Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on September 4, 2003.
The Sword is an often discussed subject on the internet when people are discussing Aikido. Regrettably, I almost never see anyone holding the sword properly or even making a proper cut. I hope that people do not think that swordsmanship is as easy as they think it is. When we view O'Sensei's sword work it is truly something more amazing than what we can possibly imagine.
Whatever fancy move we may make, if it doesn't perfectly conform to the very fundamentals of swordsmanship, it is not swordsmanship at all.
As difficult as swordsmanship is to attain, there is nothing more profoundly beautiful and subtle.
We find many truths in our sword practice, I think this is why the sword has been so revered by countless numbers of generations of great warriors from times past.
Old samurai saying: Hold the sword before you and see the gates of hell, raise the sword above your head and go forward and open the gates of paradise.