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In ancient times warriors were called upon to protect their land as well as government officials. You can see why they would carry their weapons with them wherever they went. For Samurai warriors, these weapons were known as daisho. The daisho included long Japanese Samurai swords, also known as katana, as well as shorter versions of the sword known as wakizashi. Carrying these traditional swords was a way of ensuring that the warriors were always ready to fight.
If you are a collector of Eastern weapons, you must add Chinese swords to your collections. First forged in fire and using anvils and hammers to shape and sharpen the blades, modern forges are still using these tried and true techniques. SwordsOfTheEast.com also has a great selection of Japanese swords for sale. Many of these weapons use the same forging techniques as the Chinese versions. A hand forged katana sword is a must have for any collection. Get yours here and save money!
There are many different types of katana, most are distinguished by their length. Here are a few tips to help classify authentic Japanese swords. First, the weapons are measured in shaku. One shaku is equal to about 30.3 centimeters or 11.93 inches. A tanto, or knife, is shorter than one shaku. A blade that is longer than one shaku but shorter than two shakus is considered a shoto, or short sword. This also includes the wakizashi and kodachi. A weapon longer than two shaku is called a daito, or long sword. This is a category than Japanese katana fall into. These Japanese swords for sale were traditionally worn through a sash or obi with the cutting edge up. This made it easier for the samurai to quickly present the weapon for battle. The final category is very long blades. These are more than three shaku in length. Blades such as the odachi or nodachi were used in field battles and required great skill and strength to master. These longer blades were worn across the back carried by hand into battle.
Chinese swords, such as the Chinese Hsu Saber, can be used for serious gongfu practitioners. The traditional sabers are known as Dao and are commonly straight-blade swords. You may view the traditional shape and design by checking out our Hanwei Dao, which was designed by the world-renowned gongfu master Sifu Adam Hsu.
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