But in some case a emperor and shogun would carried one for show. A simple man with a katana sword could be killed at once. Only a samurai was allowed to have a katana. This sword was thought to be the "soul" of its master. The Katana was very important in Japanese society. To pull the katana a few inches out of its scabbard was an aggressive move signalling willingness to fight. Alternatively, the scabbard might be held freely in the left hand: in action the sword would be drawn and the scabbard thrown down. That way the sword could be drawn and cut the opponent in one movement. The sword was in its sheath or scabbard (the cover), with its blade facing up. It was used for stabbing when the katana was made for using with one hand.Īs a rule, katana was worn under the belt on the left side of a right-handed man. The katana could be easily used for cutting if it was made for using with both hands. This depended mainly on the length of the tang (the handle). Generally, katana is designed for cutting, but it was widely used for stabbing too. To determine the quality of a katana it is enough to check its resistance (how much it bends when it is hit), elasticity (the ability of katana to return to its original shape), and the endurance of the blade after striking (how long it lasts). But there are some swords made of zinc and aluminum alloys, which are able to resist some external forces and are only used for decoration or non-tameshigiri practice. Today katanas are mainly made of carbon steel of different quality. The sword is sometimes given a rough polish by the smith and then sent to a professional polisher for polishing (usually to a mirror finish). In ancient times it was said that the soul of the sword was put into the katana at this point. The most important part of the forging is the tempering, when the sword is quench-hardened. This steel is sent to a smith who breaks it down to small pieces and layers the steel according to carbon content, they smelt this in their forge and repeatedly fold the steel in order to homogenise it. Modern katana designed for the training of iaido and iaijutsu - iaitoįorging and polishing Ī traditional katana is made of a type of high carbon steel called tamahagane, which is made by smelting a type of Japanese iron ore, called iron sand, in a large furnace called a tatara.In Japanese, "katana" means a long sword and it represents a blade, which is a little curved, with a single edge and a very sharp point. until 1876, when the samurai were abolished as a social class. It is the most important sword of the three swords worn by samurai: katana, wakizashi, and tanto. A katana is a Japanese long sword used by samurai warriors.
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