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Katana



General info
Nihonto, or commonly known as Katana in the English community is a type of Japanese sword or longsword.The word katana was used in ancient Japan and is still used today, whereas the word nihonto originated in China, in the poem ("The Song of Nihonto") by the Song Dynasty poet Ouyang Xiu. The word nihonto became more common in Japan in the late Tokugawa shogunate. Due to importation of Western swords and culture, the word nihonto (literally "the sword of Japan") was adopted as an act of nationalism.[kah-tah-nah] in the kun'yomi (Japanese reading) of the kanji. In use after the 1400s, the Katana is a curved, single-edged sword traditionally used by the samurai. The katana was typically paired with the wakizashi or shoto, a similarly made but small sword, both worn by the members of the warrior class. It could also be worn with the tanto, an even smaller similarly shaped blade. The two weapons together were called the daisho, and represented the social power and personal honour of the samurai. The long blade was used for open combat, while the shorter blade was considered a side arm, more suited for stabbing, close quarters combat, decapitating beaten opponents when taking heads on the battlefield, and seppuku, a form of ritual suicide. Japanese swords are fairly common today, antique and even modern forged swords can still be found and purchased. Modern nihonto or Japanese-made swords are only made by a few hundred smiths in Japan today at contests hosted by the All Japan Swordsmiths Association.



Use
The tachi became the primary weapon on the battlefield during the Kamakura period, used by cavalry mounted samurai. The sword was mostly considered as a secondary weapon until then, used in the battlefield only after the bow and spear were no longer feasible. During the Edo period samurai went about on foot unarmored, and with much less combat being fought on horseback in open battlefields the need for an effective close quarter weapon resulted in samurai being armed with daisho. Testing of swords, called tameshigiri, was practiced on a variety of materials (often the bodies of executed criminals) to test the sword's sharpness and practice cutting technique.

Kenjutsu is the Japanese martial art of using the katana in combat. The katana was primarily a cutting weapon, or more specifically, a slicing one. However, the katana's moderate curve allows for effective thrusting as well. The hilt of the katana was held with two hands, though a fair amount of one-handed techniques exist. The placement of the right hand was dictated by both the length of the tsuka and the length of the wielder's arm. Two other martial arts were developed specifically for training to draw the sword and attack in one motion. They are battojutsu and iaijutsu, which are superficially similar, but do generally differ in training theory and methods. For cutting, there was a specific technique called "ten-uchi." Ten-uchi refers to an organized motion made by arms and wrist, during a descending strike. As the sword is swung downwards, the elbow joint drastically extends at the last instant, popping the sword into place. This motion causes the swordsman's grip to twist slightly and if done correctly, is said to feel like wringing a towel (Thomas Hooper-sensei reference). This motion itself caused the katana's blade to impact its target with sharp force, and is used to break initial resistance. From there, fluidly continuing along the motion wrought by ten-uchi, the arms would follow through with the stroke, dragging the sword through its target. Because the katana slices rather than chops, it is this "dragging" which allows it to do maximum damage, and is thusly incorporated into the cutting technique. At full speed, the swing will appear to be full stroke, the katana passing through the targeted object. The segments of the swing are hardly visible, if at all. Assuming that the target is, for example, a human torso, ten-uchi will break the initial resistance supplied by shoulder muscles and the clavicle. The follow through would continue the slicing motion, through whatever else it would encounter, until the blade inherently exited the body, due a combination of the motion and its curved shape. Nearly all styles of kenjutsu share the same five basic guard postures. They are as follows; chudan-no-kamae (middle posture), jodan-no-kamae (high posture), gedan-no-kamae (low posture), hasso-no-kamae (eight-sided posture), and waki-gamae (side posture). The katana's razor-edge was so hard that upon hitting an equally hard or harder object, such as another sword's edge, chipping became a definite risk. As such, blocking an oncoming blow blade-to-blade was generally avoided. In fact, evasive body maneuvers were preferred over blade contact by most, but, if such was not possible, the flat or the back of the blade was used for defense in many styles, rather than the precious edge. A popular method for defeating descending slashes was to simply beat the sword aside. In some instances, an "umbrella block", positioning the blade overhead, diagonally (point towards the ground, pommel towards the sky), would create an effective shield against a descending strike. If the angle of the block was drastic enough, the curve of the katana's spine would cause the attacker's blade to slide along its counter and off to the side.



Carrying
Katana were carried in several different ways, varying throughout Japanese history. The style most commonly seen in "samurai" movies is called buke-zukuri, with the katana (and wakizashi, if also present) carried edge up, with the saya (sheath) thrust through the obi (sash). The katana would be carried in a saya (sheath) and tucked into the samurai's belt. Originally, they would carry the sword with the blade turned down. This was a more comfortable way for the armored samurai to carry his very long sword. The bulk of the samurai armor made it difficult to draw the sword from any other place on his body. When unarmored, samurai would carry their sword with the blade facing up. This made it possible to draw the sword and strike in one quick motion. In order to draw the sword, the samurai would turn the saya (sheath) downward ninety degrees and pull it out of his obi (sash) just a bit with his left hand, then gripping the tsuka (hilt) with his right hand he would slide it out while sliding the saya (sheath) back to its original position.



Decorations

Almost all blades are decorated, although not all blades are decorated on the visible part of the blade. Once the blade is cool, and the mud is scraped off, the blade may have designs or grooves (hi or bo-hi) cut into it. One of the most important markings on the sword is performed here: the file markings. These are cut into the nakago or the hilt-section of the blade, where they will be covered by the tsuka later. The nakago is never supposed to be cleaned: doing this can reduce the value of the sword in half or more. The purpose is to show how well the blade steel ages. Some other marks on the blade are aesthetic: dedications written in kanji as well as engravings called horimono depicting gods, dragons, or other acceptable beings. Some are more practical. The presence of a groove (the most basic type is called a hi) reduces the weight of the sword yet keeps its structural integrity and strength using the engineering principles of the I-beam. In Japanese, the scabbard for a katana is referred to as a saya, and the handguard piece, often intricately designed as an individual work of art — especially in later years of the Edo period — was called the tsuba. Other aspects of the mountings (koshirae), such as the menuki (decorative grip swells), habaki (blade collar and scabbard wedge), fuchi and kashira (handle collar and cap), kozuka (small utility knife handle), kogai (decorative skewer-like implement), saya lacquer, and tsuka-ito (professional handle wrap, also named emaki), received similar levels of artistry.