Scabbard

Kal-jip (칼집, kaljip) is the scabbard or sheath of a sword in the Korean vocabulary of kumdo. The standard Korean dictionary defines it as an object made so that the body of the blade can be inserted into it, protecting the edge. The word 검집 (geomjip) is a synonym.

Materials and construction

• Scabbards are broadly divided into wooden, leather and metal ones. Materials are often combined, for example a wooden core covered with leather or metal.
• According to a material from a university traditional martial arts research club, the scabbard of the traditional Korean sabre (환도, hwando) was made by carving two pieces of wood and joining them with glutinous rice paste, then finishing with lacquer. The wood was thinner than in Japan because it was wrapped in traditional paper (한지, hanji) or hemp.
• A scabbard preserved as a Korean cultural heritage item is made of wood covered with fish skin (어피, eopi) and lacquer, with a silver ornament at the tip and a strap for wearing it.

In kumdo practice

• Napdo (납도, 納刀): per a Korean dojang web page, this is the motion of returning the sword into the scabbard. Ideally the blade is aligned with the direction of the scabbard worn at the waist. The left hand gently wraps the scabbard and the fingers form its opening, so the spine of the blade does not slide against the scabbard and the sheathing is quiet.
• The left hand holding the scabbard must stay against the waist so that, if a mistake happens, the edge does not enter the body. The same page advises against practising napdo with a real sword (진검, jingeom) at the start.
• Baldo (발도, 拔刀) means drawing the sword.
• According to Scott Shaw's article in Black Belt (May 2000), once the sword is drawn in kumdo, the sheath is often used as a blocking tool or a secondary striking weapon.
• A US martial arts academy describes its kumdo progression as starting with a heavy wooden sword, then a wooden sword with a scabbard, then a dull metal sword.