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| | Giving Up the Gun, By Victor Milan |
 | | To be sure, kiseru tended to be a foot and a half to three feet long, made out of a heavy gauge of metal, and to have handguards like a sword, but they were tobacco pipes withal. |
 | | Indeed, it failed of its fundamental purpose almost at once; his loyal lieutenant Iyeyasu betrayed him before his corpse got cold, murdering Hideyoshi's heir, whom he had sworn to support, and eradicating his supporters. |
 | | When they got around to banning tobacco pipes -- when kiseru are outlawed, only outlaws will have kiseru -- swords came back. |
| www.ncc-1776.org /tle1995/le951008.html (1070 words) |
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