what two swords do samurai allowed to wear? the katana and the???

Answer 1

the wakizashi or smaller tanto dagger.

The smaller sword was often used to commit seppeku - ritual suicide - if ordered by a lord to do so or to avoid dishonour in the possibility of being captured.

It also served as a back-up for the katana if it were unavailable or impractical in a close-in fight. Samurai were required to surrender their katana when meeting important people or entering buildings but they were allowed to keep the wakizashi so if treachery was afoot - as it so often was in the Sengoku Period - the samurai had at least some means of defense.

Miyamoto Mushashi developed a unique fighting style using both swords. He is said to also have been proficient in throwing the smaller wakizashi.

Answer 2

The samurai used various weapons, but the katana is the weapon that is synonymous with samurai. Bushido teaches that the katana is the samurai's soul and sometimes a samurai is pictured as entirely dependent on the katana for fighting. They believe that the katana was so precious that they often gave them names and considered them as part of the living. This contrasted with the swords and crossbows of Europe at the same time which were, principally, tools for combat. However the use of swords did not become common in battle until the Kamakura period (1185-1333), where the tachi and uchigatana (the predecessor to the katana) became prevalent. The katana itself did not become the primary weapon until the Edo period.

After a male child of the bushi was born, he would receive his first sword in a ceremony called mamori-gatana. The sword, however, was merely a charm sword covered with brocade to which was attached a purse or wallet, worn by children under five. Upon reaching the age of thirteen, in a ceremony called Gembuku (元服), a male child was given his first real swords and armour, an adult name, and became a samurai. A katana and a wakizashi together are called a daisho (lit. "big and small").

The wakizashi itself was a samurai's "honour 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.

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

Answer 3

Samurai (male only) wears one long sword and the other short sword on the hip. Long sword is used for war time, fighting and vendetta. Short sword for Harakiri when commiting suicide. Reason for harakiri suicide: mistake on war strategy, exposure of betrait to lord, after vendetta, etc but all misery. Long sword called as Katana, Daitou or Tachi. Short sword clled, Kokatana or shoutou. Good katana cuts steel. Good katana turns into good money at pawn shop (it's not joking) Poor samurai sometimes does it. After he goes to pawn shop, he still needs to wear for good appearance to the public. In this case he wears bamboo sword of same looking as genuine katana. Samurai never says he's hungry and use toothpick. Samurai word originated from Some Lie. LOL

Answer 4

Its the best for what it was designed to do. It does have its short comings. It is not as effective as the european longsword for thrusting and the extreme sharpness of the blade does not allow for half swording. Its size, shape and composition make it very effective at slashing, but it sacrifices versatility to achieve this. There are numerous reasons why this could be, one place to look would be the armor used in Japan at the time. If the armor was primarily made of bamboo then it was able to do its job superbly but I don t think that it would be able to cut through a well made piece of chainmail or plate armour. The forging is truly amazing and that fact that it was used since roughly 1000 A.D means that it was used earlier than most two handed swords in europe, so that is also a point to towards its interest factor. It really is hard to decide what sword is "best" as most swords were designed to deal with specific challenges and as those challenges changed the swords changed as well.

Answer 5

Wakizashi

Answer 6

Wakizashi.
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