Tachi

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Tachi

The is a Japanese sword, often said to be more curved and slightly longer than the katana

Katana

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The is a Japanese sword, often said to be more curved and slightly longer than the katana

Katana

A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. These are categorised in several types according to size and method of manufacture....
. However, Gilbertson, Oscar Ratti, and Adele Westbrook state that a sword is called a tachi when hung from the obi
Obi (sash)

Obi is a Japan word referring to several different types of sashes worn with kimono and keikogi by both men and women....
(belt or sash) with the edge down, and the same sword becomes a katana when worn edge up and thrust through the girdle. The "tachi" style was eventually discarded in favor of the katana.

The daito (long swords) that pre-date the katana average about 78cm in blade length, larger than the katana average of around 70cm. Unlike the traditional manner of wearing the katana, the tachi was worn hung from the belt with the cutting-edge down, and was usually used by cavalry

Cavalry

The Cavalry is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat, it represents the mobility and offensive power of the armed forces....
. Deviations from the average length of tachi have the prefixes ko- for "short" and o- for "great or large" attached. For instance, tachi that were shoto and closer in size to a wakizashi
Wakizashi

File:Edo period Wakizashi.jpgFile:Daisho Asian Art Museum SF.JPGThe is a traditional Japanese sword with a shoto blade between 30 and 60 cm , with an average of 50 cm ....
were called kodachi
Kodachi

for other uses see:Kodachi A , literally translating into "small or short tachi ", is a Japanese sword that is too short to be considered a long sword but too long to be a dagger....
. The longest tachi (considered a 15th century odachi
Odachi

An , meaning "great big sword", was a type of long Japanese sword. The term nodachi, or "field sword", which refers to a different type of sword, is often mistakenly used in place of odachi....
) in existence is more than 3.7 meters in total length (2.2m blade) but believed to be ceremonial. In the year 1600, many old tachi were cut down into katana. The majority of surviving tachi blades now are o-suriage, so it is rare to see an original signed ubu tachi.

Use

The tachi was used primarily on horseback, where it was able to be drawn efficiently for cutting down enemy footsoldiers. On the ground it was still an effective weapon, but somewhat awkward to use. This is why its companion, the uchigatana
Uchigatana

The is a type of Japanese sword.From the Heian period to the Edo period, the primary battlefield sword was the tachi. Its long blade and sharp edge made it ideal for use on horseback....
(the predecessor of the katana) was developed.

It was the predecessor to the katana as the battle-blade of feudal Japan's bushi
Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial society Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character ? was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau....
(warrior class), and as it evolved into the later design, the two were often differentiated from each other only by how they were worn and by the fittings for the blades.

It was during the Mongol invasions

Mongol invasions of Japan

The of 1274 and 1281 were major military invasions and conquests undertaken by Kublai Khan to take the Japanese islands after the capitulation of Goryeo....
that it was shown there were some weaknesses in the tachi sword which led to the development of the Katana.

In later Japanese feudal history, during the Sengoku

Sengoku period

The was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict in Japan that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century....
and Edo

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
periods, certain high-ranking warriors of what became the ruling class would wear their sword tachi-style (edge-downward), rather than with the saya (scabbard) thrust through the belt with the edge upward.

With the rising of militarism during the Showa era

Militarism-Socialism in Showa Japan

Japanese Militarism-Socialism, sometimes also referred to as Right socialism, "Showa Nationalism" or Japanese fascism, refers to a Syncretic politics of Japanese right-wing political ideology, developed over a period of time from the Meiji Restoration, and dominating Japanese politics during the first part of the Showa period ....
, the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

The Imperial Japanese Army , or literally Army of Empire of Greater Japan was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1867 to 1945....
and the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The origins of the Imperial Japanese Navy trace back to early interactions with nations on the Asia, beginning in the early history of Japan#Feudal Japan and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of cultural diffusion with European power during the Age of Discovery....
implemented tachi called Shin gunto

Shin gunto

is Japanese language for neo-army sword or new army sword. The Shin gunto is a style of Japanese tachi designated as part of the uniform for officers of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1934 until the end of World War II....
and Kai gunto.

Tachi

Use

See also