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Diagram showing the parts of a nihontō blade in transliterated Japanese. This is the glossary of Japanese swords, including major terms the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on Japanese swords. Within definitions, words set in boldface are defined elsewhere in the glossary.
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 Tenka-Goken (天下五剣, "Five [Greatest] Swords under Heaven") are a group of five Japanese swords. [1] Three are National Treasures of Japan, one an Imperial Property, and one a holy relic of Nichiren Buddhism. Among the five, some regard Dōjigiri as "the yokozuna of all Japanese swords" along with Ōkanehira (ja:大包平). [2]
However, to maintain the quality of Japanese swords, the Japanese government limits the number of Japanese swords a swordsmith can make in a year to 24 (up to 2 swords per month). Therefore, many of the swords called "Japanese sword" distributed around the world today are made in China, and the manufacturing process and quality are not authorized.
Enormous tachi called seoi-tachi (shouldering swords), nodachi (field swords) and ōdachi with blades 120–150 cm (47–59 in) long were forged. [ nb 3 ] [ 31 ] The high demand for swords during feudal civil wars after 1467 ( Sengoku period ) resulted in mass production and low quality swords as swordsmiths no longer refined their own steel ...
According to legend, these treasures were brought to Earth by Ninigi-no-Mikoto, legendary ancestor of the Japanese imperial line, when his grandmother, the sun goddess Amaterasu, sent him to pacify Japan. [5] These treasures were eventually said to be passed down to Emperor Jimmu, who was the first Emperor of Japan and Ninigi's great-grandson. [6]
Hikoshirō Sadamune (相模國住人貞宗 - Sagami kuni junin Sadamune; [1] born 1298 Einin – 1349 in Shōhei [2]) also called Sōshū Sadamune was a swordsmith of the Sōshū school, originally from Gōshū (also known as Ōmi province) whose works are considered some of the finest blades ever created.
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 ...