The Samurai were once proud warriors
in
Japan
that started out in as early as 764 A.D and in 1868 A.D the Samurai class was
abolished. Ninja's however opposed the Samurai & they didn't take to the honour
side of things like the Samurai did. For the Ninja Sword it
was about the same size as thekatana but a
straight blade. Both warriors in fact (in their peak) were highly skilled
killing machines.
As for the Samurai swords, there was 3 main classifications:
When people refer to a Samurai sword they
most likely mean the katana sword.
The Katana
Katana (刀) is the word
for "sword" in the Japanese language. 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. This article
refers to both. Pronounced [kah-tah-nah] in the kun'yomi (Japanese reading) of
the kanji 刀, the on'yomi (Chinese language reading) is tō.
While the word has no separate plural form in Japanese, it has been adopted as
a loan word by the English language, where it is pluralized as either
"katanas" or "katana."
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. It could also be worn with the tantō, an even
smaller similarly shaped blade. The two weapons together were called the daishō
which literally means big-small, and represented the social power and personal
honor of the samurai. The long blade was used for open combat, while the
shorter blade was considered a side arm, more suited for stabbing, close combat
(such as indoors), and seppuku, a form of ritual suicide.
Samurai Info
