The Japanese war/weapon related semantic field is vaste and many terms exist to define the same object.Ĭonfusingly, word’s meaning evolve with time, and an old Koryu school may use a word in its old definition to refer to a specific weapon, while more modern Koryu or Budo would use the same word to refer to a different weapon.Įven more confusing, two words with the exact same pronunciation may be written with different kanji and therefore define two completely different things. The proper word for a real short sword is “wakizashi” (脇差) which means “side inserted sword”. In Japanese, we would simply say “a wooden shoto”, despite the fact that using the term shoto instead of wakizashi often implies that one refers to the wooden version. An expression like “kishoto” (wooden-short-katana) for example, could exists, but it doesn’t. There is no specific word referring to a short wooden sword. ShotoĪs seen above, the word shoto (小刀) is used for short swords. (And yes, it is produced in Japan, you can ask us via email if you’re interested!). There is no specific word for wooden chokuto, we just say “wooden chokuto”. Until the end of the Heian era, chokuto were also called “tachi” (大刀), with different kanji from the tachi described above.Ĭhokuto probably was the very first type of Katana made in Japan, based on swords imported from China and Korea, The chokuto evolved rapidly to a curved version, closer to the actual katana and very few have survived to our days. The chokuto (直刀) is a straight (直) Katana (刀). We therefore say “Niten Ichi Ryu Daito” for the long sword, and “Niten Ichi Ryu Shoto” for the short sword. Most Koryu use a long and a short sword, such as the Niten Ichi Ryu, Katori Shinto Ryu, etc. The term daisho is commonly used by the artisans manufacturing the bokuto for a very practical reason. The daisho (大小) refers to the traditional pair of a long and a short sword and the term combines the first syllable of the word “daito” and “shoto”. It is mainly used to refer to the long sword, as counterpart of the short sword called wakizashi or Shoto (小刀 > Small/short sword). The word daito is a more generic term for “long sword”. Although it is accepted that it has the same meaning as bokuto, you will very likely not hear this word often in Japan.Ī long and heavily curved ancient Tachi Daito The term bokken is also used in Japan, but mostly to refer to a bokuto / wooden katana. It can be a katana, but also any other type of sword. The word “bokken” is less precise than “bokuto” as it means “wooden sword” in general. 木, ki/boku/moku > wood (read “bok” in bokken) This is the most precise term to speak of a wooden sword that is made to imitate a katana.īokuto is the most widespread word in Japan, this is the one you will hear more or less everywhere when speaking about a wooden sword. The expression most commonly used in Japan is “bokuto”, 木刀, and it means, very simply, wooden katana. Let’s see what the differences are and where those words come from. Although less precise, the Japanese also use other terms like "Bokken" “Kidachi”, “Daito” and “Tachi” etc. However, in Japan, the proper word is “Bokuto”. In the West, the word “Bokken” is widely used to refer to a wooden sword. Bokken, Bokuto, Daito, Tachi? Explanation! The various terms used in Japan for swords and wooden swords
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