The is one of the traditional Japanese swords (
nihonto) worn by the
samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 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...
class in feudal Japan.
Description
The
wakizashi has a blade between 30 and 60 cm (12 and 24 in), with
wakizashi close to the length of a
katana being called
o-wakizashi and
wakizashi closer to
tanto length being called
ko-wakizashi. The
wakizashi being worn together with the
katanaA Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
was the official sign that the wearer was a
samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 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...
or swordsman of feudal Japan. When worn together the pair of swords were called
daishōThe is a Japanese term for a matched pair of traditionally made Japanese swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.-Description:...
, which translates literally as "big-little". The katana was the
big or
long swordThe longsword is a type of European sword designed for two-handed use, current during the late medieval and Renaissance periods, approximately 1350 to 1550 .Longswords have long cruciform hilts with grips over 10 to 15 cm length The longsword (of which stems the variation called the bastard...
and the wakizashi the companion sword.
Wakizashi are not necessarily just a smaller version of the
katana; they could be forged differently and have a different cross section.
History and use
Wakizashi have been in use as far back as the 15th or 16th century. The
wakizashi was used as a backup or auxiliary sword; it was also used for close quarters fighting, to remove the head of a defeated opponent and sometimes to commit
ritual suicideis a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
. The
wakizashi was one of several short swords available for use by
samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 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...
including the
yoroi tōshiThe "armor piercing or piercer" or "mail piercer"were one of the traditional Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class as a weapon in feudal Japan.-Description:...
, the
chisa-katana and the
tantoA is one of the traditional Japanese swords 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 years to become more ornate...
. The term
wakizashi did not originally specify swords of any official blade length and was an abbreviation of "wakizashi no kataka" ("sword thrust at one's side"); the term was applied to companion swords of all sizes. It was not until the
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
in 1638 when the rulers of Japan tried to regulate the types of swords and the social groups which were allowed to wear them that the lengths of
katana and
wakizashi were officially set.
Kanzan Satō, in his book titled "The Japanese Sword", notes that there did not seem to be any particular need for the wakizashi and suggests that the wakizashi may have become more popular than the tanto due to the wakizashi being more suited for indoor fighting. He mentions the custom of leaving the katana at the door of a castle or palace when entering while continuing to wear the wakizashi inside.
While the wearing of
katana was limited to the samurai class,
wakizashi of legal length (ko-wakizashi) could be carried by the
choninwas a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. The majority of chōnin were merchants, but some were craftsmen, as well. Nōmin were not considered chōnin...
class which included merchants. This was common when traveling due to the risk of encountering bandits.
Wakizashi were worn on the left side, secured to the waist sash (
Uwa-obi or himo).