ''ricasso'' large enough to wrap one's hand around.
** This is referenced in an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'', where the killer of the week attacks Bones with a movie prop sword, and she notes that he's holding it in this manner, something only a Medieval buff would know to do, since movies almost never show this technique.
* It is said that the Zen Buddhist monk and martial artist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motsugai Motsugai]] defeated swordsman Isami Kondo by using two wooden begging bowls, one in each hand, to pin and trap the spear Kondo wielded against him.
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