Subject: 侍 samurai warrior
Culture: Ashikaga Japanese
Setting: Nanbokuchō, Japan 1333-1392
Object: 太刀 tachi sword, 野太刀 nodachi 'field sword', 大太刀 o-dachi 'great sword'
Shinwa *
* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery
"Tachi blade This blade for a tachi was made by the third generation of a line of smiths who all used the name Sadatsugu
and who worked in the Aoe area of Bitchu province on the coast of the Inland sea. Japanese, about 1375, signed Bitchu no kuni Sadatsugu" ...
* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery
"Nagamaki blade This blade was originally made as a nagamaki, but was converted into a sword by reducing the tang and thinning the blade. Its maker, Unji was given his name because of the shape of the hardened edge of some of his blades which reminded the Emperor Gotoba of billowing clouds. Japanese, early 14th century"
"Wakizashi blade This blade has been shortened in the past resulting in the removal of much of the original tang. It has been attributed in Japan to a smith called Fujishima who worked in the province of Kaga. Japanese, about 1400" ...
Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery *
"Long sword (nagamaki) These weapons were sometimes provided with very long hilts like a sword, or as here put on a shaft in the manner of a polearm. This blade bears a probably false signature of a member of the Taima school of Yamato and a date defaced by hammering.
Japanese, blade about 1400" ...
