Wakizashi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Wakizashi-style sword mounting, Edo period, 19th century

The wakizashi (脇差:わきざし, wakizashi^?) (meaning "side arm") is a traditional Japanese sword with a shōtō blade between 30 and 60 cm, with an average of 50 cm (between 12 and 24 inches). It is similar to but shorter than a katana, and sometimes longer than the kodachi ("small sword"). The wakizashi was usually worn together with the katana by the samurai or swordsmen of feudal Japan. When worn together the pair of swords were called daishō, which translates literally as "large and small". The katana was often called the sword or the long sword and the wakizashi the companion sword.

1 Etymology of the word
2 Brief history
3 Overview
4 See also
5 Sources
6 External links

[edit] Etymology of the word

The word "wakizashi" can be divided into two separate words, which are "waki" and "zashi" or sahi. The word waki denoted an adverb, which modifies a verb and a gerund and means "side" or "peripheral". The second word "zashi" ("sahi") denotes a gerund, which originates from the verb "sasu", which at its turn means "to insert". In the context of the word wakizashi the word zashi means "to insert between obi". In other words it means to wear a sword. This verb is to be used with swords, which are not tachi, which needs the word haku for the meaning of "to wear".

[edit] Brief history

Originally wakizashi used to mean "any sword to be worn on the side of the main sword. Subsequently the term was used to denote the group of swords, which were shorter than the main sword of the samurai and after this, "wakizashi" has acquired the meaning of the side sword, because a side sword was shorter than the main sword by its nature.

In the old times the samurai used to wear different types of side swords, as for example chiisa-gatana or yoroi-doshi and the term wakizashi didn't mean any official blade length. The first usage of a wakizashi sword dates back to the period between 1532 and 1569. Oda Nabunaga wore a daishō pair of uchigatana, which meant a katana with a wakizashi. Hence the common practice of wearing a wakizashi as the side sword of a katana.

After the Muromachi period the rulers of Japan tried to regulate the types of swords and the social groups which were allowed to wear them. It was made in order not to affect the reputation, power and the class of the samurai class. In the late Momoyama period there came out laws which categorized the swords in accordance to their blade length. Nevertheless there were people who openly disobeyed the laws and carried long wakizashi swords (oo-wakizashi), which had as much the same length as the forbidden katana swords. This was caused by the confusing definition of katana, wakizashi and tanto of those times and some townsmen and members of yakuza gangs carried such swords.

[edit] Overview

Wakizashi were made with different zukuri shapes and sizes, and were generally thinner than katana. They very often had much less niku (translated literally as "meat" or "flesh", the measure of how convex the edge is) and therefore cut softer targets much more aggressively than a katana. Its hilt is normally of a square shape, but on rare occasion it has none.

A wakizashi was used as a samurai's weapon when the katana was unavailable. When entering a building, a samurai would leave his katana with a servant or page who would then let it rest on a rack called a katana-kake, with the hilt pointing left so that it had to be removed with the left hand, passed to the right, then placed at the samurai's right, making it difficult to draw quickly, and reducing suspicion. However, the wakizashi would be worn at all times, and therefore, it constituted a side arm for the samurai (similar to a modern soldier's use of a pistol). A samurai would have worn it from the time he awoke to the time he went to sleep, and slept with it under his pillow. In earlier periods, and especially during times of civil war, a tantō (dagger) was worn in place of a wakizashi. For some swordsmen, such as Miyamoto Musashi, the blade was used as an off-hand weapon while the favored hand wielded the katana in order to fight with two weapons for maximum combat advantage. Contrary to popular belief, the wakizashi was not the sole tool used in the ritual suicide known as seppuku; this usage was also commonly assigned to the Tantō.

The best wakizashi swords manufactured today are considered those made of folded steel from Sweden or those made of high carbon steel. The best known manufacturers of Japanese swords and wakizashi in particular are the following brands:

Paul Chen
Cold steel.

Some famous Japanese swordsmiths used to forge many wakizashi swords and not just for the daisho set, but as sole short swords, which were further sold to ashigaru warriors (unmounted soldiers), to merchants and artisans. There were also cases, when the wakizashi swords had more beautiful patterns on their hilts and scabbards, because it was considered that the samurai warriors couldn't have had the same refined tastes as people outside the samurai class.

Although the mountings of the small swords are quite the same and those of the long swords, the wakizashi scabbard could also have different pockets for a small knife (kozuka), for a hair arranger (kogai) and for chopsticks (waribashi), which were actually split hair arrangers. A katana scabbard at its turn would almost never contain pockets for the knife, hair arranger and waribachi at the same time, though would have a slot for one knife.

[edit] Official lengths of wakizashi swords

There were several types of wakizashi swords, which are distinguished according to the length of their blades. A sword is measured from its kissaki to its hamachi, i.e. from the point of its blade until the notch on its sharp edge. This was there could be distinguished following types and measurement of wakizashi:

ko-wakizashi (a small wakizashi): measures from 1 shaku to 1 shaku 9 sun 9 bu, i.e. from 30,3 cm to 60,297 cm

chu-wakizashi (a mid wakizashi): measures from 1 shaku 5 sun to 1 shaku 7 sun 9 bu, i.e. from 45,45 cm to 54,237 cm;

oo-wakizashi (a large wakizashi): measures from 1 shaku 8 sun to 1 shaku 9 sun 9 bu, i.e. up to 60,297 cm;

[edit] The pricing of a wakizashi sword

The collectors have a greater desire for a katana or for a tachi than for a wakizashi and in some cases they would be willing to pay for them much more than for a wakizashi. This price ranging is determined by the fact that the amount of wakizashi swords on today's market is greater and thus they cost sometimes even less than half the price of an original katana, which can be over 10,000 US dollars. However the experts learned the true value of an original wakizashi sword, as it is always an exceptional learning tool to tell more about the methods, skills and traditions of a particular swordsmith.

There are also the so-called mumei wakizashi, which are the same swords, though which have not been signed by their swordsmith. The price of such swords is estimated not as high as the price of the signed ones. However, some collectors consider mumei wakizashi swords as being a challenge to identify the creator of this particular blade by the way it was forged.

The wakizashi and katana were usually alike in design and passed down from generations raising its value and personal bound to a samurai. Although the katana was the primary weapon for a samurai, the wakizashi's sheath and hilt were in most cases more detailed and artistic than the katana's because it wasn't used as much but carried everywhere.

[edit] Trivia

The attractive visuals of Japanese swords and the skills of their ancient user (those users often attributed to having demi-god like powers and skills) have made the Japanese sword and Japanese fencing an integral part of many animated productions and video games originating in Asia. As the wakizashi makes up half of a daisho (a pair of swords: one long, one short), it appears often in the aforementioned media. In many such instances, owing to its usefulness in close quarters and the ease with which it may be concealed, it is depicted as part of the "stealth" archetype in modern fiction (assassins, spies, ninjas, etc.), reflecting the weapon's historical usage.