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* [[Japanese sword]]
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* [[Tantō]]
* [[Tantō]]
* Grade 6 Miami


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 21:04, 15 October 2014

Japanese kaiken/kwaiken style tanto.

A kaiken (懐剣, prior to modern orthographic reform kwaiken (pocket knife);[1] also futokoro-gatana) is an 8–10 inches (20–25 cm) long, single or double-bladed dagger[2] without ornamental fittings housed in a plain mount, formerly carried by men and women of the samurai class in Japan. It was useful for self-defense in indoor spaces where the long blade katana and intermediate sword wakizashi were inconvenient. Women carried them in their kimono either in a pocket-like space (futokoro) or in the sleeve pouch (tamoto)[3] for self-defense and for ritual suicide by slashing the veins in the left side of the neck.[4][5] When a samurai woman married, she was expected to carry a kaiken with her when she moves to her husband's house to live.[6]


See also

References

Nishio Minoru, Iwabuchi Etsutarō, Mizutani Shizuo, ed. (1985). Iwanami Kokugo Jiten (in Japanese) (3 ed.). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p. 155. ISBN 4-00-080003-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month=, |chapterurl=, and |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)