Flexible Sword or (Urumi)

The South Indian Urumi weapon 

I know a lot of people are thinking of their own sword ideas Ryu can use in the next Ninja Gaiden instalment; searching for various swords with different shapes and sizes, to me they all do the same purpose and can be wielded the same way. Tell me how a Board Sword can be wielded differently with a 9 Ring Board Sword? or a long Japanese Odachi sword wielded different with a katana? They have different shapes and sizes however they will still be wielded the same way.

Now this sword Urumi or flexible sword as I first perceived from Samurai X Rurouni Kenshin wielded by this villain called Sawagejo Cho. I later saw the same similar type of sword used in Reigns of Assassin, so I said to myself what if Ryu could wield this sword? Yes it handles like every other sword out there however the function works differently. The main feature for this weapon is the ability to bend without breaking, from this source says that Chinese assassins carry this sword and attach it to their waist/blend because it's concealable. 

As for the official name Urumi, which is not really the Chinese name, the Urumi sword is a South Indian sword. The difference between the Chinese sword and the South Indian sword is that the Urumi acts more like a rope made of sword and holding the sword vertical will prove the major difference as the Urumi cannot stand straight like a normal sword would do.

Urumi, a Malayalam movie, Sword cannot stand straight when held upwards

Also note that this weapon should not be confused with a Chain Whip as that acts exactly as a rope made of chain. Nor to be confused with Sword Whip, the chain sword Ivy from Soul Calibur wields and Dark Prince used in Prince of Persia. The Flexible Sword and Sword whip may have the same features although the major differences is that Flexible Sword bends and its flexible, while the Sword Whip can be detached and form like a chain whip, thus making the Flexible Sword not to be wielded like a chain.

Its like the flexible Ruler kids always need at school

Enough talk of differences and references about the weapon, how would Ryu wield this weapon? imagine what sort of moves he could pull out with it. If I were to design the next Ninja Gaiden game and include this weapon, I would make the weapon more complex to handle and wield. This will not be your typical Dragon Sword & Tiger Fang, your Kitestu or Dragon Sword. I would say the animation would be like Gabriel wielding the Cross Whip style and Ryu wielding the Kitestu.

To give a better insight, here is the Flexible Sword in action in the movie Reign of Assassins.