Japanese kaiken/kwaiken style tanto.
A kaiken (懐剣?, prior to modern orthographic reform kwaiken (pocket knife);[1] also futokoro-gatana) is an 8-10 inch long, single or double bladed dagger[2] without ornamental fittings housed in a plain mount, formerly carried by men and women of the samurai class in Japan. It was useful for self-defense indoors where the long katana and intermediate wakizashi were inconvenient. Women carried them in their kimono either in a pocket like fold (futukoro) or in the sleeve (tamoto)[3] for self-defense and for ritual suicide by slashing the veins in the left side of the neck.[4][5] When a samurai woman married, she was expected to carry a kaiken with her when she went to her husband's house to live.[6]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ The Japanese Contributions to the English Language: An Historical Dictionary, Authors Garland Hampton Cannon, Nicholas W. Warren, Publisher Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-447-03764-4, ISBN 978-3-447-03764-8 P.65
- ^ A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times, Author George Cameron Stone, Publisher Courier Dover Publications, 1999, ISBN 0-486-40726-8, ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5 P.405
- ^ Samurai: The Weapons and Spirit of the Japanese Warrior, Clive Sinclaire, Globe Pequot, Nov 1, 2004 P.88
- ^ The complete encyclopedia of arms & weapons: the most comprehensive reference work ever published on arms and armor, Claude Blair, Publisher Bonanza Books, 1986, ISBN 0-517-48776-4, ISBN 978-0-517-48776-1 P.306
- ^ The sword book in Honchō gunkikō and The book of Samé, Kō hi sei gi of Inaba Tsūriō, Authors Hakuseki Arai, Tsūryū Inaba, Publisher C. E. Tuttle, 1963 P.42
- ^ Classical Weaponry of Japan: Special Weapons and Tactics of the Martial Arts, Author Serge Mol, Publisher Kodansha International, 2003, ISBN 4-7700-2941-1, ISBN 978-4-7700-2941-6 P.27
Nishio Minoru, Iwabuchi Etsutarō, Mizutani Shizuo, ed. (1985). Iwanami Kokugo Jiten (in Japanese) (3 ed.). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p. 155. ISBN 4-00-080003-5.
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