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I would.

 

Because I wouldn't expect to see Dannyboy in the middle of Birmingham wielding a Japanese Wakizashi, yelling incoherently in Danish. :shakehead

 

That cracked me up! :p I love everything Japanese and generally Asian, particularly martial arts and Japanese swords

 

Slightly off topic but isn't that a tanto not wakizashi?

 

See, a wakizashi is longer than 30 centimetres and a tanto is shorter. You measure a straight line from the base of the blade to the tip, in which case my sword is 31 centimetres, making it a wakizashi. However, 'tis a bit tricky with this one, as the habaki is forged from the same piece of metal as the rest of the blade, a thing less often seen, and I do not know whether I should measure the habaki as part of the blade. On the other hand, on nihonto where the habaki is a separate piece of metal, the actual blade extends inside the habaki.

 

As there seem to be other swords enthusiasts in here, I hope one of them can enlighten me on the subject. :)

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See, a wakizashi is longer than 30 centimetres and a tanto is shorter. You measure a straight line from the base of the blade to the tip, in which case my sword is 31 centimetres, making it a wakizashi. However, 'tis a bit tricky with this one, as the habaki is forged from the same piece of metal as the rest of the blade, a thing less often seen, and I do not know whether I should measure the habaki as part of the blade. On the other hand, on nihonto where the habaki is a separate piece of metal, the actual blade extends inside the habaki.

 

As there seem to be other swords enthusiasts in here, I hope one of them can enlighten me on the subject. :)

 

 

 

well, my opinion on the subject. 30cms seems an odd measurment, probebly a narrow down of a japanise figure, wouldnt know for sure without asking an samurai or sword smith. as for the habaki issue, its usualy just a coloar around the blade for fitting into the saya, which then exteneds all the way down through the tsuka (handle) to the Kashira (cap), in an unsharpened form, as im sure your all aware. id class the blade's length as from the tip of the blade to the tsuba (hand guard) though im not sure if this is the correct way to measure. certainly the habaki isnt going to be used to cut any one, but that usualy goes for much of the blade leading up to it.

 

in any case, yeah, a wakazashi seems the best name for it, though due to its nature as a stainless steel peice, id not swing it around. stainless blades get the nickname of "wall hangers" in some collection circles, and with good reason. in a normal sword, the blade contunues down the handle in one continious line, held in place either by a pommel in europian swords, or pegs in japanese swords. stainless stell blades often just have a large bolt welded to the end that screws in to the end of the fitting. the weld is obviously a weaker point, clashes, even a heavy swing can cause the blade to break loose, traveling off at around 70mph, depending on how hard you can swing. the end may not feel sharp not, but while travling at 70mph, it can do some damage.

 

i have a shit claymore replica that i can use to demonstrait the tang, though i dobt may are interested :p

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well, my opinion on the subject. 30cms seems an odd measurment, probebly a narrow down of a japanise figure, wouldnt know for sure without asking an samurai or sword smith. as for the habaki issue, its usualy just a coloar around the blade for fitting into the saya, which then exteneds all the way down through the tsuka (handle) to the Kashira (cap), in an unsharpened form, as im sure your all aware. id class the blade's length as from the tip of the blade to the tsuba (hand guard) though im not sure if this is the correct way to measure. certainly the habaki isnt going to be used to cut any one, but that usualy goes for much of the blade leading up to it.

 

in any case, yeah, a wakazashi seems the best name for it, though due to its nature as a stainless steel peice, id not swing it around. stainless blades get the nickname of "wall hangers" in some collection circles, and with good reason. in a normal sword, the blade contunues down the handle in one continious line, held in place either by a pommel in europian swords, or pegs in japanese swords. stainless stell blades often just have a large bolt welded to the end that screws in to the end of the fitting. the weld is obviously a weaker point, clashes, even a heavy swing can cause the blade to break loose, traveling off at around 70mph, depending on how hard you can swing. the end may not feel sharp not, but while travling at 70mph, it can do some damage.

 

i have a shit claymore replica that i can use to demonstrait the tang, though i dobt may are interested :p

 

I wondered about the 30 cm measurement, too, but it seems to be the most accurate in the metric system. And don't worry, I don't swing it around. I mostly just look at it and admire it. Even if it is merely stainless steel, I've seen much worse replicas. This looks quite real to the untrained eye. :)

 

humiliating pictures, not swords :)

 

You does not be teh boss of me!

 

I lost after a paw to the face.

 

DSC00026.jpg

 

Fantastic picture! : peace:

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That cracked me up! :p I love everything Japanese and generally Asian, particularly martial arts and Japanese swords

 

May I ask why? I'm just curious as to what it is about Asian culture that fascinates young male westerners.

 

Give me a big gun any day.

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May I ask why? I'm just curious as to what it is about Asian culture that fascinates young male westerners.

 

Give me a big gun any day.

 

well, to me, its facinating as its so alien. the idea of a samurai isnt all that different to a knight, both have names that roughly translate from "serve" both were fighting elite, both had codes of honour and both were (almost always) from the higher classes.

 

what facitates me about the samurai is there devotion. whilst a knight had devotion to god, and what ever faction he belonged to, a samurai had loyalty to his master, to the point were he would kill himself extreemly painfully on his masters comand.

 

anouther area of interest is the conflict. the japanise were esentualy buddist, with some discrepencies, the samurai themselves were budist, and lived by budist principals particularly regarding the inevitablity of death. the knights templar were famed for not leaving the feild untill they were outnumbered 3 to 1. the samurai activly sought a glorious death.

 

compair the samurai sword to the knights varity of swords, the katana is, from a technical standpoint, the supiriour sword. samurai also had no sheild, and their armour was decidely infeiriour.

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