Many wakizashi blades featured horimono or decorative carvings, from floral designs to Buddhist motifs and Sanskrit characters. Japanese blades are valued for their aesthetic features, especially the hamon or temperline pattern, achieved by covering the blade in the clay of varying thickness and then quenching it in water. The wakizashi is single-edged and slightly curved, which is the characteristic shape of Japanese swords. Blade Appearance Blade and Mounting for a wakizashi, dated 1839 – Credits: Met Museum So, many non-traditional swordsmiths outside Japan strive to create replicas with damascus steel or high carbon steel blades. However, traditionally-made Japanese swords including wakizashi, forged from tamahagane are highly regulated and cannot be mass produced. The tamahagane is high carbon steel smelted from iron sands and made from the traditional tatara furnace in Japan. Traditional swordsmiths forged them from tamahagane steel and used a complex process to create blades that were hard but not brittle. The Japanese samurai swords were among the finest weapons ever made. Here are the characteristics of the Japanese short sword: Metal and Construction The wakizashi sword has a shorter blade than the katana, but it has all the features of the longer Japanese sword. Let’s explore the unique characteristics of the wakizashi, why it became one of the preferred weapons for combat, and its history and use in martial arts. The warrior wore it indoors when the longer sword was set aside at the entrance and utilized it against opponents with longer weapons. In feudal Japan, the short sword wakizashi served as an efficient secondary weapon of the samurai, who traditionally carried it with the katana.
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