the sharpened edge is the inward curved, longer side of the blade – the opposite of a standard katana – making it extremely difficult to kill an opponent; it generally knocks the wielder's enemies "senseless" rather than killing them. the only way for the sakabatō to cut is to rotate the hilt by 180 degrees within the hand, thus holding the sword backwards. the sakabatō symbolises kenshin's oath not to kill again.