![]() As the Edo period progressed, blade quality declined, though ornamentation was refined. ![]() As the techniques of the ancient smiths had been lost during the previous period of war, these swords were called shintō, literally "new swords." These are considered inferior to most kotō, and generally coincide with a degradation in manufacturing skills. In times of peace, swordsmiths returned to the making of refined and artistic blades, and the beginning of the Momoyama period saw the return of high quality creations. Certain Japanese swordsmiths of this period began to make blades with thicker backs and bigger points as a response to the Mongol threat. In response, Japanese swordsmiths started to adopt thinner and simpler temper lines. ![]() Often forced to abandon traditional mounted archery for hand-to-hand combat, many samurai found that their swords were too delicate and prone to damage when used against the thick leather armor of the invaders. The Mongol invasions of Japan in the thirteenth century spurred further evolution of the Japanese Sword. The craft decayed as time progressed and firearms were introduced as a decisive force on the battlefield. The export of katana reached its height during Muromachi period, when at least 200,000 katana were shipped to the Ming dynasty in official trade in an attempt to soak up the production of Japanese weapons and make it harder for pirates in the area to arm. As eras changed the centre of the curve tended to move up the blade.īy the twelfth century, civil war erupted, and the vast need for swords together with the ferocity of the fighting caused the highly artistic techniques of the Kamakura period (known as the Golden Age of Swordmaking) to be abandoned in favour of more utilitarian and disposable weapons. Early models had uneven curves with the deepest part of the curve at the hilt. Between 987 – 1597, swords are kotō: these are considered the pinnacle of Japanese swordcraft. In reality the folded steel process and single edge swords had been brought over from China through trade. According to legend, the Japanese sword was invented by a smith named Amakuni in 700 AD, along with the folded steel process. The Ainu used Warabite-tō(蕨手刀) swords and these influenced the katana. In the Heian Period (8th to 11th centuries) sword-making developed through techniques brought from Siberia and Hokkaidō, territory of the Ainu people. Before 987, examples of Japanese swords are straight chokutō or jōkotō and others with unusual shapes. The style, called Kashima no Tachi (鹿島の太刀), was created at the Kashima Shrine (in Ibaraki Prefecture). One of the oldest known Japanese forms of sword dates from the Kofun era (3rd and 4th centuries). Modern katana and wakizashi are only made by the few licenced practitioners that still practice making these crafted weapons today, and even the "type 98 katanas" of World War II are rare. ![]() The art of drawing the katana and attacking one's enemies is iaidō.Īuthentic Japanese swords are fairly uncommon today, although genuine antiques can be acquired at significant expense. While the practical arts for using the sword for its original purpose are now obsolete, kenjutsu and iaijutsu have turned into modern martial arts. The katana was primarily used for cutting, and intended for use with a two-handed grip. The long blade was used for open combat, while the shorter blade was considered a side arm, more suited for stabbing, close quarters combat, and seppuku, a form of ritual suicide. The two weapons together were called the daishō, and represented the social power and personal honour of the samurai. It could also be worn with the tantō, an even smaller similarly shaped blade. The katana was typically paired with the wakizashi or shōtō, a similarly made but shorter sword, both worn by the members of the warrior class. Pronounced in the kun'yomi (Japanese reading) of the kanji 刀, the word has been adopted as a loan word by the English language as Japanese does not have separate plural and singular forms, both "katanas" and "katana" are considered acceptable plural forms in English. It is also used specifically for a type of Japanese backsword or longsword (大刀 daitō) in use after the 1400s: a curved, single-edged sword traditionally used by the samurai. Katana (刀) is the word for " sword" in the Japanese language.
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