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A kaishakunin (Japanese: 介錯人, lit. ' assist mistake person ') is a man appointed to behead an individual who has performed seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide, at the moment of agony. The role played by the kaishakunin is called kaishaku.
An executioner's sword is a sword designed specifically for decapitation of condemned criminals (as opposed to combat). These swords were intended for two-handed use, but were lacking a point, so that their overall blade length was typically that of a single-handed sword (ca. 80–90 cm (31–35 in)).
The Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai (日本美術刀剣保存協会, 'The Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords', NBTHK) is a public interest incorporated foundation established in February 1948 to preserve and promote Japanese swords that have artistic value. They run a Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo and have a secretariat in the ...
Decapitation by sword [citation needed] Execution by hanging [citation needed] Sawing [3] Waist-cutting (cutting the person in half). [citation needed] The Kanazawa han coupled this with decapitation [citation needed]. The death penalty often carried collateral punishments.
Japanese swords since the sintō period often have gorgeous decorations carved on the blade and lacquered maki-e decorations on the scabbard. This was due to the economic development and the increased value of swords as arts and crafts as the Sengoku period ended and the peaceful Edo period began. [80]
Wazamono (Japanese: 業 （ わざ ） 物 （ もの ）) is a Japanese term that, in a literal sense, refers to an instrument that plays as it should; in the context of Japanese swords and sword collecting, wazamono denotes any sword with a sharp edge that has been tested to cut well, usually by professional sword appraisers via the art of tameshigiri (test cutting).
The first standard sword of the Japanese military was known as the kyū guntō (旧軍刀, old military sword). Murata Tsuneyoshi (1838–1921), a Japanese general who previously made guns, started making what was probably the first mass-produced substitute for traditionally made samurai swords.
Perhaps one of the most famed Kotetsu blades was a fake: that of Kondō Isami, the commander of the late Edo-era patrol force called Shinsengumi.However, this sword was not a Kotetsu, but instead a sword made by the foremost smith of that era (known in Japanese swordmaking history as the shinshin-to era), Minamoto Kiyomaro, and bearing a forged Kotetsu signature made by master signature-faker ...