Tachi
The tachi (太刀) is one type of traditional Japanese sword (nihonto) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan.
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[edit] History and description
With a few exceptions katana and tachi can be distinguished from each other if signed, by the location of the signature (mei) on the tang (nakago). In general the mei should be carved into the side of the nakago that would face outward when the sword was worn. Since a tachi was worn cutting edge down, and the katana was worn cutting edge up the mei would be in opposite locations on the nakago of both types of swords.[1]
An authentic tachi that was manufactured in the correct time period averaged 70–80 centimeters in cutting edge length (nagasa) and compared to a katana was generally lighter in weight in proportion to its length, had a greater taper from hilt to point, was more curved with a smaller point area.[2]
Unlike the traditional manner of wearing the katana, the tachi was worn hung from the belt with the cutting-edge down, and was usually used by cavalry. Deviations from the average length of tachi have the prefixes ko- for "short" and ō- for "great or large" attached. For instance, tachi that were shōtō and closer in size to a wakizashi were called kodachi. The longest tachi (considered a 15th century ōdachi) in existence is more than 3.7 meters in total length (2.2m blade) but believed to be ceremonial. In the late 1500s and early 1600s many old surviving tachi blades were converted into katana by having their original tangs cut (o-suriage), the signature (mei) would be lost in this process.[3]
[edit] Use
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The tachi was used primarily on horseback, where it was able to be drawn efficiently for cutting down enemy foot soldiers. On the ground it was still an effective weapon, but somewhat awkward to use. The uchigatana was the predecessor to the katana as the battle-blade of feudal Japan's bushi (warrior class), and as it evolved into the later design, the two were often differentiated from each other only by how they were worn and by the fittings for the blades.
It was during the Mongol invasions that it was shown there were some weaknesses in the tachi sword which led to the development of the Katana.[4]
In later Japanese feudal history, during the Sengoku and Edo periods, certain high-ranking warriors of what became the ruling class would wear their sword tachi-style (edge-downward), rather than with the saya (scabbard) thrust through the belt with the edge upward.[5]
With the rising of militarism during the Shōwa era, the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy implemented tachi called Shin guntō and Kai guntō. (see Japanese swordsmithing)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The new generation of Japanese swordsmiths, Tamio Tsuchiko, Kenji Mishina, Kodansha International, 2002 P.30
- ^ The Japanese sword, Volume 12 of Japanese arts library, Author Kanzan Satō, Photographs by Joe Earle, Translated by Joe Earle, Contributor Joe Earle, Edition illustrated, Publisher Kodansha International, 1983, ISBN 0870115626, 9780870115622 P.15
- ^ The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords, Author Kōkan Nagayama, Edition illustrated, Publisher Kodansha International, 1998, ISBN 4770020716, 9784770020710 P.48
- ^ Tachi Japanese Sword
- ^ Kapp, Leon; Hiroko Kapp, Yoshindo Yoshihara (1987). The Craft of the Japanese Sword. Japan: Kodansha International. pp. 168. ISBN 978-0870117985.
[edit] External links
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