The Samurai sword of battle was NOT THE KATANA!
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- čas přidán 24. 02. 2023
- The samurai sword of battle was NOT THE KATANA
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I love the juxtaposition of wearing Medieval Europe clothing while lecturing about the Japanese Samurai and their traditional weaponry.
Very nice combination
He is wearing fantasy clothing though?
@@Musabre emphasis on loosely.
I like the armour and specs look
Just imagine he's a European merchant bringing goods from the Far East.
Shad is the only channel that actually gets me to watch the main video when I'm in the CZcams shorts black whole. Thank you for helping me break free.
you can block the shorts feed on a monthly basis.
@@MGTV1 HOW? Please for the love of god get me away from shorts
@@StrigWilson every video has the three dots top right. hit not interested on any short you see. same with the shorts section...im not sure if its desktop, app or both, but the shorts section of your feed should also have the three dots where you can opt out for a month. they will re-appear, just do the same again. never ever click on a short, or the algo will start feeding them to you again.
I've just got here from one of his shorts!
Yep
I only knew the difference bc my dad has a Tachi and when I was little I would always call it a Katana and he would always correct me and say it’s a Tachi. He got it in the mid to late 80s and still has it. It’s just wild to me he’s had it for almost 30 years and is the Main reason I love traditional Japanese culture. It always fascinated me
Still better than calling it a "samurai sword".
It is a Katana though, Tachi even has the character for Katana in the word "刀" that's literally the character for Katana and Tachi is spelt 太刀. they just kind of called swords Katanas just like we made up the term Longsword but call many different weapons a longsword.
@@itshunni8346 excatly and all this moron (shad) does is misinform people about weaponry and tatics as he has neither the ability nor the Physical fitness to even atempt half the "tests" he does to "disprove" what ever his OPINION is nothing i have ever seen him present was accurate or factual and he suckers in 100's of 1000's of people everyday
whooo??
I misread the first sentence as “My dad *was* a tachi”!
I was not aware of this Tachi until I watched Shogo's vid about it. I'm glad Shad also discussed it.
I love the katana in video games with their supernatural fantasy stuff together with their appearance. But then after watching some vids about it, I think it's really the Tachi that I'm thinking about when I hear "katana". 🤔
well katana can refer to any samurai swords lol
@@luping9941 sure, if you want to be completely technical about it as opposed to the common conception of the word.
i think its a mix up here. The different between Tachi and Katana, as Shogo said, is the battle situation. Tachi is for fighting on horses, so you will need longer Katana(Tachi) for longer distance to enemy. While the Katana, as we know, is shorter for a ground fight. In this video is just 50% information about Katana. Both Tachi and Katana were used for fighting but in different situation. So this mean...most in game/anime with japanese sword was Katana. If you wanted to know more about it, you should watch more of Shogo vids.
As much as I've been enjoying Knights Watch lately. Its nice to see a video like this again. No politics, no anger, just playing with swords and a history lesson
Glad you've come back to check out this channel, these videos have been here the whole time, and come out regularly.
Same. Without content like this the political discourse would be meaningless anyway. Because culture is what we're defending and this is culture.
Yeah, I stopped watching knights watch because of the politics and anger, I love this channel though.
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo Defending culture has always seemed rather silly to me. Culture doesn't exist in a bubble. Even the cultures that we often think of as unique to a region were likely influenced by outside sources at some point and then changed over time to become what we identify as that culture now. With the exception of very remote or isolated places where anything new or different is actively shunned, it is in culture's nature to change. Even in those seemingly stagnant places, it will likely change. It just takes more time. Some traditions will endure for hundreds of years while others are cast aside and even those that endure might not be observed in exactly the same way as they were a century ago. Yet we try to 'preserve' them like an exhibit or attraction behind glass and say this is what culture is.
@@shadiversity It would be great if you didn't do four hour live streams with well known bitter, racist lazy CZcamsrs that not only repeat each other but the same talking points. Over and over. HACKS like Razorfist who is constantly wrong on his political takes and predictions. The Drinker who says "the message" even 3rd word , Nerdotic who cries every time there is a woman who is the lead in a movie.
Glad you made this video! The Tachi always needs more love!
Absolutely, thanks for watching!
Facts, even though there are no styles that teach the tachi existing to my knowlage.
@@blacksnapper7684 unfortunately there aren’t. They died out in the early Edo period when swords were required to be shortened down to katana by law
I don't understand what the author was saying "katana wasn't the main battle sword". The Tachi was the standard during the Heian period. Then the battlefield changed over time and was eventually supplanted by the uchigatana, the sword that we normally call katana. So yes, after the Heian, the katana became the main battle sword in Japan.
Not only that, the tachi is just a subcatagory of katana. Not a different sword alltogether
Looking forward to that upcoming video! Always been a fan of the kriegsmesser, langmesser etc, and "similar" sword designs for that matter, falchions, sabers... including the katana though probaby a bit less so simply due to the... contrarian in me reacting to the katana's widespread popularity, hehe. Generally single edged swords have always been my preference, I guess one could say. Hearing some in-depth comparisons will be interesting!
Tachi (太刀)is written as thick(太) and katana(刀). Tachi is characterized by being thick and long.Tachi was developed in 9th C.
Tachi's center of gravity is in the hilt and can be wielded with one hand, so it can be used by cavalrymen as well. Pointing the tachi blade downward prevents the scabbard from hitting the horse's belly.
Uchigatana was developed in 12C. uchigatana(打刀) is written as strike(打) and gatana(刀). Uchigatana is a katana developed for infantry.
Center of gravity of the uchigatana blade is placed at the tip to enhance the effectiveness of the slash, and it is handled with both hands.
Uchigatana can change the center of gravity position by exchanging hand guards with different weights, so the user can choose power and operation performance.
Odachi（大太刀） is written as large (大), thick (太), and katana (刀).
Katana（刀） is a major category and tachi(太刀) and uchigatana(打刀),odachi（大太刀）,nodachi（野太刀）and gunto（軍刀） are minor categories.
character (刀) means a single-edged sword. Katana(刀) or nihonto(日本刀) is a general term for Japanese-style single-edged swords. Prototype of katana is the 7th C Japanese sword warabiteto（蕨手刀）. Since these have different purposes, tachi was used even after uchigatana was made.
This is useful, thanks.
Thanks for the etymology on these. In all honesty being able to see the Kanji really helps define each sword in my head.
Also, longer tachi would be difficult to draw with a blade up.
Very interesting insight, thx
Hey I remember you from the short
The main battle weapons for samurai were spears and bows with arrows ( later gunpowder guns). But we all loves katanas because of the movies and popculture. :D
Good to know but katanas imo are cooler than spears
Exactly. Katanas were sidearms/dueling weapons. Of course, they were still widely used, just as handguns are widely used now, but they weren’t important weapons on the battlefield.
@@someguy3186 basically, spears and bows were their automatic Assault rifles... and the katanas were the trusty pistol.
Bow with arrows?! I always though they used just bows and fired energy beams of chi! Today I learned something new.
@@Dan_Kanerva very good example
I love the backdrop and multiple cameras. Youve come a long way Shad well done
I love your videos so much, they’re amazingly informative and not too boring
Own a sword for manor defence, since that's what the Magna Carta intended. Four heathens break into my cottage. "What in the Lord's name?" As I grab my aventail bascinet and windlass arbalest. Punch a bolt through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Throw a pot of naft at the second man and miss entirely since it's a hand thrown grenade in the dark and burns down the neighbour's harvest causing them to starve in the winter. I have to resort to the pot of boiling oil at the top of the hay loft "Deus Lo Vult!" The boiling oil completely drenches two men and cause them to scream in agony and writhe on the ground, racked with incomprehensible pain. The screams of pain frightens horses in nearby stables. Draw sword and charge the last terrified infidel. He bleeds out with no one to assist him since this is Feudal Europe and nobody gives a shit. Just as the Magna Carta intended.
Proper
Quite.
Tally ho.
Was created by A.I.
The reason for your ineffectiveness at dealing with heathen marauders was your lack of pommel throwing.
One thing Shad forgot to mention is that the blade of the tachi tapers much more than the katana or o-katana. This makes it lighter at the tip, making it easier to cut with.
so an axe is infinitely difficult to cut with?
@@nullifye7816 More difficult to cut/slice like sword, yes - but axes are great at chopping, which is a different kind of motion and benefits from totally different geometry.
@@nullifye7816 If it is an axe that is as long as the sword then yes.
also, some samurai that used katana with armor hung their uchigatana blade down like a tachi, mostly for easier drawing while they were mounted
Something else to consider with the broadsword vs katana comparison at 8:30 is that while the weight distribution makes the braodsword more handy, the katana is a better cutter further to the tip of the blade, which is more of a 'sidegrade' type of difference more than anything as you trade off better handling for better cutting power and weaker thrusts.
Shad we love you and all your nerd glory and that intro was the embodiment of your majesty.
Love how after all these years shad is still making katana videos, and I’m still coming back to watch them
One thing I rarely see mentioned in these discussions is the style of warfare- Samurai were (at least early on) primarily horse archers and mounted combatents. Japanse swords were initially cavalry swords and should be more closely compared to Sabres.
Or perhaps styles of arming sword more optimised for cavalry use. There's a style of arming sword that seemed to become popular from around 1000-1100 AD, often shown with a brazil nut pommel, with longer blades than most migration era swords but retain similar cut-centric blade profiles.
Different types of older samurai swords were adapted into sabers during and after the Meji era. After the Meji era ended the Japanese would later go back to older style of sword while still issuing some cavalry sabers. These became the Gunto, Kai Gunto, and Type 32 Cavalry saber. The communist Chinese captured so many of these that they would use them to make forgeries, replicas, and movie props and would directly copy the Type 32 to arm their cavalry divisions. Of these cavalry divisions two are still active service which still have their copies of said Type 32.
Funnily enough, the same as knights minus horse archery. Knights were primarily shock cavalry and their primary charging weapon was the lance. However they were sometimes used as unmounted heavy infantry in certain situations, later on.
@@thisdude9363 I think it's interesting how some, like the English, overwhelmingly favoured foot combat. It's been interesting to hear Toby Capwell's research on how that influenced armour preferences. It's also pretty cool to consider how such a preference (and it's inevitable influence on training preference) would presumably have made those knights and men-at-arms some of the scariest infantry you could come across
Also Japan lacked large amounts of Iron, so unlike Europe which featured a lot of metal armor Samurai were mainly up against soldiers wearing wood, cloth, and leather armor. So there was less need for a weapon that can pierce compared to slice.
Edo-Katana gets all the fame in pop-culture and stuff while it saw very little use even as a side arm in actually wars historically.
The reason why katana got more popular than tachi in the first place is because during the peaceful Edo period there was a law that forced samurai's to carry around daisho (katana wakizashi combo) where ever they went as their status insignia. It was just more convenient to carry around a shorter sword in daily basis.
They were popular before edo sidearm doesn't have the same meaning as it does now, actually depending on the contact a sword would have been the preferred weapon, they were not force into daishō usage, a law was made however (this didn't just apply to samurai) regarding sword length before edo period katana could be longer than tachi.
BadBomb555. Good point, which is why I contend that the European equivalent in roughly the same time period & for similar reasons was the small sword carried by gentlemen & nobles
@@mrfitz96 those 18th-19th century sabres, yeah. As the katanas, they were issued to military officers up until world war 1, and who would have guessed, shooting someone who has a gun is more effective than trying to hit them with a sword
Much like the sixgun in the American West; stories abound in japan of Samurai holding off multiple brigands with the katana, just like tales of lone lawmen fending off bands of outlaws or Indians here in the states.
I've always just assumed it was also a result of the fact that peacetime let them get good at making absolutely gorgeous swords, and that's why they've captured the popular imagination.
From the title and thumbnail I was admittedly kind of expecting a butchering of facts, but you presented it well and as accurately as you could from your position and genetics, and I can appreciate that. I was pleasantly surprised and I love that you showed disdain for how so many people take specifics of context and then apply them universally or generally. I share that disdain very much. Very much indeed. The only thing I have to add is that in addition to it being called an Otachi or Odachi, it was also referred to as a Nodachi. The "no" part meaning field. Earned a like and subscribe from me. Attention to detail and reason is so overlooked in today's world.
I'd love to see what you think of the Mantis Blades in Cyberpunk 2077. I think they look cool and intimidating, but not very practical with a limited range of swings since they have only one cutting edge. It looks like it could be good for punching/thrust as the blades extends when swung
Hi Shad! I'm used to be an Aikido/Budo trainee. We had classes with various weapons and katana as well. We had head of the school from japan as a guest in our dodjo. And he explained difference between katana and other types of Japanese swords a bit different. He said that katana is an umbrella term for all swords in japan. There are many forms. Earlier versions of a katana wasn't curved at all. There were double edged katanas, crossguards, and anything else that have a blade and are bigger than a regular knife. Even knifes often were called a katana. And the thing the whole world now call a katana appeared quiet late in history, in XVIII closer even to XIX century. And yes, he told that tachi actually also is a katana and the word "tachi" refers more to the way of wearing it rather than the characteristics or shape of the blade. Also tachi is a more earlier version of the katana. As "traditional katana" is more like everyday civilian weapon for self defense, when tachi is a weapon of the time of big wars. Also tachi was used to wear with armor and it was attached to it and had special fittings for that, while the same sword could be used with different saya(scabbard) and simply put behind the belt while not wearing any armor, so it called simply a katana.
Also about wearing it blade up or down. It's not like matter of preference. it's the matter of comfort. It's just uncomfortable to wear a katana blade down, aka tachi, on a soft belt while wearing civilian clothes. And they found simply more suitable to wear it blade down attached to armor.
Aka meaning red?
@@AbyssalDragon42 Typo. Fixed.
刀kunyomi: katana (onyomi: to from chinese dao), literally “sword”. when people say katana in the west they usually mean 日本刀nihonto “japanese sword/blade”
@@yurashida what did he mean by aka? He mentioned aka katana that confused me because aka makes me think of the i adjective for red
@@AbyssalDragon42 aka “also known as”
As a gamer I absolutely love using a variety of weapons to destroy my enemies. I used to think swords were most common and hated blunt weapons but after seeing how badass polearms are I absolutely love spears/halberds now. I’m still meh on maces but I can no longer ignore how disastrous they are vs plate. Thanks to Skallagrim and Shadiversity for exposing me to the various weapons of Europe and Japan. Knowing the history of the weapon, it’s uses and how it was fielded and why are what I love most and makes using them far more immersive in games. I also love dropping random trivia on armor and weapons to friends while gaming :)
In the future with a home to contain such wondrous weapons and armor I hope to have an armory to gaze at my collection. But for now I’ll absolutely adore them in video and game form :D
I also really enjoy polearms in video games. Sadly, they don't get represented anywhere nearly as much in RPGs. Usually for melee weapons it's just 1h and 2h swords, 1h and 2h axes, 1h and 2h maces, and daggers. =(
polearms are objectively the coolest practical weapon. whether or not you are stabbing them with a spear, slashing them with a glaive, or just bashing them with a really long stick, they are just so much cooler.
if schools taught history like they do, it'd be a more exciting learning environment using props and tools used by people of the past to get students interested in the culture and era their studying.
I love them all.
Just assuming based on pfp. Do you know if Amiya Ying Xiao has historical counterpart? Or is it an original creation of Arknights?
Your passion for the subject and love of the sword (& martial arts in general) absolutely jumps out of the screen at the viewers. There is nothing which can match that kind of hook to keep on watching. Coupled with an inherently fascinating and entertaining subject a presenter like yourself, exuding those qualities, will always make it a rewarding viewing experience. Cheers mate.
@Officialshadiversity548 Lol no chance piss off
It's worthwhile to mention that the tachi was widespread during the Kamakura, Ashikaga and Sengoku periods, where clans and states were constantly at war. With the beginning of the peaceful Edo period, the objective of carried arms shifted from offensive frontline combat to defensive personal protection by lords and retainers. Katana and wakizashi were much more convenient and comfortable to wear in public.
Most modern people, even many of us Japanese confuse this, but when they say "katana", they're usually referrring to "nihontou"
Nihontou or Japanese blade(blade as in blade part of the sword, not the catagory) in english referrs to all blade pieces including spear heads, kitchen knives, straight blades and swords created using the Japanese blade smithing method.
Katana referrs to the blade as a catagory which can historically include scimitars, sabers, all nihontou single bladed weapons(exceptions exists such as kogarasumari makes being quite famous.)
What you explain as katana is actually uchigatana. all nihontou katanas are classified only by length. the different handle angles and how curvy the blade is doesn't matter. the main thing to note is that most modern surviving historic examples of nihontou are properly made with 15 fold on the skin and 8 folds in the core. A very labor and time intensive proccess and is only done to tailor make the weapon for someone or is just depending on the smithing faction.
Said someone would have the blade made to fit his height, patterns and martial school. Some school is more popular in others and has more numerous branching schools and this shows in surviving examples. Horse mounted combat prefers their tachi to have a very deep curve, for example. And Most lords and daimyou is horse mounted. Conversely while rare, tachi made in the later periods such as around edo usually have less curve. because they are usually used on foot.
Regarding the confusion around carrying, it probably stems from just basic misunderstanding of the above. Simple rule to follow is tachi or longer is hung pointing up, uchigatana or shorter is holstered pointing down and koshigatana is jammed in any crevice available from a man's crotch cloth to a horse's ass(multiple historical account exist but also possibly just humor)
Yet another point regarding the curve in nihontou katanas is that the curve comes purely from the heat treating proccess. and they are almost all forged straight. It just so happens uchigatana is about the right length just before the difficulty of getting it right jumps up several times. Longer blades curve harder because... well, Science.
This is also why uchigatana is much more affordable and available then tachi back then and that everyone carries it. It's basically the affordable and effective large caliber pistol people love carrying as a sidearm. Which also makes martial arts surrounding the use of uchigatana wildly popular and many survives to this day. on top of the simple fact that uchigatana has less curve ans is just all around way easier to use then tachi even at a reach disadvantage.
Abit of a rant but when most youtube smiths forge katana, they end up making a saber that looks like a katana instead of an actual katana. They understand that the carbon content of the outer and inner steel is different, but they often fuse it together way too early before the folding proccess, making it entirely pointless.
The high carbon skin steel is folded 14~16 times and the core steel is folded 6? to 8 times. So if people buy them, they would have to becareful never to use them to test cut. they are strictly decoration regardless of what the seller says. The number of "damascus katana"s are just abhorrant abominations of weapon smithing. Literally sticking a V antenna on a Jegan and calling it a Gundam.
The folding to organize the grain and layering of the steel also serves a crucial role in allowing the smith to sorta kinda control the direction and how much the blade will bend while heat treating.
Sorry for otaku rant text wall. :x But most of nihontou related info like this is on touken world. I still think 2 handed long swords are cooler though.
Very well written!
very great info. I'm hoping that shadiversity does a video on nagamakis. when on foot it was customary to hide your sword so it wasn't facing whoever you were walking past. when you walk into a town and you have this large sword clacking against your legs, you essentially have to grip the scabbard and point the handle forward just to maintain balance and not damage your really nice sword. other times you point your handle down and the scabbard pointing up behind your back just so the people in front of you don't freak out like it's a sign of war.
If you and I were on horseback with armor on and we were on the same side, we wouldn't have to salute with our swords and they would just slap against our body armor as we directed other troops. on foot it's a different story, where you might be walking through the woods away from a village trying to find trying to find an ally encampment. pointing your sword at someone or running into them could be taken as a threat, so you had to carry your belonings very carefully and not be seen committing crimes. you carry your sword on your left, but you could turn away as you passed someone and walked backward so your weapon wasn't facing them. then the policeman wearing the pistol on his right wants to stop you and talk to you. the curved sword was harder and duller and didn't break as easily. the only thing faster than a horseman was an archer's arrow. look up panjagan.
if you had a really nice sword back then, you didn't give it away to just anybody or even draw it for just anybody, and you could claim any homocides you committed as self-defense. maybe one of your family members got to inherit it after you died, maybe not. and then there's gem steel. the original Japanese gem sword was meant to be made of pink metal and blue metal, both derived from meteorite-grade metal, or what's called the tamahagane method. ideally, you make this totally awesome rare sword, then you make this pretty awesome also really noce sword, then the waste from forging those two swords you use to make swords that are still pretty good high carbon blades even though there's no more gem steel, and then there's tool steel which is a decent to high quality metal rod or shank that a smith can forge from that. if you can master smithing these two metals and hammering them and recombining them, you can forge the extracted blue metal perfectly into this spear, then encapsulate it with molten pink metal, then after you've forged it according to however it is you were taught, a monk would sharpen it for several weeks in some mountain shrine, and then you would go back with money and buy it from them and take it back to your pad in secret. look up macuahuitl. but you use swords like this for ceremony, or killing, ...or ceremonial killing. not on horseback.
czcams.com/video/hq5Gsw38apc/video.html
@@zenkuei390 Nagamaki was originally a handle extension modification of a nodachi/oodachi by wrapping part of the blade and using it as a handle. later some started being forged from the start with long handles and became the nagamachi we know today. You can easily tell a short naginata and a long nagamaki apart by the shape of the blade and if it has a proper yokote with nagamaki being literally just a tachi length katana but with a long handle.
It was born out of war during the kamakura period, basically post apocalypse. of course they drew the sword for literally anybody including and not limited to women, kids, elderly, that random guy who accidentally looked in your general direction while working. but especially women and kids. Many of them were literally just raiders in fallout but with formal social and political power.
Come the start of the Edo period where the rice banditry finally started dying down and we headed back into civilization we immediately got dickslapped with the california gun laws basically making all the long shaku swords illegal to carry and the majority of nagamaki that was in use had its handle cut and turned into tachi length around this time.
Point is. It's not as fancy and ceremonial as you might think it is. Nagamaki is an adaptation born from changing war and skirmishing landscape of the kamakura period glorified rice banditry shenanigans.
I read all of this 🎉
That was a huge information bomb. Thanks man. I'm gonna be duolingo for my friends now-
Edit: "jammed in any crevice avaliable" 💀
I love your videos Shad and absolutely appreciate your passion to present, infrom and educate.
About 5 years ago, I started making props for historical and literary theater and for cosplay. I studied more about weapons and armor at around the same time and I discovered the "Community of the Sword" here on CZcams.
I prefer the proper 24-28inch blades for katanas for my height of 5ft5in. Already carved 5 bokens in katana length and 3 in wakizashi length.
Already in the works of making a tachi with 38inch blade and 22 inch handle for a 60inch beast.
I also have a zwiehander in the works which would be about 65-67 inches total length.
Yes, I love my wooden recreations and I also have a 70inch kanabo, removable foam studs so I can still bring it to cosplay cons.
Nerd Alert ‼️
@@tylerdurden5122 why thanks. I honestly take "nerd" as a complement.
@@crisr.8280 Are you wearing a leotard?
@@zimmerman1031 Huh? That's just a thin strap tank top.
Where u at cause that castle background looks sick. Oh and awesome video good info. Lot of fun.
Haven’t watched one of your videos in a while good to be back, love the hair.
some japanese weapons that deserve to be mentioned in a video:
Yumi, the japanese longbow. main weapon of the "Samurai"(horseback archers) during the Heian and Kamakura period. later used in masse by common foot soldiers, the "Ashigaru", even after the arrival of matchlocks
Ootachi or Nodachi. as you mentioned, tachis that were often 2 metres in length. mainly used in the Kamakura to Nabokucho period
Nagamaki, half-sword half-polearm.
Naginata, japanese glave, used during the Heian and Kamakura period, fell out of fashion in the Sengoku period
Yari; Japanese spear, usually about 3 metres in length. main melee weapon of battle during in the Kamakura and Nanboku-cho period.
Kagiyari, Kamayari, Omiyari. Japanese polearms, about 3 metres in length. most "samurai"(lol) would be probably armed with these during the Sengoku period
Nagaeyari. japanese pikes, 4.5 to 6 metres in length. main weapon of the Ashigaru(now thr main forces of the battlefield, especially since calvary fell out of fashion) during the later Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama period. should be noted that they were used in an up and down swinging fashion, unlike western pikes. the Takeda clan attatched extra weight on the end for more striking power.
Teppo, matchlocks. widely spread after the famed Nobunaga. some predict Japan had more guns than Europe during this era, not sure if true. the japanese prefered
Tedate, japanese shields(pavise), large, cannot be carried with one hand, made of wood planks. contrary to popular belief, the Japanese loved these shields since the Heian period. bow Ashigaru and matchlock Ashigaru were teamed up with pavise men, who carried the shield around and quickly formed shield walls during battle. Takedate are same as tedate, but even larger and made of bamboo. sometimes had wheels.
Wakizashi and Tanto. shortwsword or daggers. looks like tiny katanas. as japanese armour evolved, almost every body part was covered with steel (sometimes leather) or maille, as a result, melee battles between two heavily armoured soldiers often ended in wrestling and grappling, where the winner would stick the dagger in vunerabillities of armour, for example the armpit
Konabo??
The nagamaki's main claim to fame in pop culture is being the basis for the elven swords you see in the Lord of the Rings movies.
and this is how you present Factual and acturate information good job you need to start a channel to show this tub of lard moron (shad) how its done properly
Shad, the tachi sword was worn with the blade facing down because it was a cavalry sword, it was easier for a horseman to draw and to immediately slash if he needed to while on horseback. That's why you'd prefer to wear it blade facing down. The uchigatana (now just called katana) was worn with the blade facing up because it was an infantry sword and because of the way you tuck it into the obi belt. The odachi, though, regardless of being called tachi, was also an infantry sword due to its size.
This is consistent to the way European Sabres were worn, except you wore it depending on if you were on your horse or not. On Foot you would wear the blade face up, when you got on your horse you flipped the blade over so it was blade down.
The odachi was an anti cavalry weapon that evolved into the nagamaki.
One would think, that a sword balanced for two handed use is a "bit" unwieldy for cavalry.
Actually,.. the blades a Samurai wore were a Tanto, a Wakazashi, and a Katana. They did NOT only carry 1 sword.
@@dr.decker3623 I never said they carried only one sword or only one weapon.
I still love the No-Dachi simply because 'big sword cool'.
And the idea of using a very long sword as a 'cutting polearm' is a fascinating design choice.
great vid keep up the good work shad
The Udachi is one of my favorite versions of japanese swords. I love the unique style. And the length makes it feel like a beast to handle. Of course if I were to use a full 2 handed japanese sword, I would go with the Uchigatana all day.
The correct name is ōdachi, also uchigatana is just a regular katana (The specific term for katana in Japan is uchigatana (打刀) and the term katana (刀) often refers to single-edged swords from around the world. -source from wikipedia)
Pffft, nagamaki rules them all! You heretics!!
@@nathanc939 HAZZA a man of quality!
@@ishen3771 Agreed
@@ScintorIV swords referred to as uchigatana, typically had much linger blades and a slightly more swept curve.
2:55 Tri-force sheathe decorations.
IIRC the Tachi is designed for use on horseback, hence the increased curve (easier one handed draw) and the more radical curve of the handle, as having a straight handle interfere with holding the reigns or using a spear would be rather impractical.
Thanks shad your such a good teacher
Thank you for this discussion
The specific term for katana in Japan is uchigatana (打刀) and the term katana (刀) often refers to single-edged swords from around the world. The word katana first appears in Japanese in the Nihon Shoki of 720. The term is a compound of kata ("one side, one-sided") + na ("blade"), in contrast to the double-sided tsurugi.
As a big katana fan and my prefered sword due to my size, I agree that the Tachi should have more recognition specially in media set in Japan previous to the Edo period, a beautiful sword and should have as much recognition as the katana and a big part of Japanese history and warfare
I remember seeing a Tachi with an odd handle, to my limited knowledge the handle was meant to increase the lever movement. The Handle was curved going against the curve of the blade. Would love to see it talked about!
Amazingly interesting tutorial. Thank you !
I always thought that the best European equivalent of the Katana was the small sword. That may sound crazy but bear with me. Although the small sword was optimised for pointy end thrusting and the katana for er... choppy slicing, both were miniaturised versions of earlier military swords and their purpose was to be easily worn in everyday civilian life, show social status and to be a fast drawing self defense weapon.
Eh, still think swiss sabre is more apt
@@johnnydjiurkopff Hard disagree. The swiss sabre is basically a single edged long sword with extensive hand protection. Katana (as we usually think of them) are more comparable to civilian messers, short cutting swords for self defense that has limited length and hand protection for convenience. Since the edo period was 200 years without war and samurai were forced to wear their swords *everywhere* it would be a pain in the ass if they wore long swords all the time. At one point in the edo period swords over 70cm long were also made illegal so millions of long tachi and katana are now the short ones we see today.
Swiss sabre is an interesting comparison, but I was looking at it from a social and cultural perspective rather than it's shape.
@@atom8248 I disagree with your argument that swiss sabres are essentially single edged longswords. They had nearly as much variation in length as messers and with just a little bit of digging I can find existing antiques and reproductions at lengths considered standard for o katana and tachi.
@@johnnydjiurkopff I don't think the context of usage is comparable. If a nobleman felt like he couldn't be bothered to put on a his long sabre he could, and just wear a short messer or dagger, a samurai cannot by law decide to not wear his katana. In many cities in europe it was also illegal to just walk around with a sword.
"Hmm..."
-Geralt of Rivia
I learned something today. Thank you for the video!
Loved it! Great content brotha 💯💗
The main problem I have here is that the Sengoku period, the most iconic period of japanese warfare goes all the way up to the early 17th century, well after the medieval period is traditionally seen as over in europe.
Sure the tachi was the more traditional sword for samurai at the time and remained in use pretty much throughout the period, but you also had widespread adoption of the katana well before the edo period, mainly among the lower ranks but also among samurai, especially when they were switching over to mass formations of guns and spears where the katana probably make more sense as the sidearm of choice.
Basically I'm mostly just nitpicking about that they were both battlefield weapons used by samurai, it isn't one or the other.
Also worth mentioning that a lot of tachi was reshaped into katanas.
All fair points. The key factor imo is that you make a fair comparison between swords of similar eras. When looking at a longsword from the battle of Agincourt, you should compare it to a Japanese sword from the early 15th century. When looking at a Sengoku period sword, compare it with a European sword used during the mid- late 16th century wars with the Ottomans. When looking at a Mongol Invasion era sword, compare it to a similarly dated 13th century sword.
@@dihoxide but then its tachi vs arming sword and shield.
I've also heard that the tachi was largely phased out by the katana due to the tachi being unable to cut mongol leather armour during the invasions
@@sukitron5415 I find that pretty dubious, considering the tachi remained in use for well over 3 centuries after the mongol invasions.
It is more likely that it would have lead to a change in the design of tachi that might in turn also have influenced the design of the katana, rather than an outright switch to katana.
@@sukitron5415 not exactly true the tachi was modified to be more resilient during the 13th century (the Mongol invasion) but they were still tachi. The tachi was the dominant sword up until about the 15th century.
I know this is the most minor of nitpicks, but tachi is pronounced with a long A (like in father or wall), the Japanese language doesn't actually have the short A like in apple or map.
Other than that that though, this was a wonderfully informative video. I remember in Nioh they made the distinction between a regular katana and an odachi, so its really neat to learn more about them from you Shad.
I 100% agree with you. This drives me nuts! However, I have come to the conclusion that Australian and British people (and Canadians to a lesser extent) are simply not capable of making certain vowel sounds. They can't even say words like pasta or drama correctly! It ends up sounding like "PASS-tuh", "DRAMM-uh", etc. If they could get away with pronouncing the word father with the same A sound as in the word "fathom", they would probably do that too!
@@andreweden9405 They are pronouncing drama and pasta correctly. Vowel sound ending words in English are almost to a fault pronounced with a schwa (ə) sound when more words follow them to allow an easy flow of speech in an English sentence. If a native English speaker is going to use English approximations of foreign words like katana, drama, and pasta, then those words will sound like katanuh, dramuh, and pastuh in use, and the kind of people who say Paris is pronounced Pair-ree can stuff it. No sensible person cares how the foreigners think their loaned words should be pronounced just as, in turn, no sensible native speaker cares how differently everyone pronounces their own loaned words like (telephone or dēmokratía).
Australians and Brits always seem to pronounce ä as æ. It's just what they do. Think of it as accent. It probably isn't a willful refusal to pronounce foreign words properly.
I wonder about that "long A". If the tachi is represented in hiragana, it would probably be たち ta-chi, not taachi たーち.
@@Alex_Fahey , I'm not even talking about the ending vowel at all when it comes to those words. I'm talking about the vowel sound in the first syllable, specifically the inability of Brits and Australians to properly pronounce the vowel sound ā, like the original commenter mentioned, as heard in words such as father, water, etc. For example, Brits can't even say words that have been a part of English for centuries now, such as pasta, drama, etc. For example: they say the first syllable of pasta in such a way that rhymes with "pass", "mass", etc., when it should be like the a in father, water, etc. Likewise, they pronounce the first syllable of the word drama in such a way that it rhymes with the second syllable of the word Alabama. It comes out as something along the lines of "dramma", and sounds absolutely ridiculous. I do realize that Americans can sometimes "over-pronounce" certain foreign words by comparison. However, no one is suggesting that anyone goes so far as to drop the S in Paris to approximate a fully French pronunciation. Tachi should not rhyme with "scratchy"!
Loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Shad you were the anchor pulling me out of the abusive dopemine cycle of shorts. Thank you for teaching me something today.
I feel like people to often get hung up on the cultural significance of a sword and somehow try to apply that to whether the weapon is good (whatever that means). Fact is unless your Roman or some of the peoples from Southeast Asia (and some others I don't know) then swords are back up weapons almost universally. Most people fought with spears and polearms or missile weapons, they point of this is, even swords that were utilitarian still had major influence on them that weren't about combat effectiveness. How easy are they to carry and draw, what do they look like, can they be used as tools in camp, how much maintenance do they require, these are all things that effect sidearms (not just swords) way more than primary weapons, mostly because your life is in the hands of that primary weapon and your skill with it. That will make a person overlook a lot of things about something like a polearm as long as it gets the job done in a fight.
O-katana and tachi both is 大刀 written in Japanese kanji (日文漢字), it always fun to know when foreigner said katana the word may have total different meaning from Japan. In Japan even OLAF Cutting tools is called katana,and there's a kind of knife(刀)(katana) called O-Tachi (大太刀), because katana(かたな)(刀) means knife in Japanese.Samurai sword in different period usually have quite longer name that end in katana(刀), for example 厳物造太刀(いかものつくりたち)(i-ka-mo-no-tsu-ku-ri-ta-chi)- a categories of knifes forge in the Kamakura period.
They are all katana (刀)(かたな)(katana) in Japanese.
@@AmadaHiroshi Knife, huh? I suppose linguistically it parallels the messer, then :)
@@Poldovico Sure messer is basically facing simuler condition, translation is quite a hard business.
@@AmadaHiroshiUs western sword nerds are often aware of that. However, when categorizing them to discuss like this, its useful for individual styles of blade to have their own name, for easy identification. That's why we tend to talk about it as if a katana is a specific kind of sword.
not quite - daikatana is 大刀 tachi is 太刀。 although phonetically they are similar. (but not in mandarin that kanji is derived from) but yeah, what you said is true. but 刀 does not quite translate to knife ... as in english knife implies a small implement. But in chinese and japanese, it just simply means a single edged weapon with a short(er) handle, sort of. but of course what confuses the matter is that japan has 3 different character set that does not always .. correlate well to each other in a specific and exclusive manner. Thus there are sometimes juxtapose of meaning and words and significance, especially when we are trying to be very very specific.
great stuff ,just found u,being from kendo background i love japanese weapon styles,shogo has just done a reaction to sellsword katana vs longsword,good "points"made the japanese swords are curved making the longsword a bestter thrusting weapon,yari was used in battle alot and tachi was preffered for horseback as for foot soldiers ,my guess is the avrage would use katana unless trained in o tachi!just subbed!
man Shad you are an ok kinda guy. Idk how tf you get me watching 15 - 20 minute videos about swords when my nerdiness doesn't innately care but you found a way.
Need to add one to your collection as a second step of showing them more love haha. Always enjoy hearing your takes and learning a bit more about the history and use of swords like these that I may not know much about.
I always thought the Katanas were so cool ( still do) but when I saw your channel and Metatrons channel, I fell in love with the Japanese pole arms Yari and Naginata
Great video. I love the Tachi and have done for a while. My understanding is that it was a cavalry sword, akin to a sabre and it's predecessors, hence the preference for blade down fixings.
Eh... It depends.
Look, if you're talking about the Medieval period of the 1200s during which the Mongols invaded Japan then yes, that period of the Samurai which is what was called the Kamakura period back then uses the Tachi.
In fact, the Katana was made back then. As the Japanese was facing a hard time dealing with the Mongols, they soon decided that the best way for them to deal with the Mongols was to board their ships in the middle of the night and raid them be it to temper with their supplies or straight up turn into ninjas and assassinate officers. However as they got onto the ships, they soon realized that if they're faced with combat, their Tachis was way too cumbersome and unwieldy in a confined space like a ship's deck or quarters whereas the shorter Turko-Mongol Sabre was dealing tons of damage back to the Samurais thus whatever Samurais that survives their raids would go back to shore and just snap off at least 1/4 of their blades and used these "newer" blades into combat and... It worked and that's how the Katana was known to have started from.
By the 1500s, Japan wasn't out of the Medieval period yet or in fact, the entire of Eastern Asia is still stuck in Medieval times till the 1800s in actuality.
Even by the time of Sengoku-jidai, Japan was still in limbo of Medieval ways of practice in Japanese form with a slight hint of western Renaissance touch with the influx of medication, arquebues from the Netherlands and even Christianity was brought into Japan at that time.
However, despite all that, katanas did see tons of usage by low ranking Samurais and even to a lesser extent, bowmen as Tachi impedes their movement too much. During the early half of the conflict, both katanas and Tachis was still used but by the time after the death of Oda Nobunaga and the rise of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tachi was slowly being phased out and by the time of Tokugawa Iaeyasu's domination after the failures of Hideyoshi, everyone was already using katanas rather than Tachis.
So in a sense, Katana was still the Samurai's combat blade of choice and it just deviated from the Tachi to the Katana in just a span of like one decade before the Tachi was abandoned completely for the Katana.
Love the video, Shad had some good points that the average katana fans never knew about. Hopefully one day someone will come up with a video also discussing the various blade designs of Japanese swords, such as the unokubi zukuri and kogarasu maru. The blade's geometry really changes the dynamic of the katana depending on it's style.
Both entertaining and educational, as to be expected from this channel.
Amazing vid. Need to share with with other enthusiasts like myself.
Would love to see Shad put on some samurai armor in future videos 🤔
Love these sword comparison videos, looking forward to the Kriegsmesser - Katana comparison!
I love it how educated I feel at the end of your videos.
I wish history in school has been that interesting.
Ef you for distracting me from work, with great content :D
I thought/hoped you'd be discussing the chokuto or the tsurugi, which were even older (pre-10th century) swords with straight blades with one or two edges, respectively. One of the Japanese Imperial Regalia, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, is such a sword. Such swords would have been used by some of the earliest samurai, a few centuries before the first Mongol invasion in 1274 (ie Ghost of Tsushima). The idea of samurai using straight-bladed swords is so alien to most Westerners (and probably many Japanese who aren't big dumb history/sword nerds) that it would be a fun topic to get into.
Interested if you’ll someday talk about the other (smaller) katana swords variants, like the shorter one handed second katana (forgot the name) and the very short Tanto wich is practically a knife.
Perhaps you're referring to the wakizashi? Traditionally the shorter, indoors weapon complement to the katana in a daisho pair.
Yes, would definitely love videos on all those.
@@DelusioNic014 yeah, I find it stupid that people say „it’s only used for Seppuko“ and all that.
When it’s clearly another Backup katana, I even heard, that samurai sometimes switch either one of the two (maybe accidentally idk), but yeah, definitely has more than one use than people exaggerate
In order of size for general Japanese swords: tanto(knife), wakazashi(side-arm), kodachi(shortened katana or slightly longer more rigid wakazashi), katana( dueling sabre), tachi(war sword), ō-katana ( kinda in between katana amd tachi), ōdachi/nodachi (great sword) and nagamaki(extended handle short spear-sword).
The main weaponry in addition to these are the yari(spear), naginata( glaive), and the yumi(bow). Less aggressive but still effective defense weapons are the jō(short staff), bō(staff) and the gūn(pike staff).
The blackpowder rifle they used I have forgotten the name.
@@shiyotso1 im very much already know all of these weapons accept some of the swords.
My personal favorites are Yari, naginata cause I love pole arms and I love The Kanado, it looks so beastly And intimidating.
Also, did you know samurai used axes? Also known as Ono, very rare tho, only seen once in actually war art I think
@@shiyotso1 the rifle was called the tanegashima, and the police forces used an interesting weapon called a jutte (or jitte) which was basically a specialized sword disarmer
I like swords as well, Shad...
BUT WHAT ABOUT DRAGONS?!!!!
Resort to magic or a silver sword 😉
Do you have any plans to do any more castle and fort reviews? I loved that series and your deep-dive takes on fantasy fortifications. I would personally love you to take a look at assassin's creed 1 and 2. They are set in exactly 1191ad and 1459-1499 ad respectively. In addition, most locations in the game have a real-world counterpart that you can draw from for more context or to simply compare against.
Long time subscriber - just got recommended this video Shad. I know you're looking at the analytics.
I watched the whole video! It was very well made and explained!
Hell yeah brother
Big brain move placing all the swords blade down AND with handles on the right 🧠
Shad using image warfare effectively.
I keep envisioning you turning around and slicing through that backdrop like a beast in a game lmao.
May I make a small video making/editing suggestion? Videos like this one are basically conversations with your viewer. As such, I recommend, especially in this case where you're using more than one camera and differing angles; alternate between talking to each of the cameras, then in post editing, have your editor only switch the camera view to match when you're talking to that specific camera. As it is now, you slightly break immersion with your viewer by continuing to talk to a single camera even when the other is the current focus. Although it won't make much difference to you, I have no doubt it would result in a better connection to your viewer, and maybe even sustain their interest, making them feel more included within the conversation.
The only time it's decently prudent to continue talking to the other camera, and is generally subconsciously accepted by the viewer, is if there is an interviewer involved. One of the cameras becomes the POV of the interviewer, but when the video switches to the other camera angle, the viewer still feels privy to the conversation, and not personally excluded, because they know you're addressing the interviewer.
I know you're a stickler for quality in your content, so I thought I'd throw this suggestion at you.
very nice to see, that you finally got a good representation of a Gambeson and a propper belt!
Shad: I am sick and need help with my channel.
Also Shad: I declare WAR on the entirety of Neckbeardom! May god decide who is right, and may the looser perish and suffer in hell!
The tachi was also used alongside a similar length blade, the uchigatana. Due to the similarities between the uchigatana and ōkatana the two weapons were often mistaken for the opposite. However despite the uchigatana being made like a katana with a longer blade it also sported a much longer handle. The Uchigatana was also made most commonly in the Shirasaya, a sword made without a tsuba to protect the hands.
Tachi were carried for battlefield use as well as to be used as a bit of a dong measuring contest to someone who only carried a katana for around town activities.
See I appreciate videos like this because I always learn something that I didn't know before and I'm always happy to learn
I have had the pleasure of seeing several examples of Katana on display in Japanese museums and as they were peace time swords they were very slim and shorter than their war time counterparts. I imagine they would be extremely fast to draw.
Can I ask which museums.
Katana were also increasingly made to be dress swords more so than war swords, much like the (d)evolution of european war swords into smallswords
Facts and a love of history. This is why I love this channel. Love of swords tempered with historical facts.
This the first time I watched a video by you n by the first three seconds with the editing yell I was like I’m subscribing
Gotta love these! I have to say for all the mention of "context" non was mentioned of using a shield with said weapons, as some of them were more commonly used in conjunction with a shield, whereas the Katana and other Japanese/Asian type blades were not. The Katana of course was the Sword, and The Shield. ;)
Thank you very much for that, I kept seeing katana, o-katana and o-dachi in games and never quite understood their relations to each other. Would love to see a deep dive on their uses in battle versus "civil" fights (like duels or what a body guard might use). Did they have treatises the same way Europe did?
Musashi was the master of dueling and he used one katana and one wakizashi. Against odachi users he used a giant boat paddle for the range advantage
Yes they did have treatises and unlike the Europeans some schools survived to this day, they have traceable lineages.
Also, they are very obsessive with the styles, something like Hema wouldn't be accepted the same way it's accepted in Europe.
@@jason200912 He only used the oar after carving it down into a bokken (wooden sword).
Would love to see Shad visit Japan and other countries to showcase medieval weapons, armour, culture, food, etc.
The katana I train with daily (an antique, but abused by a previous owner to make it valueless to a collector, but not so much to a martial artist) was, I believe, originally a tachi - the tang is angled relative to the blade but not so much as one would expect from a tachi, the blade is katana length. The curvature is "tachi like" but truncated. A sword expert I asked to assess the blade was of the opinion that the blade was forged as a tachi in the Kamakura period but was cut down to be a katana, and refitted to suit, sometime in the Edo period. He detected "ripples" in the steel indicating that at some point in its life the blade had been struck by a musket ball and bent, then straightened by a swordsmith - with the shortening into a katana likely happening at the same time.
From the angles to the rest of the blade displayed by each side of the tang, I believe the original angle was larger, the reduction in length of course happening from the tang end - preserving the existing kissaki. In cutting down the blade to a katana the swordsmith used the available steel to moderate the angle, but could not entirely eliminate it.
The current fittings are modern, with the exception of an antique iron tsuba which was acquired specifically to match the period of the blade. In constructing the tsuka I did moderate the angle still further, but again could not entirely eliminate it, it still looks "a bit angled" compared to a sword that was originally and always has been a katana.
The old lady can still dance :)
Man i kind of want to get a cloak now...
As a taller guy at 6'2 i have always felt that my two katanas are a bit on the short side. I have been looking into asking the maker to make it longer. As a comparison my hema practice steel longsword, feels almost twice the length of my katanas haha.
I'm pretty sure that the main reason why everybody likes katanas so much is because 'katana' sounds so much cooler than 'tachi'.
Yeah, katana is just a cool sounding word
No, it's simply because katana is a more generic name and was applied to japanese sword in service up to ww2, while the traditional "tachi" stopped being a common weapon during the Sengoku period.
Good stuff Sir!!
I love this video because I've always loved things like the ōdachi, tachi, and tantō over the katana. Don't get me wrong, the katana is awesome... But like... Things like Sasaki Kojiro's monohoshizao ("laundry drying pole") and anything to do with kenjutsu or aikido are so cool! People need to give more respect to the weapons that Japan had. One of my favorite polearms ever is the signature weapon of the most badass women to ever fight, the naginata - used by such figures as Tomoe Gozen and Yuki no Kata.
Great video, keep up the great work, and please /please/ do more videos talking about underrepresented historical weapons if you would so graciously please do.
I also love the stuff like Nagasaki and naginata.... but it's also MUCH easier to obtain katanas than it is to get those other ones.
I'm not a blade user myself but somehow blade down and then drawing it, sounds a lot more fluent and comfortable to do than the other way around. Because there's less "friction" to pull it out.
Most cultures around the world agree with you :D
Having practiced the 'blade-up' draw, it really isn't any more difficult than drawing from a 'blade-down' position and allows for a fast downward cut to an opponent's wrist (among other things). I suppose it would seem a little odd to an untrained person who hasn't done it before though...
That’s awesome that the samurai had a sword for warfare Otashi. While the katana is popular, it’s nice to see the Ostashi didn’t know that it was their primary weapon
Katanas were also war weapons, but of a later period. The katana supplanted the tachi in style and use, with many tachi being cut down and resized to fit katana lengths as time went on
Knew about the odachi but not the tachi or okatana, good video.
Haven't watched the video yet, but from. What I can remember is that a tachi and a katanga were both carried at some point. A katanga was worn at all times, but a tachi was checked at the door cause it was impractical for indoor use due to its length.
Holy shit bro you lost some weight or i just remember you different?
I remembered about this channel after a good 3 years
No one can deny that katana is useless towards thick armors
Would like to see a full review of the kotachi
Didn’t even know you had a Knecht. I should watch you more often.
For Sabres you would wear the blade up while on foot and blade down while mounted. I believe this was the same for shahka and it would be logical for the Tachi as well. The reasoning is you can pull forward to draw while on foot but on horse if you did this action you would smack the horse in the neck. Thus you need to draw 'up' while mounted.
Another great indicator of a Tachi is the 'sword knot' or length of fabric on the handle. This is to tie the blade to your wrist so if you dropped it while on horseback you can retrieve it. It's a characteristic of a cavalry sword.
Not just hitting the neck but they also wanted to make sure the sword didn't fall out because once it's out you're gonna need like 3 minutes to go pick it back up
I've been wanting to see the comparison between the katana and the gross messer for a long, long time.
where do we set up a gofundme so Shad can get a legit Tachi?
Id love for him to go into it all DEEP
Something worth mentioning is that the Tachi was first implemented in the mid-tenth century, and so was contemporary with a vast array of swords from _before_ the Longsword was fielded.
I could be wrong here but I heard somewhere that Katana is a Japanese word that is used for all kinds of swords with a certain edge to it no matter if it's a European or Asian sword.
They also have "Tsurugi" for double-edged swords iirc
Katana’s kanji just means “one sided blade”, so you could apply it to any sword of that type, but it’s also used to classify that specific sword so you could easily confuse people by doing so.
So it's a general term then interesting and surprising
Exactly. To be more precise "刀" ("katana") is the Japanese character for sword. However it seems that it wasn't used on it's own as "katana" before the end of the 19th century. And yes it did refer to all swords. And obviously at that point the most common sword in Japan was the modern Japanese sword, which led to the bastardization of the word.
Before that it was used with other characters to designate different kinds of sword such as the "longsword" "太刀" "tachi".
In Japanese if you specifically want to refer to Japanese swords the correct word is "日本刀" "nihontō" "Japanese sword".
Then a kriegsmesser really is a katana? 😆