Boys day swords and dimensions

[itsoverthere]

Hello all, I have a sword which I have often wondered about due to its dimensions. To clarify: the Nagasa is 44cm exactly; it is 2.4cm across between the machi and 1.6cm at the yokote; it is 0.6cm wide at the mune machi and widens from 0.4 to 0.5cm towards the tip; the sori is almost 1.8cm; but the thing that makes me wonder the most is the fact that from the mune machi to the very tip of the nakago is only 10.9cm which is not much with the habaki on (8.7cm). I was originally led to believe that the blade was suriage but over the course of many close inspections I have come to believe that this cannot be the case and am therefore left with the conclusion that it must have originally been made with this rather short nakago. At first I wondered if this might be explained by it being a mass produced blade as it appears (to me, but that doesn't really mean much to be honest) to be, possibly, from very late Koto or early Shinto (most probably the latter) but the quality seems to be ok at least (not that I would really know though) and I was then left questioning if it was simply made for someone with small hands? I wondered also if the fairly strong sori might support this idea? I, personally, have never seen a boy's day sword but I am now wondering if this might be the answer. Might anyone have any idea whether or not these blades have certain tell-tale dimensions or aspects that might explain my blade? Or, if not, might there be anything else that does explain the rather peculiar (and probably quite impractical) dimensions of my blade? I'd be extremely interested in any thoughts or suggestions.

 

Cheers

[outlier48]

Can you please post pics? Might be helpful and interesting.

 

Charlie Brashear

[itsoverthere]

OK, here's one with the measurements on it.

[itsoverthere]

Ok, I'm just putting a few more on. Hopefully they're relevant to my question.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Adam,

Looks like an ubu (unshortened) wakizashi to me, nothing all that unusual about it.

Grey

[itsoverthere]

Hi Grey,

 

Fair enough, don't I feel stupid. I've gotta be honest and say that I haven't had many in my hands but all those I have seen had longer nakagos, and having read somewhere about a boy's day sword I started imagining. Is this not rather short though? and would that not make it quite impracticle?

 

Cheers

[machinist]

You want impractical? Try swinging a katana inside the house if you want impractical.

All your paper walls and precious art work ruined. Smashed tea sets everywhere.

Also I have heard that in some periods long swords were allowed only to samurai but merchants could carry wakizashi.

 

 

Donald

[nagamaki - Franco]

Greetings,

 

Is this not rather short though? and would that not make it quite impracticle?

 

While 44 cm is on the shorter side from perhaps a collectors view point, it still falls well within range as a wakizashi which were secondary weapons. It is also true that merchants were only allowed to carry wakizashi in the Edo period, so it is likely many of these shorter wakizashi served that purpose.

 

For your convenience http://www.kampaibudokai.org/Script.htm

[itsoverthere]

Thanks for the link Franco and, Donald, I'll bear that in mind next time I do battle in the living room. But seriously what I was actually referring to is the fact that I believed the nakago should be longer. I've actually owned a shorter Wak than this (around 37cm) but the nakago was quite a lot longer. I always thought that nakago length was directly related to the balance of the blade and how much power the user would be able to exert in cutting (like leverage I suppose). Thus, my point was that although it has quite a deep sori, I thought the short nakago would mean that it was far from being optimised for use as a weapon. I realise these blades are now regarded solely as art but we can all appreciate that this wasn't always so.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello,

 

I thought the short nakago would mean that it was far from being optimised for use as a weapon.

 

While only speculation, if this piece had been carried by a merchant for personal protection optimum fighting technique probably would not have been much of an issue. (sorry for missing your initial point, up too late).