Description of a Samurai Sword
"Samurai Sword" is the popular term for nihonto. Generally, this refers to a single-edged, two-handed sword with a curved blade. Nihonto were one of the traditional weapons of Japan.
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History
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Historians now hold that in classical Japanese warfare, the sword was a secondary weapon at best, analogous to a sidearm rather than a infantryman's rifle. Its prevalent use was in single combat, dueling, and addressing unexpected violence like street crime.
Types
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In general terms, Japanese swords are classified by length, expressed in terms of a shaku, which is approximately 13 inches long. A tanto, which we would think of as a dagger or knife, was 1 shaku long or less. Shoto, also known as wakizashi or kodachi, were 1 to 2 shaku long. Daito, or long swords, were 2 or more shaku long, depending on the size of the user. There are extreme examples of nodachi swords more than 5 or 6 shaku in length. Classifications of nihonto vary depending on the era, use and their style.
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Manufacture
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The common thread among nihonto is a construction method that maximized the hardness of the cutting edge and the durability of the spine. This was achieved by a heat-treating method that involved coating the blade with a clay before tempering.
Function
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The high status of the samurai sword was due not only to its design, but the fact that the design was perfectly wedded to the way that it was used, and the systems of thought that grew up to facilitate and to perpetuate its use.
Misconceptions
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A "samurai sword" is not one particular type of sword. It may be one of several different styles of blades, so long as it was used according to the practices of the classical Japanese systems of martial thought.
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