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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.
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).
Gotō Yūjō (後藤 祐乗, 1440 – June 20, 1512) was a famous artisan, and the founder of the Goto Family line of Japanese sword fittings makers. Yujo is said to have been a retainer to Ashikaga Yoshimasa and was initially employed to establish a government mint to control the making and quality of gold currency.
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.
A fully mounted scabbard (koshirae) may consist of a lacquered body, a taped hilt, a sword guard and decorative metal fittings. [145] Though the original purpose was to protect a sword from damage, from early times on Japanese sword mountings became a status symbol and were used to add dignity. [146]
Other types of Japanese swords include: tsurugi or ken, which is a straight double-edged sword; [19] ōdachi, tachi, which are older styles of a very long curved single-edged sword; uchigatana, a slightly shorter curved single-edged long sword; wakizashi, a medium-sized sword; and tantō, which is an even smaller knife-sized sword.
Kara-tachi sword with gilded silver fittings and inlay, imitation made in the 19th century, by Sōkichi Tamura. The Kara-tachi sword with gilded silver fittings and inlay (金銀鈿荘唐大刀, kin gin den kazari no kara-tachi) is an 8th century Japanese sword in the chokutō (直刀, lit. ' straight sword ') style.
The daishō (大小, daishō) —"large and small" [1] —is a Japanese term for a matched pair of traditionally made Japanese swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan. The etymology of the word daishō becomes apparent when the terms daitō, meaning long sword, and shōtō, meaning short sword, are used; daitō + shōtō = daishō. [2]