Chiisagatana

[Guido]

Seeing a koshirae on Aoi Art today (see attachment), I couldn't let the opportunity slip to post it here in the hope that it will put a die-hard urban legend to rest – the all too common misconception that chiisagatana 小さ刀 (often misspelled "chisagatana") stands for a sword slightly shorter than a katana (i.e. wakizashi) but mounted in a katana-sized koshirae. Kind of a make-believe katana, usually explained as a merchant or ninja sword, intended to hide the actual length of the blade. Even some seasoned collectors stick stubbornly to this nonsense .

 

Before the uchigatana came into being, shorter swords mounted differently from tachi were called chiisagatana or koshigatana 腰刀 (hip-sword). Chiisagatana, which literally means "short katana," are tantō or sunnobi-tantō mounted in a similar fashion as a katana. Another term for chiisagatana is tsubagatana 鍔刀 or "sword with tsuba," as opposed to aikuchi (“meeting mouth”), which is a tantō without tsuba.

 

Although the meaning of chiisagatana changed over the course of Nihontō history, this term was used from the Edo period on to describe tantō that had a tsuba and usually tsukamaki as well. This is a typical example:

[Stephen]

Thats some good learning here!!

[Curran]

Guido,

 

Nice little koshirae with a nice blade. Good starter package for someone, thought I would worry about a newbie properly caring for old ito like that.

 

In the Aoi Arts Japanese listing, where is the mention of chiisagatana?

At my mediocre level of reading, I would have thought they were discussing the kogatana instead of koshigatana / chiisagatana.

The English version doesn't mention it and my Japanese reading doesn't see 腰刀.

[Brian]

Thanks Guido, that's some good info there. No doubt it will be at least a month before we all forget it, and confuse the term again

Nice koshirae too. Thanks for sharing.

 

Brian

[Guido]

  Brian said:

No doubt it will be at least a month before we all forget it, and confuse the term again

You're probably right, but now it's on record, and we can rub people's noses into it.

  \ said:

In the Aoi Arts Japanese listing' date=' where is the mention of chiisagatana?[/quote']They usually don't specify, and just write "koshirae".

 

Here's another – papered – example from the e-sword website (http://www.e-sword.jp):

[BMarkhasin]

Good examples Guido, thanks for posting and bringing this nomenclature issue into the spotlight -- too bad about our collective short memory.

 

Best,

Boris.

[Soshin]

  BMarkhasin said:

Good examples Guido, thanks for posting and bringing this nomenclature issue into the spotlight -- too bad about our collective short memory.

 

Hi Guido,

 

Thanks for posting nice ninja swords... https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21861/lot/200/...

 

 

P.S. Yes I am trying to be sarcastic not sure what smilies to use.

[Gabriel L]

Guido, I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to your and Dr. T's article on koshirae. I won't soon forget that chiisagatana aren't "hidden blade wakizashi" or whatever if only for that reason. :D If anyone hasn't read that article, I strongly recommend you do…