whats the difference between a samari sword and a katana?

Answer 1

like the other two people said, the same. kinda interesting though, i was into blacksmithing for a while and apparently traditional katanas are supposed to be folded over and beat back together something like 700 times, specific oils are used to temper the blade (i believe it's tempering, heating it up to a certain temperature for the right crystal structure and then dipping it in oil to cool it off, rather than water which is like instant-rust) and clay is applied to the back of the blade (forgot the name of the back of the blade) during tempering to make it so the back is durable while the front is very strong. another interesting fact is balcksmiths in Japan are only aloud to produce 2 traditional katanas in a month. maybe the government is worried about a samurai uprising... against their armed police force. lol.

Answer 2

That depends, actually, they're basically the same thing. Although not all samurai used a katana. Back before the Tokugawa era where sword length and size were not regulated, Samurai used swords in different shapes and sizes like the Tachi mounting. After the Tokugawa shogunate took over Japan, they made it a law that all swords carried by samurai must be of the same length and in uchigatana mounting to avoid disadvantages in case some disgruntled samurai decided to attack a government official using a sword with a longer reach. Your question, if applied in today's context, would sound something like: "What's the difference between a U.S. Marine's rifle and an M16? The answer depends on the era (World War 2, Korean War or Vietnam), same as the Samurai( Heian era, Kamakura, Muromachi, Tokugawa, Meiji etc.). The Katana was the Samurai's regulation issue weapon during the Tokugawa era, it evolved from the longer Tachi before the Heian era to it's present form after centuries of constant civil war in Japan. Just the same as how the M1 rifle from World War 1 evolved into the M16 used in the Vietnam war.

Answer 3

Same. The Katana was the sword that the Samari used as their main sword. So you answer is they are one in the same.

Answer 4

A katana was the samurai's sword. Specifically, the katana refers to a sword with a Japanese-style blade. Some of the earliest ones are really curved (to accomodate riding on horseback) and the later ones are almost straight (such as the ones for a style called "Toyama Ryu", which were military style katas designed for fast teaching).

P.S. Be wary of someone who says they have a samurai sword. It was most likely produced cheaply and from China.

Answer 5

the katana is the sword used by highly ranked samurai. They may also carry a wakizashi (smaller version) as well.

Answer 6

They are the same thing. samurai sword is just a basic term. katana in japanese means "long sword".