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Two-handed swept, with circular or squared guard. Scabbard / sheath. Lacquered wood, some are covered with fish skin, decorated with brass and copper. [ 2 ][ 3 ] A katana (刀, かたな) is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands.
Japanese swordsmithing. Japanese swordsmithing is the labour-intensive bladesmithing process developed in Japan beginning in the sixth century for forging traditionally made bladed weapons (nihonto) [1][2] including katana, wakizashi, tantō, yari, naginata, nagamaki, tachi, nodachi, ōdachi, kodachi, and ya (arrow).
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]
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.
This was the standard form of carrying the sword for centuries, and would eventually be displaced by the katana style where the blade was worn thrust through the belt, edge up. The tachi was worn slung across the left hip.
Before the advent of the wakizashi/tantō combination, it was common for a samurai to carry a tachi and a tantō as opposed to a katana and a wakizashi. [7] It has been noted that the tachi would be paired with a tantō and later the katana would be paired with another shorter katana.
The blade length is 225.43 cm (88.75 in) and the tang is 92.41 cm (36.38 in). The ōdachi (大太刀) (large/great sword) or nodachi (野太刀, field sword)[4][5][6] is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (日本刀, nihontō)[7][8] used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The Chinese equivalent of this type of sword in terms of ...
A daishō is typically depicted as a katana and wakizashi (or a tantō) mounted in matching koshirae, but originally the daishō was the wearing of any long and short katana together. [3] The katana/wakizashi pairing is not the only daishō combination as generally any longer sword paired with a tantō is considered to be a daishō.