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The katana belongs to the nihontō family of swords, and is distinguished by a blade length (nagasa) of more than 2 shaku, approximately 60 cm (24 in). [9] Katana can also be known as dai or daitō among Western sword enthusiasts, although daitō is a generic name for any Japanese long sword, literally meaning "big sword". [10]
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 kanji for katana is: 刀 The kanji for o-katana are: 大刀 The kanji for ko-katana are: 小刀 These are the kunyomi or Japanese readings of the kanji. And, oh, these different terms, which apparently have very different meanings when applied with specificity, share the same kanji.
For example, many of the tachi that Masamune forged during the Kamakura period were converted into katana, so his only existing works are katana and tantō. [75] During this period, a great flood occurred in Bizen, which was the largest production area of Japanese swords, and the Bizen school rapidly declined, after which the Mino school ...
kōgai (笄) – a skewer for the owner's hair-do, carried in a pocket of the scabbards of katana and wakizashi on the side opposite of the kozuka. [33] [34] kogatana (小刀) – any knife, particularly a small utility knife carried in a pocket of the scabbards of katana and wakizashi. ko-itame-hada (小板目肌) – see itame-hada. [35]
As ōdachi became useless, it was often replaced with a tachi and katana. [10] Magara Naotaka, a retainer of the Asakura clan in the Battle of Anegawa. He was famous as a master of a ōdachi named Taro tachi (太郎太刀) with a length of blade of 7 shaku 3 sun (approx. 221 cm (87 in) or the whole length of 9 shaku 5 sun (approx. 288 cm (113 ...
The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana.Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalized Japanese words and grammatical elements; and katakana, used primarily for foreign words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis.
A distinguishing feature of many kenjutsu syllabi is the use of a paired katana or daitō and wakizashi or shōtō, commonly referred to as nitōjutsu (二刀術, two sword methods). Styles that teach it are called nitōryū (二刀流, two sword school); contrast ittō-ryū (一刀流, one sword school).