| Wooden Sword / Unlabored Flawlessness | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Strength | Low (Wooden Sword) High/Very High (Unlabored Flawlessness) |
| Speed | Medium (Wooden Sword) Low (Unlabored Flawlessness) |
| Range | Medium (Wooden Sword) High (Unlabored Flawlessness) |
| Maximum Level | 7 |
| First Appearance | |
| Debut | Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) |
The Wooden Sword is a traditional bokken, a training sword used in Kenjutsu. It shares its move list with the Dragon Sword - though it is greatly limited, and lacking several moves. In addition, it is incapable of performing Essence/Ultimate Techniques, and cannot decapitate enemies; certain armored enemies also won't take damage from the wooden sword. This weapon can be upgraded 7 times.
When fully upgraded, the Wooden Sword's visual appearance changes to resemble an eku (an oar used for combat in Okinawan Kobudo) called Unlabored Flawlessness. This weapon shares some of its moveset with other heavy weapons, such as the War Hammer and the Dabilahro, but it is capable of performing aerial attacks and even the Izuna Drop.
The Unlabored Flawlessness also has a unique ability: its damage increases when the player is below 25% health, dealing 150% increased damage (200% if one has the least amount of health possible without dying); in addition, the characters imprinted on the back of the weapon begin to glow, signifying an increase in the weapon's power. Under these conditions, the weapon deals the most damage of any weapon in the game. If the player recovers health above 25%, however, the effect will cease.
Unlike the Dabilahro and the Warhammer, the Unlabored Flawlessness cannot destroy boulders and other obstacles.
Description[]
Wooden Sword[]
"A sword made from wood. It is used mainly to practice sword fighting and is incapable of cutting attacks."
Unlabored Flawlessness[]
"The true form of the Wooden Sword. Containing an ethereal sense of weight, its impact is incredibly powerful."
Sources[]
The Wooden sword can be bought from Muramasa at any point in the original Ninja Gaiden game, while in other versions it can be either bought or rewarded for collecting Golden Scarabs, depending on the difficulty settings. The Unlabored Flawlessness is obtained by fully upgrading the wooden sword.
Moves List[]
Wooden Sword[]
Normal
- Crimson Slash: X, X, X
- Tiger's Roar: X, X, Y
- Fiend's Bane Kick: X, X, Right X, X
- Early Winter Rain: X, X Right X, Y
- Blade of the Undefeatable: Y
- Sweeping Kick: Right X
- Scarlet Dragon: Right Y
- Earth Slide: (While running) X
- Thunderclap Kick: (While running) Y
- Fiend's Bane Kick: (While blocking) X, X
- Gleaming Cross: (While blocking) Y
- Fiend Sealer: Y next to downed enemy
In Air
- Blade of the Empty Air: X
- Helmet Splitter: Y
- Air Destruction Slash: Forward + X
- Falling Dragon Blade: Forward + Y
- Guillotine Throw: (Jumping over enemy) Y
On Wall
- Cicada Slash: X or Y
- Divine Cicada Slash: (During Flying Bird Flip) X or Y
In Water
- Ripple Slash: (Floating on water surface) X or Y
- Wave Reverser: (Floating on water surface) X, X or Y, Y
- Gleaming Water Dragon: (Underwater) X or Y
- Floating Blade: (Underwater) X, X or Y, Y
Note that the Wooden Sword cannot perform Ultimate Techniques.
Unlabored Flawlessness[]
Normal
- Flaming Hell Slash: X, X, Y
- Flying Dragon Falling Slash: X, Y, X, X, X, X
- Izuna Drop: X, Y, X, X, X, Y
- Forest Fires and Mountain Winds: X, Hold Y, Y
- Boulder Splitter: Y
- Steel Splitter: Hold Y
- Tempered Steel Splitter: Hold Y (Essence Technique)
- Earth Splitter: Hold Y (Ultimate Technique)
- Hundred Demon's Bite: Right X
- Flaming Whirlwind: Right Y
- Reigning Spiral: X or Y (While blocking)
- Hundred Man Slash: Circle Y
- Corpse Crusher: Y next to downed enemy
In Air
- Flying Dragon Slash: X, X, X, X
- Izuna Drop: X, X, X, Y
- Avalanche Drop: Y
Trivia[]
- It has the most upgrade slots of any weapon in any game.
- Although the Wooden sword is the weakest weapon at first, its fully-upgraded form is (potentially) the strongest weapon.
- In the right hands, the Unlabored Flawlessness, using its low-health trick, can act as a game-breaker, rendering almost all challenging enemies in the game useless. This technique requires the user to be incredibly good at blocking and dodging because one slip-up can mean death for Ryu.
- It is the only heavy weapon to be capable of performing aerial attacks and Izuna drop in the original Ninja Gaiden and its enhanced versions.
- It is a possible, though unlikely, precursor for the Enma's Fang (aerial attacks/Izuna drop combined with heavy ground attacks).
- The Kanji on the Unlabored Flawlessness reads 天衣無縫 or "Ten I Mu Hou", which when translated essentially means "Perfect beauty with no trace of artifice", or simply, "Flawless".
- When fully upgraded it is a reference to Miyamoto Musashi's famous duel where he used a bokken carved out of a boat oar against Sasaki Kojirō.[1]
- In the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Gun Runners' Arsenal, one of the added weapons is a katana, whose special attack references the Unlabored Flawlessness.
References[]
Gallery[]
