Hello Katana & Sword lovers,

When we are holding a katana or sword, we may feel as if we were real samurai, but do you know something more about a samurai and his weapons meaning to him? I'll share something I knew with you here. Hopefully, you will like it and find this helpful! Thanks!

1) Samurai

Samurai was a term for the military nobility in pre-industrial Japan. The word 'samurai' is derived from the Japanese verb 'saburau' (hence the male name 'saburo') meaning 'to serve'; a samurai is the servant of a lord.

2) Samurai's Name

A samurai was usually named by combining one kanji from his father or grandfather and one new kanji. Many samurai were part of their name.

For example, the full name of Oda Nobunaga would be called 'Oda Kazusanosuke Saburo Nobunaga', in which 'Oda' is a clan or family name, 'kazusanosuke' is a title of vice-governor of Kazusa province, 'Saburo' is a name before genpuku, a coming of age ceremony, and 'Nobunaga' is an adult name. Upon reaching the age of thirteen, in a ceremony called Genpuku, a male child was given his first real swords and armour, an adult name, and became a samurai.

3) The Meaning of Samurai's Weapons

a. Katana

Samurai used various weapons, but katana is the weapon that is synonymous with samurai. For samurai, katana was more important than his life. Katana was equal to soul of Bushido, so katana had to be not only tough and sharp but also beautiful. Bushido taught that a samurai's soul is their katana and sometimes a samurai is pictured as entirelly dependent on the katana for fighting. This contrasted with the crossbows of Europe or the swords of knights, which were, principally, tools for combat. However, the use of katana did not become common in battle until the Kamakura period (1185-1333), where the Tachi and Uchigatana (the direct predecessor to the katana) became prevalent. The katana itself did not become the primary weapon until the Edo period.

b. Wakizashi

The wakizashi itself was a samurai's 'honor blade' and purportedly never left the samurai's side. He would sleep with it under his pillow and it would be taken with him when he entered a house and had to leave his main weapons outside.

c. Tanto

The tanto was a small dagger sometimes worn with the wakizashi in a daisho. The tanto or the wakizashi was used to commit seppuku, a ritualized suicide.

Cheers,

Razorsharpkatana