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What would you call a sword whose blade is about 3ft long, an inch across, sharp on one side, and no guard?
I've been collecting swords for a while and have accurate names for each (for showing off purposes (: ), but I recently got one that has me a little puzzled. At first glance I would say it's some form of katana, but it is only curved on one side. I did a little research and it has similar aspects to a tanto, but I think it is much to long. Also, it has no tang so far as I can see.
It is one of my favorite swords for it's simplicity, so if I could have a name for it, that would be just great.
Here is a link to a picture I took of it. The wood behind it is its sheath: http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v108/24/122/724047061/n724047061_191060_9796.jpg
This is a modern replica of a relatively newer style of blade called a shikomizue...a Japanese cane sword. Stainless steel. Great for showing off and hanging on the wall, but I would not cut with it. Stainless is brittle, and many times these have rat-tail tangs. Not a bad looking piece, though.
After the ban on wearing swords in public in old Japan went into effect, a relatively large number of die-hard swordsmen had blades made/fitted like this...or something similar. Many of these type of swords had poorly forged blades, bad temper, and structuraly unsound fittings, however there are a number of surviving pieces with very well made blades and fittings. Mine is one of these. Some were even very well made katana and wakizashi, refitted to look like pieces of bamboo, branches of trees, and just plain old walking sticks. These types of swords, antique, that is, are kinda hard to find anymore...many were destroyed, and they were not ever really made in large numbers to begin with.
Other shikomizue, sometimes refered to as shinobigatana (Not translated as ninja sword...just "hidden sword", though it was sometimes used by ninja), were made long before this ban. Jo-to, staff-swords, were one such type. These were made specifically to give the bearer an unseen advantage in combat. They were fitted to look just like a jo staff, but concealed a chokuto (Straight sword).
Now, as a side note...please do not think of all straight swords as ninja swords. In reality, straight ninja swords like we see in all these movies never existed (Save for a couple of oddities). A ninja's sword was simply your standard katana in appearance. Some had sharpened tangs, used in certain tsuka-strike techniques. Some had iron sheathes to double as secondary weapons. If a person were to lay a ninja's sword next to a samurai's, the only visible differences would be in personal taste in fittings. I mean, if I were a ninja, I wouldn't be carying a sword that had NINJA written all over it. I'd go for a sword like everyone else was wearing. ^_^ Sorry for the tangent. It's one of my "things".
Anyhoo...name: Shikomizue. History: See above. Hope this helps. ^__^ Contact me if you want any info on other blades.
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