What is an uchigatana?
Uchigatana is a compound word made up of uchi (打), which means slash, and katana (刀), the Japanese word for sword.
Uchigatana - Where does the name come from?
Uchigatana is an old term from the 14th century. It was the time of the Muromachi shogunate and the samurai had Japan firmly in their grip.
At that time, the Tachi the main sword of the samurai warriors. The samurai had already established this as their favoured sword during their rise to power in the 10th century.
The tachi is a long sword that is mainly designed for fighting on horseback.
The samurai have always carried a much shorter blade, the so-called tanto.
Then came the additional Uchigatana in fashion. It had a blade length of approx. 60 cm, was wielded with one hand and was used with the Cutting edge upwards through the belt.
It could be drawn much faster than the tachi and was therefore very popular as a second sword. It could be used to strike a blow as soon as it was drawn, giving it the name uchigatana.
The term katana is used today for a specific type of sword, but it is actually a general Japanese term for swords.
The new sword became increasingly popular over time. But warfare also changed. The tachi had been developed for fighting on horseback in open fields. Over time, however, battles increasingly took place in castles and houses.
The old, long tachi was not very suitable for this and the samurai swords also had to adapt to the new times.
The new trend was therefore samurai swords with shorter blades.
The one-handed wakizashi with a blade length of approx. 40 - 60 cm and the one-and-a-half-handed katana with a blade length of 70 cm and more were developed.
Both were inserted through the belt with the cutting edge facing upwards.
This katana and wakizashi became the new standard swords of the samurai and, as daisho, were even part of their official dress by law from the 17th century onwards.
In the Edo period under the leadership of the Tokugawa shogunate, only samurai were allowed to carry this pair of daisho swords.
However, the development of the more modern katana is based on the former, short second sword of the old samurai.
The swords are so similar that uchigatana and katana are often used as synonyms today.
