Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A diagram of a katana and koshirae with components identified. Fuchi (縁): The fuchi is a hilt collar between the tsuka and the tsuba.; Habaki (鎺): The habaki is a wedge-shaped metal collar used to keep the sword from falling out of the saya and to support the fittings below; fitted at the ha-machi and mune-machi which precede the nakago.
Visual glossary of Japanese sword terms. Japanese swordsmithing is the labour-intensive bladesmithing process developed in Japan beginning in the sixth century for forging traditionally made bladed weapons [1] [2] including katana, wakizashi, tantō, yari, naginata, nagamaki, tachi, nodachi, ōdachi, kodachi, and ya.
The nagamaki was a long sword with a blade that could be 60 cm (24 in) or more and a handle of about equal length to the blade. [3] The blade was single-edged, resembling a naginata blade, but the handle (tsuka) of the nagamaki was not a smooth-surfaced wooden shaft as in the naginata; it was made more like a katana hilt.
The shinai comprises four slats known as take (竹), which are held together by three leather fittings: a hilt (tsuka), or handle wrapping (tsuka-gawa (柄皮)); a fitting at the tip (saki-gawa (先皮)) and a leather strip (naka-yui (中結)) that binds the four slats. The parts are all secured with a string (tsuru (弦)).
Jitte can occasionally be found housed in a sword-type case hiding the jitte from view entirely. This type of jitte can have the same parts and fittings as a sword, including seppa, tsuba, menuki, koiguchi, kojiri, nakago, mekugi-ana and mei. Sentan, the blunt point of the main shaft of the jitte. Tsuba, a hand guard present on some types of jitte.
A tachi is a type of sabre-like traditionally made Japanese sword worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Tachi and uchigatana generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on the location of the mei (銘), or signature, on the tang.
The term wakizashi did not originally specify swords of any official blade length [10] and was an abbreviation of wakizashi no katana ("sword thrust at one's side"); the term was applied to companion swords of all sizes. [11] Antique Japanese daishō, the traditional pairing of two Japanese swords which were the symbol of the samurai, showing ...
nagamaki (長巻, "long wrapping") – a large sword with a usually katana-sized blade and a very long handle of about equal length. Successor design to the ōdachi / nodachi . naginata ( 薙刀, 長刀 ) – polearm wielded in large sweeping strokes.