Names of Japanese swords
Japanese sword story #2
Tantou（短刀）Yoshimitsu（吉光） ７寸２分 Mid-Kamakura (13th century)
The Japanese people start calling their sword as “Japanese sword” around the end of Tokugawa Shogun period(19th century) when they reopened the gates for the foreign countries for the foreign trades. Before that period, the Japanese swords were just called as “Katana（刀）” or “Tsurugi（剣）.” After Muromachi （室町）period (around A.D.1,500), the Japanese swords were classified into three different categories based on their length.....
