CaneSword

The Shikomizue (仕込み杖 Japanese prepared cane) is a Japanese concealed sword disguised as a cane or walking stick. It was sometimes used by government officials in Japan in the Meiji period.

The name Shikomi-zue is actually the name of a type of mounting, the sword blade was placed in a cane-like mounting (tsue), to conceal the fact that it was a sword. This mounting was used almost exclusively during the Meiji period, when the carrying of swords was banned. The blades used in these mountings were usually of poor quality. These mountings are not to be confused with the Shira-Saya mountings, which were just plain wooden mountings with no decoration.

This type of arrangement was most often used by samurai who opposed the ban on openly carrying their swords but knew that open violation of the law could lead to imprisonment and death.

It has appeared a few times in the anime and manga series Rurouni Kenshin, and is also the weapon used by film character Zatoichi. In another anime series, Bleach, Kisuke Urahara's zanpakutou is a shikomizue, when not in shikai form. A similar sword is also used by Ukyo Tachibana from the video game series Samurai Shodown and Hibiki Takane from the The Last Blade. Both the characters of O-Ren Ishii and Johnny Mo from the film Kill Bill wield swords like a shikomizue, with O-Ren's housed in a contemporary sheathe and Johnny Mo's is actually twin swords with wooden hilts.