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The , "armor piercer"Japan by Pierre Landy; Nagel Publishers p. 68 or "mail piercer", is one of the traditionally made
p. 30 The ''motogasane'' (blade thickness) at the ''munemachi'' (the notch at the beginning of the back edge of the blade) can be up to thick, which is characteristic of the ''yoroi-dōshi''. The extra thickness at the spine of the blade distinguishes the ''yoroi-dōshi'' from a standard tantō blade. ''Yoroi-dōshi'' were worn inside the belt on the back or on the right side with the hilt toward the front and the edge upward. Due to being worn on the right, the blade would have been drawn using the left hand, giving rise to the alternate name of ,''1988'', ''国語大辞典（新装版） ''(Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese),
Image:Yoroi doshi tanto 1.JPG, A ''yoroi-dōshi'', showing its thick spine.
Image:Yoroi doshi blade thickness.JPG, Antique Japanese yoroi-dōshi showing the extra thick blade.
Image:Yoroi doshi blade.JPG, Antique Japanese yoroi-dōshi blade.
File:Yoroi doshi tanto 11.jpg, A yoroi-dōshi.
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Japanese sword types Samurai swords {{Japan-hist-stub
The , "armor piercer"Japan by Pierre Landy; Nagel Publishers p. 68 or "mail piercer", is one of the traditionally made Japanese sword
A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to ...
s ( ''nihontō'') that were worn by the samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
class as a weapon in feudal Japan.
Description
The ''yoroi-dōshi'' is an extra thicktantō
A is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (Commons:Nihonto, ''nihonto'') that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the year ...
, a short sword, which appeared in the Sengoku period
The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615.
The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...
('' late Muromachi'') of the 14th and 15th centuries. The ''yoroi-dōshi'' was made for piercing armour and for stabbing while grappling in close quarters. The blade was generally from in length, but some examples could be shorter than , with a "tapering ''mihaba'', ''iori-mune'', thick ''kasane'' at the top, and thin ''kasane'' at the bottom and occasionally ''moroha-zukuri'' construction".''The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords'', Author Kōkan Nagayama, Publisher Kodansha International, 1998p. 30 The ''motogasane'' (blade thickness) at the ''munemachi'' (the notch at the beginning of the back edge of the blade) can be up to thick, which is characteristic of the ''yoroi-dōshi''. The extra thickness at the spine of the blade distinguishes the ''yoroi-dōshi'' from a standard tantō blade. ''Yoroi-dōshi'' were worn inside the belt on the back or on the right side with the hilt toward the front and the edge upward. Due to being worn on the right, the blade would have been drawn using the left hand, giving rise to the alternate name of ,''1988'', ''国語大辞典（新装版） ''(Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese),
Tōkyō
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
: Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...
or "horse-hand (i.e. rein-hand, i.e. left-hand) blade".
Gallery
See also
*Japanese sword
A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to ...
* Otoya Yamaguchi
was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist youth who assassinated Inejirō Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, on 12 October 1960. Yamaguchi rushed the stage and stabbed Asanuma with a wakizashi short sword while Asanuma was partic ...
– assassin of Inejirō Asanuma
* Tantō
A is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (Commons:Nihonto, ''nihonto'') that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the year ...
– Japanese dagger, the shorter sword in a ''daishō
The —literally "big-little"—is a Japanese term for a matched pair of traditionally made Japanese swords (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.
Description
The etymology of the word ''daishō'' becomes apparent when the ...
''
* Wakizashi
The is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (''nihontō'') worn by the samurai in feudal Japan.
History and use
The production of swords in Japan is divided into specific time periods:
– Japanese dagger, sometimes the shorter sword in a ''daishō''
* Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use de ...
– other short fighting blades
** Rondel dagger
A rondel dagger or roundel dagger was a type of stiff-bladed dagger in Europe in the late Middle Ages (from the 14th century onwards), used by a variety of people from merchants to knights. It was worn at the waist and might be used as a util ...
– Medieval western European
** Anelace
An ''anelace'' (or in Middle English ''anelas'') was a medieval dagger worn as a gentleman's accoutrement in 14th century England.
Frederick William Fairholt (1846) describes it as "a knife or dagger worn at the girdle", and George Russell Frenc ...
– Medieval western European
** Misericorde – Medieval western European
** Bollock dagger
A bollock dagger or ballock knife is a type of dagger with a distinctively shaped hilt, with two oval swellings at the guard resembling male testes ("bollocks"). The guard is often in one piece with the wooden grip, and reinforced on top with ...
– Medieval western European
** Baselard
The baselard, ''Schwiizerdolch'' in Swiss-German (also ''basilard, baslard'', in Middle French also and variants, Latinized etc., in Middle High German ) is a historical type of dagger or short sword of the Late Middle Ages.
Etymology
In mod ...
– Medieval western European
** Stiletto – Renaissance western European
** Dirk
A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...
– Early Modern western European
* Combat knife
A combat knife is a fighting knife designed solely for military use and primarily intended for hand-to-hand or close combat fighting.Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', Courier Dover Publications, , (2001 ...
– modern military fighting blades
Notes
References
*External links
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Japanese sword types Samurai swords {{Japan-hist-stub