Samurai Swords - Katana, Tachi & Sizes

When talking about samurai swords, specifically the katana, I have pointed out in the past they they tend to be quite short by Western standards. However, there is more to it than that and the katana is different to the tachi. I am by far from being an authority on Japanese swords, so please forgive any errors I make here, but I believe the basic points are correct and might prove useful for some people.

[@ThatsLeoYKnow]

8:37 "So, I'm going to finish up there. But to samuraize..."

[@crashdummy40]

187th thumbs up.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

The later katana was a weapon of an extended period of peace in Japanese history, it wasn't until the civil wars surrounding the end of the shogunate and the early Meiji era that it takes its place on the battlefield, by that time there's no tradition of using longer swords left.

[@tsmspace]

by "peace" do you mean "policing"? I'm pretty sure not everyone was happy with their "nobels".

[@CyrusKazan]

@@tsmspace By peace they mean the land wasn't embroiled in large-scale warfare. Meaning the Edo period where the Tokugawa Shogunate had taken control and ended the Warring States period.

[@BigWillyG1000]

Basically they made their version of the smallsword. An 18th century gentleman isn't betting his life on the battlefield on a smallsword. If he was going to use a sword he'd have a saber or broadsword but smallsword are great rank badges saying I am a gentleman and are perfectly good for settling matters of honor with other gentlemen using smallswords or fending on thieves from among 'the mob." Several of Stephen Turnbulls books on the samurai when talking about the Edo period have contemporary descriptions of much the same function with katanas.

[@The_Crimson_Fucker]

@@tsmspace I wasn't aware Alfred Nobel's family ruled Japan between the Sengoku Jidai and the Meiji Restoration. That's a mean feat for a bunch of Swedes in a country which specifically banned their presence.

[@parokki]

@@The_Crimson_Fucker Yeah but they invented dynamite, so good luck stopping them.

[@Stephen_Curtin]

As far as I can remember the "no" in nodachi means field. So nodachi means field sword. You were right when you said "o" means big. So big sword is odachi or ogatana.

[@atomic_wait]

I think you're correct here. I think 'o' is the kunyomi and 'dai' is the onyomi pronunciation of the character for 'big, great, large, etc'. Apparently 'tachi' is derived from the verb 'to sever', but the kanji are a slightly shifted version of the Chinese 'dadao' or 'big sword'. So 'ōdachi' would sort of be 'great big sword', maybe?

[@Stephen_Curtin]

@@atomic_wait Isn't katana also the same character as "to"? So that would make daito and ogatana different pronounciations of that same characters which in Chinese would be dadao.

[@saldiven2009]

It's actually the "da" in "nodachi" that refers to big, but the kanji is actually for "fat." The three kanji in "nodachi" are "field," "fat," and "sword." 野太刀

[@markmanhetherington1]

@@Stephen_Curtin it would be mixing up kunyomi (Japanese) and onyomi (Chinese) pronunciations in the middle of a word though. Daito is the onyomi pronounced equivalent to dadao.

[@Kageitenshi]

@@saldiven2009 A kodachi 小太刀 by that logic would be small fat (big) sword. As was pointed out, the word tachi is derived from tachikiru the active verb form of "to sever" or "cut off." The kanji 太 was shifted from 大 merely to differentiate the specific type of sword later on from around 9th to late 12th centuries by substituting the dai kanji with one with identical onyomi reading of dai / ta/da as used in compound kanji. The kanji 太 for plump, thick or big just happens to differ only by that little extra line from large. Words with the same pronunciation as a part of a compound kanji, but different kanji symbols and kunyomi based on context are prevalent and a dai headache for someone trying to learn Japanese. The kunyomi of 大 reads as おお - ō as used in the adjective 大きい - ookii = large, as opposed to だい dai as a compound prefix, whereas 太い reads as ふとい - futoi as an adjective for fat. Ko 小 is one of the kunyomi for small, as it is not a part of the compound kanji for tachi that is comprised of the onyomi ta for 太 that modifies the reading of 刀 that doesn't otherwise read as chi in either onyomi or kunyomi. Though it does change the reading of ta -> da, just like small katana becomes kogatana, or large ōgatana. Another example is the polearm 薙刀 naginata - literally mowing (nagi - to mow) hatchet (nata,) where the compound reading of 刀 is once again modified to something entirely different from the way it is read alone, simply as a means to consolidate it under the umbrella of 刀 blades. Further edit for an example of confusing reading of words: kami can mean either 紙 paper, 剃 hair, or 神 god, so かみそり kamisori doesn't read as paper or god sword, but rather 剃刀 = razor / hair blade. The Japanese are quite fond of word plays based on the variety of words that share the same reading but contextual meanings. TL:DR Compound kanji can not necessarily be read as the sum of its parts.

[@quidestveritas659]

野 = No = Field. 大 = ō = Big.

[@potiron_4542]

So... Nodachi? Is Dachi means the same thing than Tachi, or it's completely different?

[@TBStudios91]

@@potiron_4542 I might be wrong but I remember that sometimes some words letters change if put together, so "O" and "TACHI" should become "ODACHI"

[@quidestveritas659]

@@potiron_4542 Yes, the Dachi and Tachi are the same word with different voicings depending on the order. Japanese has some tricky aspects. On the other hand imagine trying to explain to someone how english vowels 'work'..

[@rollatorwieltje]

@@potiron_4542 it's the same word, that change from ta to da is called rendaku. It happens with many compound words.

[@viljakainu1548]

Oh so he didn't mean to use the single o that's a honorific that can be used to signify 'your honoured' but ō/oo/ou/oh. Wait, double o? ō7 :D @TBStudios91 phoneme harmony exists in many languages, and is a very cool thing! Japanese examples also include s -> j, h->p, h->b, fu/hu->pu fu/hu -> bu, k->g and so forth. You wouldn't say Iwo-Shima (shi->ji) or ipun, nipun, sanpun but ippun (fu->pu), nifun, sambun (both n->m and fu->bu) , instead, so the words are in conformance to how Japanese ought to sound. Finnish examples would take very long to explain, but as a single example of cases and substitution for vesi (water) inflected to veden (genitive, showing s->d harmony) vettä (partitive s->t harmony) to use cases that are more intuitive to indo european language speakers. Note that the word body of water is not ve but vesi, the consonant s just harmonises with t and d in Finnish, as shown by vesittämätönkään (here the body is unchanged with a couple of suffixes) or veteensä (s-t harmony + suffixes). And since people like to claim we use ungainly or uncommon examples, these aren't. Vesittämätönkään vastatoimenpide ei olisi toiminut = even the un-watered down counteraction wouldn't have worked

[@ksana6572]

These are some knowledge from what I have read over the years although some are common knowledge in the Japanese sword industry. I am by no means an expert and is only a history enthusiast Before anything I'd like to address that just because in english Japanese swords are only subject to one umbrella term "katana," this does not mean Japanese swords have not evolved and changed, it was in fact much like how spatha and the viking sword evolved into the medieval arming sword which evolved into various other things (I am no expert on european sword). In "Japanese" Japanese sword terminology, Katana (刀) could refers to any Japanese sword, uchigatana (打刀) is what typically in is referred to as katana most of the time today however a tachi (太刀) could also be referred to as "katana," as katana simply means sword in a normal context. Tachi was the earlier of the two (beginning in Heian period, which was the rise of the military nobility and this was probably not a coincidence), originating from previous straight singled edged swords (styled from china), the curvature was a (conflicting accounts, this is my take) mixture from emishi (northern Honshu natives) influence, cavalry combat usage and the clay tempering technique, and was worn with the edge down suspended from the belt which was better suited for mounted combat compared to the edge up in belt of the uchigatana. The uchigatana and wakizashi originated in the early twelfth century as the "Sasuga"(刺刀) which was an infantry sidearm worn with the edge up like a modern uchigatana. Now for the actual difference between the various sword types. Shaku and sun and hun (in Chinese: Chi, cun and fen) are East asian measurements that measured different in different time and places, however I here am using the Japanese version which was always around 30.3cm, 3.03cm and 0.303cm. Nodachi (野太刀) and Odachi (大太刀) are seen as the same term in mainstream Japanese sword industry, however some people descride nodachi as being something bigger than 90cm and odachi being something longer than 150cm. The mainstream thought is that they are the same term and is longer than 90cm but could go beyond 200cm. Tachi had to be longer than 60cm (which is two shaku) and could go up to 90cm (roughly three shaku). The average length was around 80cm. Uchigatana had to be longer than 60cm (again two shaku) and could go to 90 cm. The average length was different from time to time but it was always around two shaku three sun which was roughly 69cm. These are the long, "combat swords" if you will, that primarily commoners were restricted from carrying (beginning from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's reign) also these were restricted in length to carry by military nobility in the edo period as well. The wakizashi was longer than 30cm (one shaku) and to 60 cm. The kodachi which was a short sword version of the tachi which was under 60 cm did exist, however its uses are still debated and no one really knows why it exists. Although I think of it as a sidearm, as the famous (though possibly anecdotal) last words of Minamoto no Yoshitomo (a noble of the end of Heian period): 我に小太刀の一本でもあれば討たれはせん (Even if I had only a kodachi I would not be killed). He was assassinated by a plot. The tanto was really anything under 30cm. Starting now on the practical difference between the tachi and uchigatana (katana). The tachi was a sword originally suited for cavalry purposes, and early original finds had a shorter handle than later swords, however could still be wielded with two hands, it is longer and had a stronger and different type of curvature to the uchigatana, the handle was extremely curved inwards. The scabbard has a suspension mechanism which lets it hang parallel from the belt. However later made "tachi" and tachi fittings could be different to original tachi of the different time period as the tachi also changed quite a bit through time. The uchigatana is what normally you'd imagine a katana is. The uchigatana managed to become more popular than the tachi in sengoku period, as dismounted combat became more frequent and important however, tachi was still used as the cavalry weapon and the uchigatana could also be worn with the edge up if the person going to be mounted. The tachi and uchigatana could also be worn together along with a wakizashi as I have seen from a historical accurate illustration from an artist who often draws illustration for Japanese historical arms and armour books. (The uchigatana could be worn with the edge down with armour, it just means you are not going to be mounted, if you are going to be mounted then you would wear a uchigatana edge up even in plain clothes.) In conclusion the tachi is the original battlefield cavalry oriented sword (used on horse with one hand and can be used with two) which was used along side uchigatana to the end of the Satsuma rebellion and the tachi fitting continued into the modern era as Japanese military swords (the gunto, though the Japanese military swords of Imperial Japan was really more a uchigatana cased in a sabre and later modern tachi fittings). The uchigatana is a later infantry sword that became the common sword due to being easier to wear and carry on foot, as war became more more rare in Japan/wars were becoming more infantry oriented in Japan, as previously from Heian period onwards, heavy armoured cavalry/ cavalry archers (which were the bushi/buke/samurai class) dominated the battlefield. I digress, however this is the real confusing part about Japanese swords, a uchigatana blade could be remounted into a tachi fitting, and a tachi could be remounted into a uchigatana fitting. The tachi and odachi from time previous to the azuchi-momoyama era were also possibly grind and polished to have their blade profile changed into a uchigatana of the time (uchigatana became the common worn and carry sword during sengoku period). So how to identify uchigatana and tachi blades? Well Japanese sword blades technically have a front and back face, in which the front face was the face to the outside when worn, so if the smith signs their name on the side that is facing outwards when worn as a tachi then it possibly is a tachi and vice versa for a uchigatana. However, there are exception to this and also what about those swords without the smith's signature. Then the sword blade can only be identified with possible evidence of grinding and polishing, the details of the steel and the blade profile as Japanese sword had various different blade profiles through time. Straying from the main topic, the wearing of two swords, one longer and one shorter only became popular in the muromachi period (previously the normal set of sidearms was a tachi and possibly a dagger (tanto) which was worn in the belt, however it was for all classes not only the military nobility (bushi/buke/samurai), only after the confiscation of swords from Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the ban of commoners carrying a sword longer than 2 shaku (60.6cm), did a pair of swords become a symbol for military nobility. Before that, the bow and horsemanship were the common symbol of the military nobility.

[@ksana6572]

I could provide some sources if anyone is interested, however as I only wrote this in a hurry I can't site all the information to every source, and sadly the sources are all in Japanese (which I feel very sad about, as there are so many misconceptions still surround Japanese swords in and outside of Japan) and I don't feel as if I have the profession to translate everything in the sources, and that the information I have typed could be wrong and should be taken with a slight grain of salt as with any information.

[@adenyang4398]

有井一満 I would like to point out though that the average of katana blade length being 2 shaku 3 sun (69 cm) not be entirely correct, considering how early Edo period’s sword restriction laws and the Ōsuriage (大磨上げ) practice led a large number of katanas being cut down into that length range. (there was one specific law that limited blade length to around 27.4 inches or so) Longer katana became prominent again during the Shinshinto/bakumatsu era when the restriction laws became loose again & smiths were inspired by Kotō era works: new.uniquejapan.com/late-edo-long-handachi-koshirae-katana-unsigned-mumei/?com=Swords new.uniquejapan.com/an-echigo-no-kami-kanesada-nidai-katana/ Also note how among modern koryu/budo practitioners, 2 shaku 3 sun blades are popular among certain kenjutsu schools, while 2 shaku 5 sun blades (roughly 75 cm) are prominent among many batto/iai practitioners. Not to mention some koryu schools still teaching usage of very small nodachi/larger-end katana.

[@penttikoivuniemi2146]

Good information. If somebody read my earlier post, these are the correct lengths of blades. I wrote mine out of foggy memories on information I got in a Japanese museum.

[@MaxSluiman]

Good comment!

[@markmanhetherington1]

Excellent comment, thank you for taking the time to explain this.

[@lildragon6415]

The Tachi was worn edge down with a mounting meant to hang off the belt tied around the samurai armor's waist. Its mounting is designed for the battle field since it is fixed onto the belt. The katana was worn edge up meant to tuck inside of the belt rather than hung from it. Its mounting is designed for convenience. It is easy to tuck into or pull out of the belt when exiting or entering a home.

[@pompadour_gagarin1723]

Uchigatana which were tucked in the obi definitely were battlefield weapons and not primarily threshold trespassing implements. It IS a matter of convenience, but it's mostly because the common footmen of the muromachi era didn't have much room to wear a 35in long sword dangling on a bauldric, while also manipulating 18ft long spears, so short and in the belt that is! Tachi are also mounted and worn for conveniencee for that matter, "designed for the battle field" means little in this regard.

[@MaxSluiman]

Tachi were hung from the belt because they were meant to be used from horseback. You need to move the scabbard before drawing, unless you want to cut off the head off your horse. Just like European cavalry sabers. This is however, hugely inconvenient for infantry. To run around, you want your equipment to be close and swing/rattle free to your body. Hence you tuck your swords in your obi.

[@tsduali7516]

yes , Katana was used as Short sword or arming sword like in EU ( or short sabers/ daggers in middle eat and Caucasus ) , it's kinda obvious , plus shorter blades like Wakizashi ( or / and Tanto - >daisho ) also changed it's purpose , from used against armored opponents to as symbolic of - and for seppuku , from 15Th century it became as a marker ( also toshi ) , side arm of Samurai .

[@RelativelyBest]

You know, people keep saying stuff like: "They wore the katana edge up so drawing it immediately turns into a cut!" but the fact is that if you just stick a katana (or any rather curved sword) into your belt it's practically impossible to wear it edge-down. If you move around at all it will want to turn so the ends point downward, because that's how gravity works. So, yeah, it was pretty much just a matter of convenience.

[@ExtremeGamingHD3D]

Thanks, that really helped. Now I want both a tachi and a katana.

[@brandonbentley8532]

Get a handachi, it's a hybrid of the two!

[@MajoraZ]

I'd love to see you tackle weapons and warfare from Mesoamerican (Aztec, Maya, etc) or Andean (Inca, Chimu, etc) armies. Despite both regions having tons of different civilizations with organized armies going back thousands of years prior to Europeans showing up, they don't really get much attention so there's a lot of untapped potential for videos. It'd admittedly be a bit challenging to locate sources since there's less out there and a lot of it is only in Spanish, but some good starting points would be Ross Hassig's books on Mesoamerican warfare; Hassig's work (Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control especially) being considered some of the gold standard academic reference texts,, and while I can';t vouch for them to the same degree as Hassig; there's a group in Mexico which specializes in recreating Mesoamerican weapon and armor and trying to reconstruct their martial techniques called Atlatl México (though pretty much all their content/stuff online is in Spanish), who even worked with the INAH (Mexico's national archaeological organization) on an exhibit on Mixtec weapons.

[@sparrowhawk81]

Macuahuitl is definitely a really neat weapon.

[@junichiroyamashita]

I second this,it is really a treasure trove of new concepts.

[@mrhombreman]

hell yeah!

[@ivanharlokin]

That's really interesting, sounds like you're volunteering to do something really different, and you have a head start with Ross Hassig's stuff. I'd love to see Matt continue to continue to talk about subjects that he is knowledgeable about, rather than follow the lead of many KZbinrs who are basically just reading out Wikipedia articles for the sake of getting some views.

[@bo_392]

​@@ivanharlokin so you just want more videos on english 1800s calvary sabre? prick

[@StudentOfWarCustoms]

Well done video. I am generally very critical of videos on katana by people who are more into European sword because they get so many things wrong but you hit the nail on the head. There is just a couple things I would have added. 1. Yes you are correct what we see now is what is left. Keep in mind there were actually laws passed in feudal Japan by the 3rd Tokugawa shogun that dictated how long a blade could be which was no longer than 27.4” with a 9.5” handle. When we look at the lengths of the swords used by the 47 ronin they had katana as short as 24” and as long as just a hair under 36” with most being between 31”-34”, unfortunately only 33 out of the 47 ronin were documented but better than nothing. 2. You are correct on the characteristics of tachi but there’s 2 other main things that are important. Those 2 things are the location of the curve (tachi tend to have most of the curve more towards the base of the blade closer to the tsuba vs katana which tend to have most of the curve in the middle of the blade) and of course the tachi is carried edge down instead of edge up. Again well done.

[@Divine_Serpent_Geh]

As many comments here have already stated, Katana length was largely regulated and limited starting in the Edo period, forcing many blades to be cut down. If you look on a site like aoijapan that sells Nihonto it’s not that difficult to find blades that are over the average 70cm (28”) blade. They are certainly more rare but big Katana certainly were used just as much as the average size. I’ve recently seen quite a few that have 80cm+ blades (32”), and one even larger that was over 90cm (36”) in blade length. It also had an 11mm thick spine at the Habaki. The blade without any mountings was ~1400g. Quite massive. However I don’t believe longer length is always superior. At least not for quick drawing attacks (Iaijutsu etc). Regardless of your training/skill level, You will certainly always be able to draw and slice in a single motion faster with a 70cm blade, than one that has 15-20cm extra blade and extra weight.

[@johnyricco1220]

Katanas were shorter because they were carried everywhere, including indoors and Japanese houses were very cramped with low ceilings and small doors. Tachis were purely battlefield sidearms and therefore were not subject to such limitations. A similar thing happened with Chinese jian swords. Up to the 13th century the jian looked similar to European arming swords with cross hilts. By the 18th century they were shorter and had almost no guard at all as they evolved to become civilian dress words.

[@rdreher7380]

I think you're right about katanas being swords to be worn in everyday life. This is likely why in the Edo-jidai when samurai were not really fighting battles anymore, the uchigatana became the typical form of katana. However, I think you might be misinformed about traditional Japanese houses. Maybe you think Samurai lived in modern Japanese houses? Have you ever seen a Samurai's house? There are no such things as doors in a traditional Japanese house. There are few walls, let alone doors to be put in those walls. At any given point, rooms are either open to each other and to the surrounding gardens, or closed off with shōji (paper screens) or amado (rain shutters). You can call these "sliding doors" if you like, but they are more like wall bits than doors, and certainly are not "small." I think a culture of siting on the floor regularly would likely effect sword choice for everyday life more than the architecture.

[@siddharthm285]

So it's really only fair to compare it to a smallsword?

[@johnyricco1220]

@@rdreher7380 Kneeling on floors does place a limit on the practical size of swords. I had to do iaido training from the kneeling position and it wasn't fun. Most Samurai were poor and lived in humble homes where it was pretty cramped. The sliding doors were sometimes not tall enough to walk through standing up and the corridors were also not suited for turning around with a long sword. Samurai also ate in restaurants, visited hotels and civilian businesses.

[@christopherfranklin972]

@@johnyricco1220 The katana was never worn indoors,they were left on sword racks at the entrance,only tanto or wakizashi were carried indoors. Only in schools of iaido do you find seiza used as a starting position,schools of kenjutsu use tatehiza or standing postures.

[@KrackShotz]

The Japanese, making things smaller since the 1500s.

[@takumithao1992XD]

Lol

[@jaytomioka3137]

One important note: the Katana as we think of it today, is a sword for everyday carry, personal defense in an urban context and 1 on 1 dueling. In this context it was carried by samurai between the late 17th to 19th centuries; who acted as bureaucrats, administrators and officers in an era of peacetime: the Edo era. The katana overtime became more a symbol of the samurai’s status and thus his willingness to defend his honor. To this end it’s dimensions became smaller and lighter to reflect this essentially “civilian” context. Sound familiar to anything? The Katana is essentially analogous to the European small sword or transitional rapier or Spadroon. The Tachi was the war sword and thus was larger, designed to be used from horseback and to penetrate weak points in armor. Like you have pointed out in a war context the sword was a backup side arm. The tachi is always worn in a specific rig with armor and to facilitate ease of use while in the saddle. The Katana is always worn in a specific way with civilian clothes to facilitate ease of use and carry in that context.

[@tsduali7516]

ofc , why would anyone use Katana against plate armor in 13th century , when you have something like Nodachi or polearm , or even better a dagger like Wakizashi / tanto ... to stab the heck out of the opponent , all you need to know is basic techniques of that period to understand that , shorter blades better fit armored combat , as dagger will always be better .

[@jakublulek3261]

It is than equivalent of something like espada ropera.

[@vyderka]

"to samurai-z" vs to "summarize" :D what a non-native English speaker hears vs what Matt says..

[@KageNoTora74]

I'm American and I processed it as "samurai-ze."

[@heimdalshorn]

Hallo Matt, some misconceptions in this video. First, there are no "Samurai Swords". There are only "Japanese Swords" (Nihonto), "Samurai Sword" is an incorrect western term. All of the Japanese edged Weapons have been regularly used in history by non-samurai people - many of them even dated from a period when Samurai not yet existed. For centuries for example, even peasants were allowed to own "long swords" (Daito, blade longer than 2 shaku (1 shaku=30,3 cm)) e.g. Katanas - and the Tachi was the classical sidearm of the Kuge, the nobles and court-nobles from the 10th century on in the Heian-Period, centuries before the existance and rise of the samurai (Buke). Second, the Tachi is not the predecessor of the Katana. These are two different types of weapons, coexisting over centuries. The Tachi in its classical form originates in the 10th century as a "knightly" cavalry sword. It was highly specialised for primarily one-handed-use from horseback. Therefore it has a very long (up to 80cm and even 90cm in Nanbokucho-period), strong tapering, only very little curved blade with a strongly curved hilt. These noble guys fought battle on horseback (supported by a very small number of footsoldiers with Naginatas), with a longbow (Yumi) as primary weapon, in relative small troop strengh in a kind of "one-to-one-duel". In the Muromachi-Period, after the Mongol-invasions and the civil-wars between the imperial court and the new warrior-class of the Samurai in the 12th and 13th century, huge infantry-armies (and big cavalry-units armed primarily with spears (Yari)) where deployed (many of them peasants) and the way to fight changed massively. In this time a shorter sword for foot-combat was invented, the Katana, proceeding the Uchigatana. High ranking samurai and nobles still used Tachi for centuries after that. Third, the blade length of the Katana is not getting shorter over the centuries from the 14th to the end of the 19th century. Blade length varied a lot over the centuries. They started relatively short, then becoming longer (68-74cm) till the end of the civil-wars in the 16th/early 17th century, after that shorter again (62-69cm) in the long peace-time and in the 19th century again longer. Especially in the mid 19th century as a fashion among samurai supporting the re-establishment of the imperial power against the bakufu (Shogunat) Katana-blade-length increased up to (insane) 75-80cm. Greeting from Germany, highly appreciate your videos, sorry for my English Dirk p.s. most hilts of modern replica "Katanas" are much too long. Most originals are between 23-28cm

[@casbot71]

But the big unanswered question is … is it suitable for a *_immortal Highlander?_* One on one dueling without armour (usually), thrusting attacks are only for temporarily incapacitating the enemy, finishing strokes must be decapitation. Ease of concern is not an issue, as apparently _any length sword_ can be hidden under a raincoat… Maybe a best immortals sword video??

[@RagnarLodbrok1]

If you need to decapitate, I'd think a more point-heavy weapon would be the best choice. Cutting through a human neck is kind of difficult, trained executioners would screw it up sometimes. A weapon that puts more energy into the cutting surface is going to have a better chance of doing it. Some kind of heavy axe is about the best you can get for that purpose.

[@RelativelyBest]

Highlander: The franchise where you can hide a claymore under your opera coat without anyone noticing and rapiers are perfectly suitable for instant decapitations. I love that Duncan specifically trained Richie to use the katana, then handed him a rapier and expected him to fight lethal duels with it. And then Richie did _exactly that_ until he switched to a bastard sword with zero issues, because all swordsmanship is the same in Highlander.

[@Wolfsgeist]

So the 19th century katana is comparable to the smallsword in Europe. Smaller than swords before it, worn by nobles/officers also in a civilian environment, easier to carry than a battlefield sword, but still an effective weapon, especially when used against someone with the same sword. I think this becomes even more evident when you aknowledge that there was almost no warfare in the Edo period (mid 1600s - mid 1800s) and the samurai in that time weren't really a knightly warrior elite anymore but a kind of landed gentry that walked around in fancy kimonos, not in armour, similar to British knights, barons, earls etc. (with the difference that Britain of course enganged in warfare, while Japan was isolationist).

[@nmarbletoe8210]

"still an effective weapon, especially when used against someone with the same sword" -- or no sword at all hahaha because he's an officer, we're peons. I don't think we peons get to carry swords in Edo period.

[@penttikoivuniemi2146]

I might be remembering this wrong, but I've read that the proto-katana, uchigatana, was the shortest of its ilk, and originally a sidearm for ashigaru pikemen and arquebusiers. The reason for its shortness and the way the fittings are worn "upside down" is to simply make it as easy as possible to draw and directly hit when the opponent gets inside the effective range of your primary weapon. IIRC they started appearing in the 14th century, and the blade shape gained popularity among the samurai as well over time and the blade lengths grew as the Sengoku period went on. When the civil wars ended and the country was united, katana lengths started getting shorter again as the now unneeded warrior class became scribes and public workers who didn't want to lug around cumbersome swords. A sword museum I visited in Japan had a pretty simple system of categorization for swords. It was purely based on blade length, I can't remember the exact numbers but it went something like this: Anything below 25cm is a tanto, anything between 25 and 50 cm is a wakizashi, anything between 50 and 70 cm is a katana, and anything with a blade length above that is a tachi. Most tachi blades I saw in that museum were in the 75-80 cm range. Also, lastly a funny little tidbit of information: In full armor, katanas were worn in tachi fittings; that is to say blade down, unlike all entertainment wants to make us believe.

[@IamHueGraves]

I think for some reason they honestly just don't know that it's supposed to be worn the other way. I've even seen it in the wrong way in documentaries.

[@BoomerZ.artist]

The sword is carried blade up so the blade doesn't rest on the sharp edge in the scabbard.

[@TheSamuraiGoomba]

Good point about the tachi fittings. If you watch a film maker who knows his stuff, like Kurosawa, they always depict the katana or sidearm sword worn blade-down when the samurai is wearing full armor.

[@INFLTTR1]

To expound, while wearing armour, the arms' vertical range of motion is hampered, making edge-up drawing difficult. Edge-down drawing being a more forward motion was used instead.

[@BigWillyG1000]

Sounds like the Japanese made their own version of a Renaissance German katzbalgar short sword.

[@zizkazenit7885]

I’m loving the many Japanese history Internet Experts making claims that all contradict in the comments

[@seany-s2987]

Mate, I'd be careful about insulting *certified professors* in Japanese history, they know what they're talking about

[@degauss22ro1]

are you gonna samuraize ?....see what i did there?:))

[@TheNickBasso]

I don't know if intended or not but that was a nice pun!!!

[@polskislav4113]

To me when he said it, it sounded just like samuraize and not summarize, lol

[@abhijitdas7416]

Also, another misconception. That tachi is longer and Uchigatana/katana shorter. There was no rule book about the length back tha. Both of them were length fluid. A tachi can be 75 and Uchigatana can 85. And vice versa But usually both were longer than 60 and shorter than 90 cm

[@Uncle_T]

Tachi should be pronounced ta-tchi with a clear t sound starting the second syllable (close to how you would pronounce touchy), not like ta-shi. :)

[@RelativelyBest]

I _kinda_ knew that, so his pronunciation kept bothering me, but I wasn't sure I was actually right.

[@Zbyhonj]

He said it right at 8:32 :D

[@nate-otero]

Thank you for elevating my frustration

[@thelonerider9693]

Last time I was this early, the sword blades were pattern welded lol. Keep making these vids Mr. Easton you are keeping us sane in trying times!

[@ElDrHouse2010]

I think its because its intended propose is to be drawn quickly as a side arm in narrow Japanese castle corridors. I don't think Samurai ever used it as the main weapon thats what the Yari (spear) & Yumi (bows) are for.

[@gabzdark07]

Yari, Yumi, Arquebus, Kanabo, Masakari axes, Naginata... They used as varied an arsenal as Knights did. Did you know that Yari was also used for most polearms in Japan? Some yari "spears" were identical to halberds, pollaxes and pollhammers.

[@lolcatjunior]

@Drunk Pharaoh They didn't need javelins, they had muskets.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

@Drunk Pharaoh A javelin with a spear thrower could have been useful, I would think, even given the great variety of the weapons available. Cheap easy and available. Another anomaly in such matters: Hawaiians didn't use bows for combat, even though they had tiny bows they used for games and shooting rats!

[@kaslanakiana3927]

You are probably not correct, because I’ve been to some Japanese Museums and their tachi are even shorter than modern day standard 72cm length blade katana, in fact, I got one certificated tachi around 700 years ago late Muromachi period, blade length only 67 cm. Besides I practice Katori Shinto Ryu sword fighting style, technically speaking the swords we should use is tachi but we just keep using katana anyway probably showing there’s no big difference in terms of the fighting style between these two.

[@ftdefiance1]

Would you consider doing a video on the twentieth century Japanese.military issue swords?

[@ambulocetusnatans]

Yes, the Gunto is severely under-rated. It's true, some of them were crap, but there some that were really good swords, like the Mantetsu or the Yasukuni. And of course, sometimes ancestral blades were re-mounted in military fittings.

[@Alhok]

Very sad to see your great channel posting videos like this. As a collector of japanese swords its allmost painful too see you sir telling such amateur things about japanese swords. Japanese sword length, size and all other charasteristics are individual based on age it was forged and person who ordered the sword. Nonbokucho swords are large even for european standards, some personal preferences also creates swords like sword of Sasaki Kojiro’s sword, that was longer then 3 shaku.

[@elcroquetero9850]

Hi Matt!! Can you please make a video comparing blade thickness of different swords, such as longswords, military sabres, tulwars, katanas, rapiers and so on? Also it could be interesting to point out the difference in mass distribution in thicker blades with and without pommels or bigger guards (as the case with katanas) and if making a blade thicker makes it worst or better for cutting.

[@SuperiorAutocraft]

A couple points to keep in mind: Later Japanese blades were often shorter given that Tokugawa-era Japan saw samurai behaving more as state officials rather than warriors. Moreover, laws that started under Hideyoshi strictly limited the length of a sword that a non-samurai could carry. Also, the general trend away from larger tachi came with a broader use of the arquebus and spear combat on foot, so a "cavalry saber" was not as necessary outside of status pieces used by officers.

[@Ms-mz1be]

Katana was built as a sidearm, no need for it to be big. You'd use a yari or yumi for war. If you were flamboyant a nodachi or a naginata

[@consumer1073]

tachi and katana handle noticeably differently the myth that the only difference is how they're worn is bs

[@jiokl7g9t6]

There used to be lots on katana with blades longer than 28" but the tokugawa shogunate banned them. That's one of the main reasons that they're so short and for the existence of shortened older blades.

[@michaelwebster5967]

I know you're English (duh) and most people do it, but it still irks me to hear people pluralize Japanese words with an "s" at the end. Plural of katana is katana. Plural of Samurai is Samurai. Plural of Jedi is Jedi (wait what? (yes "Jedi" is follows Japanese grammar)). Bothers me most when people say "emojis," which many people probably don't even realize is a Japanese word, but bugs me anyway. But this isn't unique to Japanese because"fish," "deer," and many other words function as thier own plural. CONTEXT should be enough to tell listeners whether you're talking about one or more fish. All that said, love the video(s) ô¿ô

[@TheSamuraiGoomba]

Katana and similar-length swords (or shorter) were worn as sidearms in war. They were not main battle weapons. The main battle weapons were the Yari (spear,) Yumi (bow) and polearm-length swordlike weapons such as Nagamaki, Odachi and perhaps Tachi. In later periods, guns were added the mix and formations similar to the standard "pike and shot" were formed out of Ashigaru foot soldiers. I have seen some examples of period maces as well. The katana as we know it today came from the Tokugawa period and later, after the Shogun enforced strict class limits and prevented social mobility. That katana and wakizashi pairing was more of a mark of rank than anything else.

[@phased-arraych.9150]

Thanks for showing off your DF O-Katana. I’m planning to place an order for the tri-folded version once this whole COVID-19 fiasco calms down.

[@Campanellaa]

That's a point I never understood, the Katana was clearly built for civilian and secondary cary weaponry. It's short because it's needed for close quarter encounter (civilian mainly, in a context where most of the people are forbidden to wear weapons), it need to be fast to draw, usable without anything else on hand, but light enough to be able to use with anything else on hand. It's also designed to not ecumber much, especially movement while carrying it. It's well designed for it, good cutter, fast to draw, light, allow two hand and one hand usage, a small guard to avoid hassle while carrying it, but still protect the hand. the way it's carried allow change to adapt to the situation (it's not fixed at a belt). Yeah, later because it's a status symbol, it was more widely used even by non samurai. But it's also changed in form and use at the same time and again here, mostly as a secondary weapon for soldier.

[@shade9592]

IMO, a point can be made about the wearability of swords by looking at the evolution of samurai swords. The tachi was almost exclusively a weapon of war. It's basically a sidearm of the warrior in battle. The katana seems to have come about as Japan experienced longer and longer periods of peace, both before and after the sengoku period. Expectations were place upon the samurai to wear their swords in public as their main weapons in their role as the main peacekeeping force of their local lord.

[@SergMuller]

Let me samuraiz... As far as I remember, tachi (which sounds more like "tati" than a "tah-shee") is basically a cavalry saber. It has to be long enough to fight on horseback and is held with 1 hand. Katana is a civilian context dress sword (nobleman status item) and is therefore shorter for convenience, but has a 2-handed grip because why not - there's gonna be no shield and no reins to hold with the other hand.

[@nimrodthewise836]

*caste, not nobility.. Merchant caste were nobility but only Samurai were allowed to carry swords...

[@jamesfrankiewicz5768]

There were rich merchants, but merchants were of the lowest caste (other than the mujin lit. "non-person", outcaste class). Nobility in Japan pretty much required descent from an emperor or of one of the early noble clans. Some of the samurai caste might qualify as nobility, but nobles weren't necessarily samurai, if a noble were a samurai, he would probably object to being called a "samurai" (lit. "servant") and would probably insist on using the term "bushi" (warrior). In the Japanese caste scheme Nobles > Samurai / Bushi > Peasants (compared to Europeans peasants, they were often landowners) > Artisans (fine craftsmen) > Merchants >> Mujin.

[@Leo.23232]

There are disadvantages to using a sword in 2 hands, as well as having a 2 handed grip. That's why not.

[@kidthorazine]

The two handed grip is there because katana are realtively heavy and balanced towards to the tip, so having a two handed grip gives you a lot more versatility and fine control.

[@kaizoebara]

@big papi A simplified way of putting it is: _tachi_ were swords for war and _katana_ were swords for peace time. Which is also reflected in the fact that tachi generally have a thicker, more robust edge, whereas katana were usually much more acute with less of a convex edge (which the Japanese call _niku_ - lit. 'meat'). As such _katana_ they were mostly a civilian self-defense weapon for samurai and rarely used as a sidearm on the battlefield, except by _ashigaru_ whose main weapon was a spear (around 1600 there were also many arquebusiers).

[@corneredfox]

A bit to go through here. Side-note, all translations should be considered rough. They speak to the meaning more-so than the literal (mostly because many words can be translated multiple ways). If you want the "TL;DR" of it, the Japanese care(d) a lot less back then than we in the West do today about what they call(ed) their weapons. Tachi: Translation "great (awesome/amazing) blade," kanji: 太刀. Defining a tachi from a katana from a WESTERN perspective, a tachi should have a fumbari and the smith's signature should be on the right side of the tang. A fumbari is a "drastic" distal tapering near the base. The entire blade does not need to taper, it only needs to taper near the base of the blade. If the rest of the blade does taper, this area should taper slightly more. Fumbari are not always significant and can be very subtle on later period tachi, hence why "drastic" is in quotes. Tachi also tend to curve closer to the hilt rather than the center of the blade like on a katana, which in my opinion is just a strange place for it to be. Nonetheless, this throws off the alignment with the tip a bit more which leads to the misconception that they are more curved, when the actual degree of curvature may be the same or even less. All of that said, from a historical Japanese perspective a tachi is just a well-made sword, full stop. The word itself just means you have a nice sword, and was applied to katana as well was swords that are today commonly called tachi. In fact it was applied to even more, the "dachi" in odachi, kodachi, and nodachi, is just a dialect pronunciation of tachi, you can also pronounce it as otachi, kotachi, or notachi if you wished (and in some places in Japan it is pronounced with the "T" sound rather than the "D" sound). Today in Japan katana are still sometimes referred to as tachi. There was even a commercial for fruit ninja or some similar silly app where they had a woman slicing CGI fruit and referred to her katana as a tachi (though Japan has... "strange" commercials). Katana: Translation "blade," kanji: 刀. Refers to a general blade shape of a relatively thick-ish blade with very little if any profile or distal taper (almost always has a distal taper, but not as much as swords from some other cultures). Despite the fact that the kanji for katana roughly translates to simply "blade," the pronunciation of katana/gatana has usually been restricted to a fairly specific line of swords. For example if you were to call the sword people normally refer to as a tachi a "tagatana," you would get some strange looks. As for when it appears, the weapon that would eventually become the katana first begins appearing during the Mongol invasions at the end of the 13th century, but it doesn't really become popular until closer to the 15th century. At least this is when titled samurai or the "knightly class" begins picking it up. For sake of example, the legendary Japanese blacksmith Masamune is not known to have ever forged the blade today called a katana. O-katana: Translation "big blade," kanji: 大刀, common pronunciation: Daito, meaning: any sword with a blade length between 2-3 shaku (today 1 shaku is slightly smaller than one imperial foot, though exact lengths varied depending on time and place and usually were related to taxes on cloth). As far as I know, the pronunciation "o-katana" or slightly less popular "dai-katana" is/was not used in Japan. It seems to be more of a market term, taking the "O" from "odachi/otachi" and slapping it at the end of katana. Side-note: the "O" in "o-katana" or "odachi," as well as the "dai" in "daito," does roughly translate to "big" or "long," however it should be noted that these are relative terms. Musashi's school Niten Ichi-ryu teaches dual wielding a katana and wakizashi, but in the actual school these weapons are referred to as odachi and kodachi. This is because they are being compared to one another. Compared to the wakizashi the katana is long, compared to the katana the wakizashi is short. So O and Ko (and it was just assumed that both were well made, hence "tachi"). The wearing of the katana and wakizashi is also known as the daisho, or "big-little." As a bonus along with katana/gatana and "-chi," the kanji symbol 刀 can also be pronounced "-to" such as in "daito" or "shoto." This pronunciation is probably a variation of the Korean "do" which itself is a variation of the Chinese "dao." The "-to" pronunciation has a very general meaning, and can refer to practically anything with even the facsimile of an edge. Bokuto are blunt and made of wood but still have the "-to" and kanji in their name, while spears are still considered "nihonto" (roughly: Japanese blades) even though the kanji for yari is completely different (though arguably this has western influence due to being a modern term). Razors also carry the kanji symbol in their name.

[@corneredfox]

Doh! A fumbari is a "PROFILE" taper, not a distal taper.

[@looseyourzlf]

katana`s aren't the main battle weapon. actually its not a war weapon of choice ! only for duels

[@eagle162]

It was use in war, Japanese swords would even be adopted by neighboring countries for combat use. However it was not the katana exactly we know today,Katanas blade length that could be worn was restricted in the Edo period thanks to the Tokugawa shogunate resulting in many long katana blades (tachi and Nodach as well) being shortened before that longer blades would have been more common, this practice was name suriage (磨上げ) or Ōsuriage (大磨上げ), gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/2019/12/japanese-sword-mythbusting-part-2.html?m=1 Some examples did go through that practice however. www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/24978 mobile.twitter.com/HokutoAndy/status/1078526333301358593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1078526333301358593&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quora.com%2Fprofile%2FAndy-Lee-Chaisiri Sword Smiths did start to make long blades again when the sword restriction laws came loose during the end of the Edo period tho.

[@looseyourzlf]

@@eagle162 the Japanese sword is a Japanese sword. The old version of swords was Chinese and its different that the Japanese one. people fight with everything when they have to.. Katana is not a choice of war weapon. Nodachi is the field sword which is favorable with spears of course in war..odachi gives you an advantage up to 3 opponents! Thats why it was forbidden to be used at that time. In war its used in a wide scale.

[@BigWillyG1000]

Sounds like Tokugawa period katanas size evolved akin to the rise of the smallsword in Europe. Swords go from battlefield weapons for fighting armored opponents to badges of status and personal defense weapons in duels or against footpads. 18th and 19th century Europe and Japan had a similar gentlemen class who wore swords to show their status, had a tetchy sense of honor with members of their own class which created brawls and duels and had to worry about an underclass of various criminals- ronin, highwaymen, footpads, what have you.

[@Tremulousnut]

One might say "devolved", as long swords were literally shortened to comply with length restrictions, such as those during the Edo period. Merchants had swords too, and some were even elaborate than those of the samurai, because they were wealthier. It's no wonder restrictions were placed in order to preserve social class distinctions.

[@skykid]

The Samurai were initially a marital caste, they were warlords before they were nobles, and they often fought on horseback. The tachi was an early evolution of katana suited to fighting from a horse. Of course they had lances and spears, but you could only use those a couple of times before switching to your sidearm. Think of the Tachi then as one of the world's first cavalry sabers (of course theres no connection between Tachi and the use of sabers from horseback in Europe, it's convergent evolution)

[@apekillssnake]

I agree. The guy who showed me an early sword had a cavalry sword shown to me at the same time , A weapon of death was actually used by the guys dead relative who actually took heads of with it! Spear was used for advancing and breaking the line, Tachi from the rear broken ranks or retreating kill weapon, or was used if unseated from horse yo fight from the back!

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

Even in the 16th century, many Japanese swords were fairly long. The chang dao, the Chinese design inspired by Japanese swords through conflict with the wokou, of that era had blades of nearly three feet even in sidearm form (worn by crossbowers & others). & in the Imjin War, Japanese swords were apparently longer than Korean ones on average despite the fact that Korean soldiers were taller on average.

[@redcastlebowser4179]

You mean a blade, made by an average sized medieval japanese person (5'5" - 5'7") is shorter then those of European sworda?!?!?! HERESY I SAY!!! Lol sorry

[@anonono6864]

oommgg I love it sooo much jeezzz mmmmmhhh guuurl like whaaat

[@InSanic13]

For those who want more info on the differences between different Japanese swords, I recommend Metatron's channel; he has some videos breaking down the linguistics and hilt differences.

[@rdreher7380]

You are right about "ō" meaning big. When written as 大, the morpheme /ō/ means big. However, the "no" in nodachi has nothing to do with "big." It's the morpheme 野 meaning "field." A "nodachi" is a "field tachi" I think meaning "for the battle field," as apposed to a sword worn every day for self defense. Note the difference in vowels too: ō is a long vowel, similar to the English "long O" in words like "toe, no" but the /o/ in "nodachi" is a short o. I also noticed you have a consistent pronunciation error when pronouncing "tachi." In a much older video, and again in this one, you keep saying "tashi" or "nodashi." In the business of language teaching we'd call that a fossilized error - a mistake you've been making so long you can't help but continue to make it even when you might know better. (I'm guessing you must see the word is written with a and not in typical romanized Japanese, but are making this mistake anyway). So repeat after me: taCHI, taCHI, taCHI, nodaCHI, nodaCHI, nodaCHI - sounds like tomodaCHI or HitaCHI.

[@andersbenke3596]

Since the katana is a very good, short-ish chopper and less than noble citizens used it, would you say the katana made a similar upward social journey as did the messer?

[@scholagladiatoria]

Perhaps, but I have not studied this enough to say for sure.

[@thedamnyankee1]

We all know Tachi was a Corvette-class light frigate assigned to the MCRN Donnager.

[@jintsuubest9331]

Wait, does this mean we can expect Matt do video China and Korea weapon? Specifically those non sword random weaponary?

[@hmuphilly9129]

tachi was used more in cavalry charges

[@rafaelhsouza]

Three points: - This matter of Tachi vs Katana got me very confused. I went to a museum in Tokyo with a good collection of Japanese swords, both tachi and katana. There were katanas that were longer than some of the tachi but shorter than others. Some of the katana were more curved than some some of the tachi, but some tachi were more curved than some katana. There was no consistence, at least to my non-expert eyes. The only way, for me, to know which sword was a tachi or katana was to see how they were displayed. Tachis are always displayed (and carried) with the edge down, while the katanas always have the edge up. - Tachi is written 太刀, literally fat (broad?) sword. Maybe the tachi's blade is wider than the katana? Would that be right? - The "no" of nodachi does not mean big. Nodachi is written 野太刀, the "no" part (野) meaning "field" in this context, I believe. So, nodachi is a "field" tachi, a sword you use on the battlefield. I think it is kind of synonym with otachi (大太刀, the "o" in this case does mean big). The difference is, if you are talking about the size of the sword, you would use "otachi", but if you are talking about it being used on the battlefield, then you would be more likely to call it "nodachi".

[@adenyang4398]

Rafael Henrique Castanheira de Souza Because many online videos regarding the topic are misinformed. In reality there were no meaningful differences between them by at least the 14th~15th centuries. Both have been classified as “long swords” since Edo period sword classification nomenclature. Tachi started off as the war sword of the samurai (they began as mounted archers), while katana/uchigatana began as a short sword for low ranks since at least the early Kamakura period. By at least the 14th~15th centuries however, Tachi and Katana didn’t differ much, in length and weight; samurai had began picking up and adopting the katana as dedicated war swords as well. Both came in a variety of different styles and cross over with one another. What did likely lead to the “katana is shorter than tachi” myth however is the sword restriction laws enacted in the early Edo period; one law even specifically limited blade length to around 27.4 inches. Therefore a large number of swords were shortened, (Ōsuriage 大磨上げ) and most of the swords at the time were in katana-style. Longer katana did come back into fashion for a time during the Shinshinto/bakumutsu period however, when sword restriction laws came loose and smiths were inspired by Kotō era works.

[@rafaelhsouza]

@@adenyang4398 Oooh! An awesome answer to all my doubts!

[@1minutecomicswalahollywood648]

Many of us don't know about Tachi.

[@harrybuttery2447]

The Katana was actually a lowly sword for the Ashigaru. Originally Ashigaru were just looters that would tag along with armies, pillage and head for the hills if ever it looked like they would actually have to fight to the death. Eventually they were standardized and started to fill roles, usually these rolls saw them on foot wielding pikes, bows or muskets(Ashigaru means light foot). In role a short sword that could also easily be thrust into a sash was quite handy and easier to mass produce. Samurai themselves still used Tachi(although not so much Ji Samurai who were in-between). If you look at period art work you will see the heavily armoured samurai on horseback with longer swords worn blade down, these are tachi, it's the Ashigaru whom you will see wearing katanas. Anyway, eventually the wars end and a long period of peace follows. The Tachi is a battlefield weapon, it's long and worn in a dedicated sword belt. The Katana is short and can just be thrust throguh an Obi(sash) that pretty much everybody wears anyway. It's a weapon much more suitable for a civilian environment so Samurai wear them in day to day life. The Edo period is where most Japanese martial arts and many other traditions are either formed or transformed, hence many martial arts start to focus around civilian life and the use of the Katana, Iado is one such art. This is also the reason Katanas become so synonymous with Samurai, we are basing this on the views and traditions of the Edo period, not the periods before then, not the periods in which Samurai actually took to the field.

[@obeastness]

Just to clarify, at least to my understanding as someone who studies the Japanese language the no in nodachi is written with the kanji for field 野, it's actually the da 太 which would describe the weapon as being large. O-Katana on the other hand, I don't know how it would be written, but I will guess 大刀 the 大 kanji means big can be read as o- so maybe that is accurate. additionally tachi　太刀 uses that same kanji as nodachi, so long story short, da , ta and o- all seem to describe the swords as large.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

I want a da-ta-o-katana with wheels because it might be too big for me to carry.

[@Kageitenshi]

太刀 tachi, though its kanji was derived from 大刀 daito - large sword, the word itself originates from the verb tachikiru - to sever and was merely a modification of the compound kanji by substituting 大 dai with 太 that has the onyomi reading of ta/da (ta without prefix, da with a prefix for 太.) 刀 doesn't normally read as chi either, but rather tou / to / katana / sori, except as the compound kanji 太刀. 太 merely adds the prefix, though in some cases the prefix is descriptive as well, which can be confusing as this kanji can also mean big/fat. A kodachi is a small sword, not a small large sword and an odachi is not a large large sword, let alone large fat sword :)

[@MisterKisk]

Keep in mind the mounting plays an important distinction in what is termed a tachi and what is termed a katana. You could most certainly have a katana length blade in tachi style mounting (designed to be suspended from the obi, worn edge down), and it would not be entirely wrong to call it a tachi. Likewise you could have a tachi length blade, in katana style mounting (tucked into the obi, worn edge up) and it would not be entirely wrong to call it a katana. The other distinction is which side of the tang the smith's signature is. If the signature is facing out (i.e. not towards the wearer) when worn edge down, it was made as a tachi, if the signature is facing out when worn edge up, it was made as a katana. But again, weapons made as tachi were worn as katana and could be called katana, and blades made as katana could be worn as tachi and could be called tachi (though not as common as tachi worn as katana).

[@adenyang4398]

big papi Well while katana/uchigatana was relegated to a short sword limited under certain contexts during its early conception & early Edo period, its not so much the case when we look at other time periods. In reality Tachi and Katana didn’t differ much at least by the 14th~15th centuries in both length and weight, and both came in a variety of different styles and overlapped with each other. (Samurais had began picking them up and adapting them as their war swords as well by that point). Shinshinto/bakumutsu period katana are the same as well, when smiths were inspired by Kotō era works & weren’t shackled by sword laws anymore.

[@adenyang4398]

big papi I have read your comments regarding tachi. I acknowledge the characteristics you mention regarding what is “tachi-like”. However, I would like to reiterate that both tachi and katana/uchigatana came in many different styles and crossed over with one another since samurai picked the latter up and began adapting it as their war swords. Aside from certain examples with extreme characteristics found among very early period tachi, boundary dividing them essentially disappears particularly since the Nanbokucho and early Muromachi era. We can also very much see the same trend among Shinshinto/Bakumutsu period katana. Interestingly, 14th~15th centuries is also the time when Japanese armor also slowly starts transitioning into the development of Tosei Gusoku. Mid-late 16th century was also the height of Japanese armor development, and most of the swords during that time were katana. But then again, the boundaries between tachi and katana were already collapsing by the 14th~15th centuries; they were functionally the same sans drawing techniques. Additionally, degree and style of curvature also varied a lot for both tachi and katana. Some schools may have had preferred strong curvature, others may have preferred straighter ones as it makes piercing techniques more forgiving. One shouldn’t be considered superior over the other as both gives advantages and disadvantages of their own. Katana does however suffer from the myth that it can only be a shorter civilian sword due to most examples being shortened (Ōsuriage (大磨上げ) down to around 27 inches or less during the early period. But judging what a katana is and isn’t based on that gives us a skewed narrative.

[@Psychichazard]

Did you say 'so, to sammurize' at the end?

[@kleinjahr]

Actually he summarized samurai swords.

[@jamesoneill3922]

The katana is the best sword in the world. It can cut through anything. Except a ninja sword obviously.

[@masoluboxD]

That is so true with the skills of a samurai grandmaster I can chop in half a puny knight and his mount without breaking a sweat, so sharp that cutting armor is like cutting butter

[@jamesoneill3922]

FilthyPeasant420 what about an enormous knight?

[@maximechouinard8902]

I think others commented on it, but the length of Japanese swords is a very complex question that goes way beyond the height of the user. A few things to keep in mind: 1) In the Edo era, there were actually rules limiting the length of swords. This was part of an effort to limit the capacity of individual fiefdoms to wage war. 2) Tachi were mostly used as cavalry sabres, hence their length and curvature. 3) Uchigatanas were shorter than Edo period katanas and used during the height of the Warring States era. The reason for their shortness is that it made them more efficient as a secondary weapon in mass spear formations. Quicker to draw, and not as encumbering to use. The same reason why pikemen in Europe also used shorter swords. 4) There is a much more developed culture of drawing and cutting in Japan (iaijutsu) than in Europe. Having a shorter sword will make drawing it in an emergency a lot faster. 5) Banging someone's scabbard with your own was perceived as a grave offence. If you are a low ranking samurai walking around town, you will probably want you sword to be on the short side to avoid accidentally getting into duels with half the town's samurais. 6) While a katana might be shorter than a cavalry sabre or a smallsword (which is interestingly quite a long sword for its time) it is quite comparable to a lot of infantry sabres. In fact, My katanas are comparable or even longer to a lot of my French infantry sabres.

[@a-sheepof-christ9027]

Tachi as opposed to Katana are generally: 1. More curved 2. Have a different type of curvature (Sori/Zori-types) 3. are tapered more strongly, with a much bigger emphasis on the sword being wieldable in one hand aka have their weight balance closer to the hilt while often being significantly longer. ("better" balancing) 4. more often than not had what is called a "ikubi-kissaki" which is a very particular type to shape the cutting edge at the tip of the sword. All of these differences tend to make the Tachi look more elegant while a modern (19 century) Katana looks really beefy and is somewhat unwieldy in one hand.

[@josephasbury4492]

If there was a takeaway from this, I would think that a well-built Wakizashi or Nodachi would be the most valuable out of all the varieties to keep in an armory. Samurai going into the Imperial Era seem to have transitioned from full-time warriors to part-time soldiers and peacekeepers. Carbines had a similar fate, as during the World Wars 20"and longer barrels were the norm. Getting into the post Cold-War era, asymmetrical warfare and law enforcement needs shortened carbines to 14.5" barrels. You can go even lower for 10.5-11.5" barrels which are handy for shorter range and self-defense engagements. The wakizashi was something that was considered practical and legal for all civilians to carry, and even samurai deferred to them when indoors. O-wakizashis and nodachis seem to have even more value, as they were carried often times by those traveling in coach. Pair it with a nice Arkansaw Toothpick and you've got a nice close-quarters blade arrangement.

[@Master...deBater]

Hi Matt. Thanks for the video. A couple of things. Tachi were only a few inches longer on average than the later katana. Averaging about 29-30"...compared to the average katana of about 27". A 32"+ tachi blade is rather rare. If you've been watching the same auctions I've been watching for the past 15 years you couldn't help but notice that very few Nihonto blades break 30 inches. Some of the more famous blades in museums are longer than average...which is where you may be getting your numbers.

[@MaxSluiman]

You have a nice sword collection there! But I feel you forgot to mention three important things; 1- Most Japanese swords (including bokuto) from +-1700 onwards all have same length, because the Togukawa shogun decreed it so. By this time the period of wars was over and the katana was more of a status symbol for the samurai class to wear, instead of a weapon. 2-Tachi were meant to be used from horseback, and therefore needed to be longer. And more curved, in order to deal with the stress of the impact in a more pulling way, as opposed to a slashing/bending way. The latter would damage the sword. 3- Despite what one may see on promo video's of Cold Steel, katana are not meant to chop. Traditionally forged katana cannot handle those stresses well. They will bend or break. They need to be pulled in a circular motion, into the target. Like you cut a tomato. You don't chop a tomato. You let the blade slice in effortlessly. Hence the curvature of Japanese swords. This way of moving will also give you more control than chopping. So a heavier tip is useless. Perhaps a reproduction sword is not good model to form an opinion of the historical geometrics of katana.

[@eagle162]

Tachi being longer and having more curvature is more of modern classification historically katanas could be longer and have more then tachi. Katana's durability is greatly underrated they aren't fragile ones not from the Shinshintō (新々刀) tradition anyway, which was developed around the 1764 which the so-called nowadays tradition tradition is related to. gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/2019/12/japanese-sword-mythbusting-part-2.html?m=1 www.quora.com/Would-the-Japanese-forging-techniques-have-worked-in-Medieval-Europe-if-it-was-introduced-to-the-blacksmiths-there-If-so-how-would-European-swords-have-looked-like/answer/Luca-Nic-1?ch=10&share=dd5a5e27&srid=3z2sJ

[@MaxSluiman]

@@eagle162 The Japanese forging techniques are superb. Unfortunately, the iron ore was not. It was heavily contaminated and the forging had to make up for that. Hence the folding. Compare it with a pizza maker, folding and flatting the dough to make it more homogenous. It's not better than homogenous steel with the right minerals. That's why you would not want a folded blade nowadays. Modern industrial steel is perfectly homogenous. Folding it would make it weaker. There were superb swords, but most Japanese swords (including "borrowed swords" for ashigaru) from around 1600 were not the quality of the best Viking swords from around 800 ad. The latter being of superb steel and smithing. When talking about the geometrics, balance of the sword and sharpening/polishing, that's where Japanese swords excell. But it only works when wielded by well trained swordsmen. If you use the katana as a club, you will damage it. It's a large razor blade.

[@eagle162]

@@MaxSluiman that is not true at all, iron sources were not terrible that is a myth they even had a solid iron ore that was comparable to the famous swedish ore the best in Europe,folding was a thing everywhere in the world including Europe until industrial revolution it even out the carbon, and no way Japanese swords of the 16th century would be worse then Viking era swords, swords make that the same time of the Vikings would have been better on average and definitely better by the 16th century they use blast furnace at that point in time, again that's really applies to that Tradition I was talking about which focus on creating swords more for beauty rather than something practical earlier swords would have been more durable Japanese swords were even praised by Europeans and neighboring countries the latter of which would adopt Japanese swords for combat, thanks to niku a Japanese sword would have been less Sharp on average then a European sword by the way, read the articles I left all the information is there.

[@keesjanhoeksema9575]

Makes sense the antique Katana has A short blade, When the owner holds down the katana beside the body the kisaki (Tip) should not touch the ground! And during antique times the regular Japanese were not tall in height. I remember A fellow Dutchman complaining about the smal size of the ‘Jo’ (Fighting staf) To A visiting 7th dan Japanese Jo-do and Ia-do master The Jo for Jo-jitsu has A fixed size, unlike the Swords which could be made to measure. The Japanese master did not know how to respond to the blunt Dutch remark...

[@jaytomioka3137]

Excellent video! A few points though: The kanji for tachi and katana (and Chinese Dao) are the same: 刀。。。essentially describing a single edged blade like a knife... (or messer) the kanji for sword (as in kendo) is 剣。。。and refers to a double edged, straight blade like the Chinese Jian (which uses exactly the same ideogram) in Japan the latter kanji is used to imply a more classical, theoretical or rhetoric such as the “way of the sword” 剣道 even though kendo is a reflection of fighting with the katana. In this way the use of the words for sword : katana, tachi and ken are very contextual and ambiguous.

[@mina7572]

That guy in the thumbnail is an absolute chad.

[@Tennouseijin]

I wonder what's the relationship between Japanese sword size and the fighting styles and scenarios where it would likely be used. I mean, there's plenty of one-handed techniques, and even entire schools focused on one-handed use of the katana. For me, this qualifies katana (and wakizashi) as hand-and-a-half swords. In some ways similar to European bastard swords, despite the obvious differences. The way I see it: - largest swords (odachi, nagamaki etc.) were primarily intended for footsoldiers on battlefields. Pretty much two-handed, not designed for one-handed use. Sort of equivalent to great swords. - large swords (tachi, longer katanas) might be preferred when fighting from horseback (mostly one-handed?) or two-handed on foot. A battlefield side-arm. - medium swords (shorter katanas) a primary weapon for everyday self-defense, but also a decent weapon in unarmored duels - that's one reason they'd become popular during the Edo period. Whether you're suddenly attacked and need to react quickly (iaido) or are fighting a duel and opt to dual wield (famous Niten Ichi-ryū), it makes sense to sometimes wield katanas one-handed, at least for certain techniques. In iaido you often do switch to a two-handed grip after the first cut, or alternate between two-and-one handed techniques. It makes sense that a sword primarily intended for such use would be shorter and lighter. - short swords (wakizashi) primarily seen as a backup side-arm, left-hand sword for dual wielding, or primary sword for lower social classes, not allowed to own a longer sword. This weird combination of use-cases might explain why it's essentially a short sword or large dagger, yet typically has a hilt long enough for two hands. You can still fight with it using similar techniques you would with a katana, if need be.

[@temperededge]

I imagine the shorter katanas in the 19th-20th century was a direct product of the sword ban during Meiji era. Since regular katanas were illegal, but the shorter wakizashi was not, there were a large number of of o-wakizashis (big-shortswords) created during the period, ostensibly to circumvent the ban. And you can imagine, o-wakizashi and short katanas are functionally the same thing. Side note: My understanding was that Tachi were primarily *cavalry* swords, hence the larger size, and generally more extreme curvature of the blade as compared to katana, which began as an infantry weapon (see Uchigatana). There was a resurgence in using Tachi on foot when Musashi Miyamoto praised the weapon as his sword of choice in his book. It should be noted that Musashi was supposed to be very tall (around 6 feet).

[@johnthiam2446]

Medieval Japanese are not any smaller than Medieval European. Katana replica we are seeing nowadays are from late Edo period which is around 26-28 inches. Which is consider short even by Chinese sword standard. But in the 14-16 century Katana were way bigger and longer and Tachi is definitely longer than 32-33 inches plus a long hilt its a fairly enormous sword.

[@Meymeygwis]

Big fan of your stuff...the traditional gauge of hilt to blade length I was taught for Katana is 2:1, i.e. 26" blade would have a 13" handle. Do you see this in the older, more historical swords? Also, do you think height figures?

[@ivartheboneless8868]

Give me a yari over any swotd

[@SilverforceX]

Katana = small sword for civilian samurai era, wearable indoors, easy to carry. Tachi = longsword for battle. Then you have smaller Wazi and Tanto (knives), and larger Nodachi greatswords. In battle, swords were side-arms, spears and polearms were the primary melee weapons.

[@Gilmaris]

Yes, Asian swords _are_ generally smaller. But that African swords are bigger than European swords, that's just a myth.

[@Hfil66]

Of related interest: The surprising reason why samurais always carried two swords! Learn about Samurai & Katana culture! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIm1m5KNrd5mrNU

[@Yoda2422]

Yeah 29 inches is actually a very short blade because in the sword school i practice at the average sword length starts at about 32 inches and goes up to some members with almost 40 inch long blades which are often antique Tachi I believe

[@wildyracing1]

I watched a clip from you about gun ownership in Britain, which is simply put lacking. You said it is possible, but difficult. I will add, and this goes for every weapon, not just guns - the right to bear arms and especially to use them for self-defense is many times more important than the right to own. Sorry for the off-topic.

[@j.f.jesusvelezmerkt5736]

BUT, WHAT ABOUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN KATANA & TACHI ,EXACTLY ? ! ... AT THE MORE THEN THE MIDDLE OF YOR AUDIO-VIDEO : ABOUT LENGHT , ...SOMEONE MORE ? : THEN :TACHI = A LONGER-KATANA ? ! : THAT'S ALL !

[@Lurklen]

Interesting. Speaking of swords on the smaller side, I've always been curious about the Chinese Dadao (I don't know if it goes by other names) but it always struck me as a very iconic shape, and a very intimidating blade, but also incongruously small. It is clearly meant for two hands, but its blade is so short you'd be teeth to teeth using it.

[@roentgen571]

The reason the tachi was worn blade down, attached to the belt, is because it was meant to be worn/drawn from horseback. Another thing I think a lot of people don't understand is that things like blade geometry, weight, length, curvature, etc, varied to quite a degree from smith to smith, over time/geography, and by individual preference. There was a lot of overlap between "tachi" and "katana."

[@janescarfield8104]

I was wondering. If you were taking suggestions. I know it's old hat by now. But any interesting thoughts on the Game of Thrones Battle for the Wall or the fight at Castle Black? Maybe anything to say on historical encounters of armoured soldiers vs unarmoured soldiers. Maybe something to relate to the Peasants Rebellions?

[@ChrissieBear]

I do believe the transitionary sword between the tachi and the katana was called the uchigatana. Tachi were 70 to 80 cm long. Uchigatana were 60 to 70 cm long. While Katana ran the full gamut from 60 to 80 cm in length.

[@boydgrandy5769]

Early in the 17th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate solidified the class barriers in Japan, making it impossible for a peasant to ascend to samurai status, or even to have weapons such as the samurai sword. Conversely, it was a matter of law and custom that a samurai MUST wear the two swords, as a badge of status and rank. What is usually missed is that the role of the samurai was neutered after the Shogunate established itself; no longer was the samurai a warrior, who needed weapons fit for war. He was now a usually impoverished, semi-drunken administrative functionary who never pulled a blade in anger. For him, a little katana was suitable.

[@muninrob]

@Mat Easton - do you think you & your wonderful network of contacts could do a metalurgical comparison of Wootz steel & antique tamahagane steel?

[@walnzell9328]

I would imagine swords like the o-katana and nodachi were better used on horseback. You just kinda have to hold the sword out and the horse provides the... energy? Speed? You hold it down and the horse runs along and you slice stuff with less effort than swinging it.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

it's kinda make sense the swords got smaller over time when firearms slowly took it's place.The katana was already a quite medium short blade but when you look at the shin gunto in WW2,they're just bit longer than typical wakizashi and yet still looks pretty big

[@Will-SFC06]

I try not to get too bogged down in the vocabulary of swords but in their bio-mechanics. While standing in a relaxed and ready position, if I have to hold the tip off the ground then I am holding a long sword. If the tip of the blade doesn't touch the ground while in a relaxed grip at my side then I am wielding a short sword. Weight and balance is a further differentiation for how that sword needs to be wielded. I have heavy blades that are short and light blades that are long. Another thing I think about is when swords were used as primary weapons systems or as contingencies: lost or broke lance or spear. I like the differentiation between "Arming Swords" and "Battle or War Swords." But even that categorization can get confusing...

[@williamarthur9188]

If thou look at the size of suits of Japanese armour in the v&a, a tachi would have been a pretty big sword, easily equivalent to European long sword.

[@temperededge]

Mat, size the argument falls apart when you consider Tachi were designed to be used on horseback. Katana began its life as an infantry sword, evolving from the uchigatana.

[@cthulhupr]

I have followed your videos for quite a time now, and have noticed that naval officer swords have not or hardly ever mentioned. I don't know if they are simply to be lumped as backswords, wich are also scantilly present on your channel. I would like to see a video exclusively on naval swords. Thank you.

[@dmytroy]

It seems it is not just taper but shape seems quite different as well. Have you had a chance to handle an antique or a replica would be interesting to know how they handled? I seen few of them in museums they look gorgeous but cost must be crazy as they are very old(Ueno museum in Tokyo has a few they looks really nice).

[@awilk418]

I know this isn't particularly relevant to this video but I would love to see a video regarding medieval European "splint armor". I have seen numerous recreations of it but I haven't found a whole lot of information about it otherwise. Love the videos! Thanks!

[@sgtNUKEtroop]

I see a lot of reproduction Tachi swords made with a metal scabbard and metal handle .... usually copper , brass or bronze ... is there a historical basis for that ... thanks ... Micahel

[@dlatrexswords]

Since everyone here may be interested in comparative blade lengths, I will leave this graphic that has a selection of swords from history together. i.imgur.com/Vwz4Ynv.jpg

[@Marhathor]

I haven't been self-learning Japanese for all-too long, but I'm pretty sure it's not pronounced tah-shi :p

[@rdreher7380]

I've been taking Japanese classes, self-studying, and living in Japan for years, and I'm pretty sure you're right, lol. I'm guessing Matt has been informed before that it's not "tashi," but has been making the same mistake so often his mind can't make the switch. In the business of language instruction, we call that a "fossilized error." He really needs to break his bad habit though. Not knowing how to pronounce a correctly (this kind of romanized Japanese is more or less English style orthography, not French!) it's rather embarrassing.

[@CoyotesOwn]

I'm kind of wondering: was thew size the reason why Katan and Tachi were worn differently? Katan was tucked in behind the obi but Tachi hung from the belt in a kind of harness (you can see it in photo's as tachi are part of the imperial courtly attire)

[@williamarthur4801]

One thing not addressed is mounting, Ok we all know the katana worn with a kimono and tucked into a sash, but were the blades remounted for battlefield use while wearing armour. Likewise during the 12th C, for arguments sake, would a sword only have been carried on the battlefiled and not as a badge of rank as it became in the 16thC onwards?

[@patrick2t724]

The katana was originaly made for tight spaces like inside of the house while the tachi is for in the field

[@fmabincarim34]

My 2 cent Short people 5'3" 5'9' avg height who sat on the ground and wore their sidearm the as part of their dress uniform kind of push toward a shorter weapon.

[@chrissermoon4156]

So, the short style of sword, that is the katana as 26-28 inches, were mostly used in the period with the Tokugawa shogunate. So it is at a time, when there was not much war in Japan. So maybe that plays a role.

[@Milen4u]

To add to the argument about height of the wearer dictating the length, the difference between European and Asian people was not that big before 18-19 century.