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A 13th century sword by Masatsune with a straight-edge hamon A 13th century sword by Nagamitsu, with a notare midare hamon that is wavy along the blade but straight approaching the tip. A 14th century sword by Kunimitsu 14th century sword by Masamune, with a wavy hamon. China was the first country to produce iron in Asia, around 1200 BC.
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.
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.
Japanese swords were often forged with different profiles, different blade thicknesses, and varying amounts of grind. Wakizashi and tantō, for instance, were not simply scaled-down versions of katana; they were often forged in a shape called hira-zukuri, in which the cross-sectional shape of the blade becomes an isosceles triangle. [130]
' sword hanging from a belt '), 44 large swords (大刀), 41 large swords in black sheaths (黒作大刀), one side sword (横刀), and two staff swords (杖刀). [1] The above 44 large swords can be further classified into 13 kara-tachi swords (唐大刀, lit. ' Tang large swords '), 23 large swords, 6 kara style swords (唐様大刀, kara-yō ...
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).
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.
Archaeological excavations dated the oldest sword in Japan from at least as early as second century B.C. [2]: 4 The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon Shoki (History of Japan), ancient texts on early Japanese history and myth that were compiled in the eighth century A.D., describe iron swords and swordsmanship that pre-date recorded history, attributed to the mythological age of ...