Hi Rivkin,
You're right, of course: I'm thinking of standing waves, aka, the way the sword flexes when it hits something. The nodes are where it flexes the least, and those are where you want to hold it, unless you enjoy hand shock.
Hi Jens,
Yep, I think we've settled it. It's a good thing, too. Otherwise, we'd next have to deal with the mechanical advantage that the Chinese gain by putting those nine rings on the back of the nine-rings dao
Fearn