Editing Japanese sword (section)

=== Classification by shape and usage ===
[[File:Japanese swords.jpg|thumb|A range of Japanese blade types, from left to right: naginata, ken, tantō, katana (uchigatana) and tachi (not to scale).]]
[[File:太刀 銘 正恒 附 菊桐紋散糸巻太刀拵 Blade and Mounting for a Tachi.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Tachi]]''. The blade was made by Masatsune. Blade, 12th century; mounting, 18th century. [[Tokyo National Museum]]]]
[[File:Katana Hizen Tadayoshi I 2.jpg|thumb|300px|A ''katana'' forged by ''Hizen Tadayoshi'' I. (''[[List of Wazamono|Saijo Ō Wazamono]]'') [[Azuchi–Momoyama period]]. (top) Katana mounting, Late Edo period. (bottom)]]
[[File:脇差 Blade and Mounting for a Short Sword (Wakizashi).jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Wakizashi]]''. The blade was made by Fusamune. Sōshū school. Blade, late 15th or early 16th century; mounting, 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
[[File:Tanto Kunimitsu MOD.jpg|thumb|180px|''[[Tantō]]'' with signature (''Mei'') of [[Shintōgo Kunimitsu]]. Complete ''[[aikuchi]]'' style ''koshirae'' (mountings) and bare blade. Blade, 13th or 14th century. Sōshu school. [[Important Cultural Property (Japan)|Important Cultural Property]]]]

In modern times the most commonly known type of Japanese sword is the ''Shinogi-Zukuri'' ''[[katana]]'', which is a single-edged and usually curved sabre traditionally worn by [[samurai]] from the 15th century onwards.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Sword|encyclopedia=The New International Encyclopaedia |year=1906|publisher=Dodd, Mead and company|editor1=Daniel Coit Gilman |editor2=Harry Thurston Peck |editor3=Frank Moore Colby |pages=765|quote=...one edged sword in general called a ''katana''. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iU8rAAAAMAAJ&q=katana&pg=PA765|access-date=2007-12-19}}</ref> Western historians have said that Japanese katana were among the finest cutting weapons in world military history, for their intended use.<ref name=Turnbull2012>{{cite book |author=Stephen Turnbull |title=Katana: The Samurai Sword |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAFTe6JUEkQC&pg=PA4 |page=4 |year=2012 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=9781849086585 }}</ref><ref name=Ford2006>{{cite book |author=Roger Ford |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= 9780756622107 }}</ref><ref>Samurai 1550-1600, p49, Anthony J Bryant,Angus McBride</ref>

Other types of Japanese swords include: [[tsurugi (sword)|tsurugi]] or [[Commons:Category:Ken tanto|ken]], which is a straight double-edged sword;<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=B. W. |author-link=Basil William Robinson |title=The arts of the Japanese sword |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BDrAAAAMAAJ&q=tsurugi+ |year=1961 |publisher=Faber and Faber |page=28}}</ref> [[ōdachi]], [[tachi]], which are older styles of a very long curved single-edged sword; [[uchigatana]], a slightly shorter curved single-edged long sword; [[wakizashi]], a medium-sized sword; and [[tantō]], which is an even smaller knife-sized sword. [[Naginata]], [[nagamaki]], and [[yari]], despite being polearms, are still considered to be swords, which is a common misconception; naginata, nagamaki and yari differ from swords.<ref name="Nagayama 1997 49"/><ref name="Kodansha International">{{cite book|author1=Leon Kapp |author2=Hiroko Kapp |author3=Yoshindo Yoshihara |title=Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths: From 1868 to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7YeN0F5tn4C|date=January 2002 |publisher=Kodansha International |isbn=978-4-7700-1962-2 |page=18}}</ref>

The type classifications for Japanese swords indicate the combination of a blade and its mounts as this, then, determines the style of use of the blade. An unsigned and shortened blade that was once made and intended for use as a tachi may be alternately mounted in tachi koshirae and katana koshirae. It is properly distinguished, then, by the style of mount it currently inhabits. A long tanto may be classified as a wakizashi due to its length being over {{convert|30|cm|abbr=on}}; however, it may have originally been mounted and used as a tanto making the length distinction somewhat arbitrary but necessary when referring to unmounted short blades. When the mounts are taken out of the equation, a tanto and wakizashi will be determined by length under or over {{convert|30|cm|abbr=on}}, unless their intended use can be absolutely determined or the speaker is rendering an opinion on the intended use of the blade. In this way, a blade formally attributed as a wakizashi due to length may be informally discussed between individuals as a tanto because the blade was made during an age where tanto were popular and the wakizashi as a companion sword to katana did not yet exist.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

The following are types of Japanese swords:
* {{Nihongo|''[[Tsurugi (sword)|Tsurugi/Ken]]''|剣||"sword"}}: A straight two-edged sword that was mainly produced prior to the 10th century. After the 10th century, they completely disappeared as weapons and came to be made only as offerings to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.
* {{Nihongo|''[[Chokutō]]''|直刀||"straight sword"}}: A straight single edged sword that was mainly produced prior to the 10th century. Since the 10th century, they disappeared as weapons and came to be made only as offerings to [[Shinto shrines]] and [[Buddhist temples]].
* {{nihongo|''[[Tachi]]''|太刀||"long sword"}}: A sword that is generally longer and more curved than the later katana, with curvature often centered from the middle or towards the [[tang (tools)|tang]], and often including the tang. Tachi were worn suspended, with the edge downward. The tachi was in vogue before the 15th century.
* {{nihongo|''[[Kodachi]]''|小太刀||"small [[Tachi]]"}}: A shorter version of the tachi, but with similar mounts and intended use, mostly found in the 13th century or earlier.
* {{nihongo|''[[Ōdachi]]''|大太刀||"large [[Tachi]]"}}/{{nihongo|''[[Nodachi]]''|野太刀||"field [[Tachi]]"}}: A longer version of the tachi, generally with a blade length of more than {{convert|90|cm|abbr=on}}, mostly found in the 14th century or later. 
* {{nihongo|''[[Uchigatana]]''|打刀||"striking sword"}}: A sword with a curved blade longer than {{convert|60|cm|abbr=on}} (there is no upper length limit but generally they are shorter than {{convert|90|cm|abbr=on}}), worn with the edge upwards in the [[obi (sash)|sash]]. It was developed from ''sasuga'', a kind of ''tantō'', around the 14th century, and became the mainstream replacing ''tachi'' from the 15th century onwards. 
* {{nihongo|''[[Wakizashi]]''|脇差|| "side inserted [sword]"}}: A general term for a sword between one and two shaku long ({{convert|30|and|60|cm|abbr=on}} in modern measurements), predominantly made after 1600. Generally it is the short blade that accompanies a katana in the traditional samurai ''daisho'' pairing of swords, but may be worn by classes other than the samurai as a single blade, also worn edge up as the katana. The name derives from the way the sword would be stuck at one's side through the ''[[obi (sash)|sash]]''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=国語大辞典（新装版）|trans-title=[[Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]], Revised Edition |language=ja |location=Tokyo |publisher=[[Shogakukan]] |date=1988 }}</ref>
* {{nihongo|''[[Tantō]]''|短刀||"short blade"}}: A sword with a blade shorter than one shaku ({{convert|30|cm|abbr=on}}). ''Tantō'' are generally classified as a sword, but its usage is the same as that of a knife. Usually one-edged, but some were double-edged, though asymmetrical.

There are other bladed weapons made in the same traditional manner as Japanese swords, which are not swords, but are still classified as Japanese swords (''nihontō'') (as "tō" means "blade", rather than specifically "sword") because of the way they are made in a similar manner to Japanese swords:
* {{nihongo|''[[Nagamaki]]''|長巻||"long wrapping"}}: A sword with an exceptionally long handle, usually about as long as the blade. The name refers to the length of the handle wrapping.<ref name="Nagayama 1997 49"/>
* {{nihongo|''[[Naginata]]''|なぎなた, 薙刀||}}: A polearm with a curved single-edged blade. Naginata mounts consist of a long wooden pole, different from a nagamaki mount, which is shorter and wrapped. 
* {{nihongo|''[[Yari]]''|槍||"spear"}}: A spear, or spear-like polearm. Yari have various blade forms, from a simple double edged and flat blade, to a triangular cross section double edged blade, to those with a symmetric cross-piece (''jumonji-yari'') or those with an asymmetric cross piece. The main blade is symmetric and straight, unlike a naginata, and usually smaller, but can be as large as or bigger than some naginata blades.

Other edged weapons or tools that are made using the same methods as Japanese swords:
* Arrowheads for war, [[Ya (arrow)#Yajiri or yanone .28war arrowhead.29|yajiri]] (or yanone).
* {{nihongo|''Kogatana''|小刀||"small blade"}}: An accessory or utility knife, sometimes found mounted in a pocket on the side of the scabbard of a sword. A typical blade is about {{convert|10|cm|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1|cm|abbr=on}} wide, and is made using the same techniques as the larger sword blades. Also referred to as a "Kozuka" (小柄), which literally means 'small handle', but this terminology can also refer to the handle and the blade together. In entertainment media, the kogatana is sometimes shown as a throwing weapon, but its real purpose was the same as a 'pocket knife' in the West.<ref name="Suenaga 1975">{{cite book | title = Nihonto no Soe Kogatana | year = 1975 | first = Masao | last = Suenaga | language=ja}}</ref>