Samurai Sword History

A Samurai Sword would be more properly defined as any Japanese Sword wielded by a Samurai or Bushi, as they were historically known in Japan, but modern film and television have incorrectly portrayed them to be only the well-known Katana Sword and very rarely use the proper terminology.

To uncover actual Samurai Sword history we have to travel back in time to the Middle Ages as the use of steel from bronze for bladed weapons vastly improved and single edged swords became more popular throughout Asia and the production of the Japanese Tachi and Uchigatana began. Japanese Swords, or Nihonto are the traditional bladed weapons of all of Japanese history. The Tachi was mainly used by cavalry with the cutting edge down and the curvature closer to the sword hilt, and the Uchigatana was mainly used by foot soldiers and worn edge up from the belt with the curvature closer the sword point. With the eventual evolution of military and feudal society during this time period an entirely new class of warrior emerged. They were masters of the art of war and evolved from being employed as guards serving powerful leaders, into a completely dominant class of there own, the Samurai. It led to the establishment of the feudalistic military that then established the Ways of the Bushido which dominated the Japanese social structure for the next 700 years. Their primary role as military knights included total and absolute allegiance for whom they were pledged to fight, and if need be, die defending which resulted in the need for a superior single bladed weapon to use in close quarter combat as well as defence. Their demand for these high quality weapons produced swords of unrivalled perfection, as they had to be flexible enough to withstand direct impact without breaking, but had to also be hard enough to retain their sharp edge. Only the most experienced Japanese sword smiths were able to develop the forging and heat-treating methods which resulted in swords that had both of these properties, eventually named the Katana. Even the Katana itself greatly varied in style during the course of Japanese history, in the late 14th and early 15th centuries they tended to be two and a half feet long but by the early 16th century the length was much closer to two feet with a circular or squared tsuba hand guard, and a wrapped grip that could accommodate two hands. These Katana Swords were often accompanied by the similarly made but smaller swords Wakizashi or Shoto and the two weapons together represented the social power and personal honour of the wielding Samurai.