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A katana (刀, かたな, lit. 'one-sided blade') is a Japanese sabre characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands.
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.
In Japan, Japanese swords are rated by authorities of each period, and some of the authority of the rating is still valid today. In 1719, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the 8th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, ordered Hon'ami Kōchū, who was an authority of sword appraisal, to record swords possessed by daimyo all over Japan in books.
from left to right: naginata, tsurugi, tantō, katana and tachi (not to scale) The term "National Treasure" has been used in Japan to denote cultural properties since 1897, [1] [2] although the definition and the criteria have changed since the introduction of the term.
A matched set (daisho) of antique Japanese (samurai) swords and their individual mountings (koshirae), katana on top and wakisashi below, Edo period. Swordsmanship, the art of the sword, has an almost mythological ethos, and is believed by some to be the paramount martial art, surpassing all others. Regardless of the truth of that belief, the ...
It is thought likely that the first iron swords were manufactured in Japan in the fourth century, based on technology imported from China via the Korean peninsula. [4]: 1 While swords clearly played an important cultural and religious role in ancient Japan, [4]: 5, 14 in the Heian period the globally recognised curved Japanese sword (the katana) was developed and swords became important ...
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.
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.