Editing Sword (section)

====East Asia====
[[File:Sword with Scabbard MET 21123 - cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Chinese ''dao'' and scabbard of the 17th–18th century]]

As steel technology improved, single-edged weapons became popular throughout Asia. Derived from the [[History of China|Chinese]] ''[[jian]]'' or ''[[Dao (Chinese sword)|dao]]'', the [[Korea]]n ''[[hwandudaedo]]'' are known from the early medieval [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|Three Kingdoms]]. Production of the [[Japan]]ese ''[[tachi]]'', a precursor to the ''[[katana]]'', is recorded from c. AD 900 (see [[Japanese sword]]).<ref>[[Karl Friday|Friday, Karl F.]] (2004). ''Samurai, warfare and the state in early medieval Japan''. Routledge publishing. pp. 79–81. {{ISBN|0-415-32962-0}}</ref>

[[File:WLA haa Sword by Kenji Nobuhide Kurihara.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Japanese sword]]s: ''[[tachi]]'' (right), ''[[wakizashi]]'' (top left), and ''[[tsuba]]'' (bottom left)]]
Japan was famous for the swords it forged in the early 13th century for the class of warrior-nobility known as the [[Samurai]]. Western historians have said that Japanese ''[[katana]]'' were among the finest cutting weapons in world military history.<ref name=Turnbull2012>{{cite book |author=Turnbull, Stephen |title=Katana: The Samurai Sword |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zW1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |page=4 |year=2012 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84908-658-5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429015330/https://books.google.com/books?id=rAFTe6JUEkQC&pg=PA4 |archive-date=29 April 2016 }}</ref><ref name=Ford2006>{{cite book |author=Ford, Roger |title=Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WdYAAAAYAAJ |pages=66, 120 |year=2006 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7566-2210-7 }}</ref><ref>Bryant, Anthony J.; Angus McBride. ''Samurai 1550–1600'', p. 49.</ref> The types of swords used by the Samurai included the ''[[ōdachi]]'' (extra long field sword), ''[[tachi]]'' (long cavalry sword), ''katana'' (long sword), and ''[[wakizashi]]'' (shorter companion sword for ''katana''). Japanese swords that pre-date the rise of the samurai caste include the ''[[Tsurugi (sword)|tsurugi]]'' (straight double-edged blade) and ''[[chokutō]]'' (straight one-edged blade).<ref>Jeep, John M. (1998). ''The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords''. Kodansha International publishing. {{ISBN|4-7700-2071-6}}</ref> Japanese swordmaking reached the height of its development in the 15th and 16th centuries, when samurai increasingly found a need for a sword to use in closer quarters, leading to the creation of the modern ''katana''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords |last=Nagayama |first=Kōkan |year=1998 |publisher=Kodansha International |isbn=978-4-7700-2071-0 |pages=59–65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPyswmGDBFkC&pg=PA59 |access-date=18 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603114919/https://books.google.com/books?id=zPyswmGDBFkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA59 |archive-date=3 June 2016 }}</ref> High quality Japanese swords have been exported to neighboring Asian countries since before the 11th century. From the 15th century to the 16th century, more than 200,000 swords were exported, reaching a quantitative peak, but these were simple swords made exclusively for mass production, specialized for export and lending to conscripted farmers (''[[ashigaru]]'').<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160828134453/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20160327/ddm/001/070/120000c ''日本の技術の精巧さは...''.] ''[[Mainichi Shimbun]]''. 27 March 2016</ref><ref name="takeot">Takeo Tanaka. (2012) ''Wokou'' p. 104. [[Kodansha]]. {{ISBN|978-4062920933}}</ref><ref name="rekishi200940">''歴史人'' September 2020, p. 40. {{ASIN|B08DGRWN98}}</ref>