Nihonto Club

Japanese

Definition

Blades greater than 30 and less than 60 cm (12 and 24 inches) in length are known as wakizashi. During the Edo period, this was the shorter of the pair of swords worn by samurai.

The word "wakizashi" comes from waki (脇), meaning "side", and zashi (差し), whose root is the verb sasu (差す), meaning "to wear a sword at one's side".

Special terms are used for blades of unusual length:

• ko-wakizashi (小脇差) - short wakizashi (between 1 shaku and 1 shaku 9 sun, 9 bu (30.3 cm to 60.297 cm))
• chū-wakizashi - medium wakizashi (between 1 shaku, 5 sun and 1 shaku, 7 sun, 9 bu (45.45 cm to 54.237 cm))
• o-wakizashi (大脇差) - long wakizashi (between 1 shaku, 8 sun and 1 shaku, 9 sun, 9 bu (up to 60.297 cm))