Samurai Swords

Historically, Samurai were members of the Japanese warrior class and, as such, constituted Japan's military nobility.  Samurai swords were the traditional bladed weapons of Japan, and only Samurai were allowed to wear them.  They were of course used in combat by Samurai warriors, but they were also worn for ceremonial events and, like American "six-shooters," were worn in the ordinary course of every day.

Samurai swords are categorized into several types according to their size and design:

The Samurai sword that most people are familiar with is the katana.  Icons of traditional Japanese culture, these long swords range from about 70 centimetres to about 90 centimetres in length.  They are single-edged swords with blades that are usually curved.  Katana were traditionally worn by the Samurai during the Japanese feudal period of the 1200s through the 1800s.  By the 17th or 18th century, however, they had become more of a ceremonial sword or an emblem of social status than a weapon of war.

Swords used in battle by the Samurai also include the Wakizashi or shoto - a similarly designed but shorter sword, the Daito and the Tachi.  The wakizashi (which means "side arm" or "side sword") averaged about 50 centimeters in length.  Typically, a Samurai wore his katana together with a wakizashi or shoto.  This pairing of Samurai swords was called the daisho, and together, they were formidable weapons.  The long-bladed katana was used for slashing in more open combat, while the shorter weapon was used for close combat and, like a western-style knife, was suitable for stabbing opponents,  Samurai also used the short blade for decapitating fallen enemies and for seppuku, the form of ritual suicide that was frequently employed by a disgraced Samurai in order to try to regain his honour.   The daisho - the katana and the wakizashi or shoto paired together - signified the reputation, personal honour and social status of the Samurai who wore them.  Until their abolishment in the late 1800s, Samurai were the only Japanese social class entitled to wear the daisho.

Some notable Samurai were able to wield their two Samurai swords - the katana and the wakizashi - at the same time, one in each hand.  This ability obviously gave them a great advantage in combat, and these warriors were formidable indeed.

Samurai were a proud and accomplished class of warrior-knights.  Their life was governed by the dictates of their feudal lord and by Bushido (a philosophy or doctrine known as the "way of the warrior").  The weapons and armour the Samurai wore and used, as well as some elements of their lifestyle and code of conduct, were analogous to those of the knights of the European feudal period.  Bushido taught that the katana represented the samurai's soul, and, like some European Medieval swords, these Samurai swords were often given names.  

Samurai, like European feudal knights, lived and died by a strict code of honour.  Like European feudal knights, most Samurai owed fealty to their lords.  And like European feudal knights, Samurai used bladed weapons of great destructive power during battle.  Samurai swords were, and are, a symbol of the code of honour that the Samurai so gloriously lived by. 

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