Tanto
- classic tanto (with a large tsuba / guard plate);
- Hamidashi (with a small tsuba ),
- Yoroi-dōshi (with a very powerful blade),
- Aikuchi (simple outfit without a tsuba );
- Kaiken (short knife);
- Kogatana (side knife or utility knife);
- Practice Tanto made from Japanese red oak.
The Tantō [ tan.toː ] ( Japanese 短刀 , dt. "Short sword") is a straight or slightly curved, single-edged Japanese combat knife with a blade length of less than 1 shaku (303 mm). Forging techniques similar to those used to make Japanese long swords (for example katana ) are used in the manufacture of the weapon . As a rule, the Tantō do not have a burr (Shinogi) on the surface of the blade.
Definition of terms
Tantō in the narrower sense denotes a knife with a guard blade ( tsuba ), although there are also special forms without a guard blade. For the training of Japanese martial arts , replicas made of hardwood are used, which correspond in shape to the Bokutō , but are shorter and therefore have the approximate shape of an Aikuchi ; they are also known colloquially as Tanto .
Tanto special forms
Hamidashi and Yoroi-dōshi
These Tanto forms are equipped with an extremely small guard plate, hardly larger than the handle diameter. Both variants were worn in wartime together with the katana-like long sword Tachi , usually on the left hip, and were used in close combat . The shorter Hamidashi was primarily used as a "helmet breaker". A Yoroi-dōshi with its very strong blade was used as a so-called 'armor breaker' to wound the enemy through the armor lamellae and to cut up the armor of fallen enemies (for decapitation).
Aikuchi
As Aikuchi a tanto variant is called without audit sheet. The handle connects almost seamlessly to the Saya (knife sheath).
Kaiken
The Kaiken (outdated also Kwaiken ) is a knife with a blade length of about 8 to 16 cm. It was primarily intended for self-defense and for the ritual suicide seppuku of women (after a dishonor or as an action before such a thing), but was also widely used by monks. The kaiken was worn hidden under the robe. There were both variants with curved, einschneidiger blade and dagger-shaped, sharpened on both sides Kaiken .
Kozuka
The all-purpose knife Kogatana (handle = Kozuka ), usually attached to the side of the katana , is also one of the Tantō.
Kubikaki katana
In the so-called Kubikaki katana (often also called Kubikiri or Kubitori ), the cutting edge is on the inside of the curved blade. This rare knife shape was (in a fantastic-martial interpretation) supposedly used for beheadings; the severed heads of defeated opponents were later presented to the daimyo , the lord of the warrior or samurai .
Ken-Tanto
There is also tanto in Ken-zukuri. Ken is also a term for sword, but in this case refers to the shape of the blade, namely the double-edged, straight shape from the early days of the Japanese sword.
Yari-tanto
A yari-tanto can be made from a lance tip, the yari . It is double-edged, but has a massive rhombic cross-section. Since they are originally mounted on long shafts, yari have a very long nakago ( sword tang ); this must be separated for the conversion. The Mei , the blacksmith's signature, can also be lost. Only yari with a rather short blade length are suitable.
'American Tanto'
With western pocket knives and combat knives, a tanto blade is a blade shape that is rather straight, usually also has a ridge (SHINOGI) and where the point does not merge into the blade with a curve, but is at an angle to the blade. However, this popular design does not correspond to the traditional Japanese blade shape, which is manufactured without a burr and with a curve at the tip.
See also
literature
- Kanzan Satō: The japanese Sword A Comprehensive Guide , Kodansha Intl 1983, ISBN 978-0-87011-562-2
- Colin M. Roach, Abe Kazunori, Nicklaus Suino: Japanese Swords: Cultural Icons of a Nation , Tuttle Pub 2010, ISBN 978-4-8053-1035-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ forms of Stichbblattes , accessed April 26, 2014.
- ↑ Kanzan Satō: The Japanese Sword A Comprehensive Guide (= John Rosenfield [ed.]: Japanese arts library . Volume 12 ). Kodansha International, Tokyo 1983, ISBN 0-87011-562-6 (English, limited preview in Google book search).
