Tuesday, March 22, 2016

The Katana

3 comments:

  1. That was fascinating, CW. Thanks for posting.

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  2. Any blade longer than three inches with holes through the tang is considered a "sword" under Japanese law and must be documented and registered. As there have been no Samurai since the 1880's there have been NO "Samurai" swords. This is the equivalent of calling a magazine a "clip". The correct term's for Japanese blades made to kill humans is, Tachi , Katana, Wakazashi or Tonto = Long , regular, or short sword and knife. They are further subdivided by era, school and region. Collectively they are often called Nihonto . But unless they were made before the Meiji Restoration they are NEVER called "samurai" swords.

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