What is the Japanese wording for unsheathing a sword (katana) for about half an inch with your thumb?


I know that "tsuba" is the handguard that you use to push katana out of its
scabbard and "nuke to" means to draw a sword I think.

I'm curious how would you say/write down "draw a little bit of blade from the
scabbard with your thumb via tsuba", which could indicate the intent of the
blade wielder wanting to start trouble.




This is called 鯉口を切る. In some monolingual dictionaries, there is even an entry
for it:

> **鯉口を切る**  
>  すぐに刀が抜けるように、刃を少し引き出しておく。鯉口をくつろげる。 「刀を引き寄せ、―・って見せた」〈藤村・夜明け前〉  
>  Source: [大辞泉 via
> kotobank.jp](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AF%89%E5%8F%A3%E3%82%92%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B-493565)

the description roughly translating to

> Pulling out the blade a little bit so as to enable quick drawing of the
> sword. Loosening the mouth of a sword sheath.

鯉口 _koiguchi_ literally means "carp's mouth", because, well, the mouth of the
sheath resembles an open carp's mouth.

The verb 切る _kiru_ has many different meanings ([大辞泉 lists 22
meanings](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B-480486)) and here 切る
should maybe not be understood with its common meaning of "cutting" but
probably with the meaning of "opening something sealed/closed" (point 3 in
_ibid._ ).




This is called 鯉口を切る. In some monolingual dictionaries, there is even an entry
for it:

> **鯉口を切る**  
>  すぐに刀が抜けるように、刃を少し引き出しておく。鯉口をくつろげる。 「刀を引き寄せ、―・って見せた」〈藤村・夜明け前〉  
>  Source: [大辞泉 via
> kotobank.jp](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AF%89%E5%8F%A3%E3%82%92%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B-493565)

the description roughly translating to

> Pulling out the blade a little bit so as to enable quick drawing of the
> sword. Loosening the mouth of a sword sheath.

鯉口 _koiguchi_ literally means "carp's mouth", because, well, the mouth of the
sheath resembles an open carp's mouth.

The verb 切る _kiru_ has many different meanings ([大辞泉 lists 22
meanings](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B-480486)) and here 切る
should maybe not be understood with its common meaning of "cutting" but
probably with the meaning of "opening something sealed/closed" (point 3 in
_ibid._ ).

