| The first samurai swords we're actually | | | | There are three main types of samurai sword. |
| straight bladed, single edged weapons | | | | 1: Katana: The longest type of sword, over |
| imported from Korea and China known as | | | | 24inches, generally used for outdoor combat. |
| chokuto, which were later replaced with the | | | | 2: Wakizashi: Around a third shorter than the |
| curved blade variety at the end of the 8th | | | | Katana at between 12 and 24 inches, this was |
| Century. The name of the curved blade swords | | | | worn in indoor establishments by samurai for |
| which replaced them was Tachi. The reason for | | | | its obvious better manouverability indoors. |
| this transformation was samurai found that a | | | | 3: Tanto: A small knife used in much the same |
| curved sword could be drawn from the scabbard | | | | manner as a Wakizashi. |
| more swiftly and provided a far more | | | | |
| effective cutting angle. | | | | As part of the samurai sword making process a |
| | | | sword tester took the new blade and cut |
| The point of a samurai sword is called a | | | | through the bodies of corpses or condemned |
| Kissaki. This is the hardest part of the | | | | criminals. They started by cutting through |
| sword to polish and forge and to hand create | | | | the small bones of the body and moved up to |
| a quality one would require an extremely | | | | the large bones. Test results were often |
| skilful artisan. The value of a sword is | | | | recorded on the nakago (the metal piece |
| determined largely by the quality of the | | | | attaching the sword blade to the handle). |
| point. | | | | |
| | | | Shogun is the name of the most powerful |
| Samurai would use wooden swords (Bokken) for | | | | samurai, and they would wear two samurai |
| practice for safety reasons as well as for | | | | swords. A Katana and a Wakizashi. They had a |
| preserving their real swords from unnecessary | | | | license to dismember anybody who offended |
| damage. | | | | them. |
| | | | |
| The samurai would give names to their swords | | | | Early samurai would fight on horseback, and |
| as they believe in the sword lived their | | | | they're weaponry in addition to samurai |
| warrior spirit. | | | | swords was bows and arrows. |
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