Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Daishō style handachi sword mounting. 16th–17th century, Azuchi–Momoyama or Edo period. From the late Muromachi period (Sengoku period) to the early Edo period, samurai were sometimes equipped with a katana blade pointing downwards like a tachi. This style of sword is called handachi, "half tachi".
The executioner's sword with scabbard (17th - 18th century), kept by the Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation . [38] Southern Europe. The sword of Saint Galgano (12th century), a medieval sword said to be of San Galgano embedded in a stone, located at the Montesiepi Chapel [it; es; fr] near the Abbey of San Galgano in Siena, Italy. [39]
Ideally, samurai could draw the sword and strike the enemy in a single motion. Previously, the curved tachi had been worn with the edge of the blade facing down and suspended from a belt. [70] [71] From the 15th century, low-quality swords were mass-produced under the influence of the large-scale war.
During the Meiji period an edict was passed in 1871 abolishing the requirement that daishō be worn by samurai, and in 1876 wearing swords in public by most of Japan's population was banned; thus ended the use of the daishō as the symbol of the samurai. The samurai class was abolished soon after the sword ban. [14] [15] [16]
The wakizashi was one of several short swords available for use by samurai including the yoroi tōshi, and the chisa-katana. 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]
Lores in the late Muromachi period (early 16th century–1573) stated that Muramasa I was a student of Masamune (c. 1300), the greatest swordsmith in Japan's history, and the Hon'ami family (family dynasty of swordpolishers and sword connoisseurs) commented that his floruit was the Jōji era (1362–1368). [9]
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.
These ancient Japanese swords are also known as jokotō (上古刀, ancient sword). [8] chōken (長剣, long sword) – Commonly used as a calque for the broadest definition of (European) long swords. chōtō (長刀, lit. long sword) – either a nagakatana (due to long blade) or a naginata (due to long handle). [9]