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Samurai Sword Facts
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Author: Nick Johnson
Topic: Sports
Viewed: 87 time(s)
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The first samurai swords we're actually straight bladed, single
edged weapons imported from Korea and China known as chokuto,
which were later replaced with the curved blade variety at the
end of the 8th Century. The name of the curved blade swords
which replaced them was Tachi. The reason for this
transformation was samurai found that a curved sword could be
drawn from the scabbard more swiftly and provided a far more
effective cutting angle.
The point of a samurai sword is called a Kissaki. This is the
hardest part of the sword to polish and forge and to hand create
a quality one would require an extremely skilful artisan. The
value of a sword is determined largely by the quality of the
point.
Samurai would use wooden swords (Bokken) for practice for safety
reasons as well as for preserving their real swords from
unnecessary damage.
The samurai would give names to their swords as they believe in
the sword lived their warrior spirit.
There are three main types of samurai sword. 1: Katana: The
longest type of sword, over 24inches, generally used for outdoor
combat. 2: Wakizashi: Around a third shorter than the Katana at
between 12 and 24 inches, this was worn in indoor establishments
by samurai for its obvious better manouverability indoors. 3:
Tanto: A small knife used in much the same manner as a Wakizashi.
As part of the samurai sword making process a sword tester took
the new blade and cut through the bodies of corpses or condemned
criminals. They started by cutting through the small bones of
the body and moved up to the large bones. Test results were
often recorded on the nakago (the metal piece attaching the
sword blade to the handle).
Shogun is the name of the most powerful samurai, and they would
wear two samurai swords. A Katana and a Wakizashi. They had a
license to dismember anybody who offended them.
Early samurai would fight on horseback, and they're weaponry in
addition to samurai swords was bows and arrows.
About the author:
Article by Nick Johnson of Japanese samurai swords
Dot Net http://www.japanese-samurai-swords.net
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