Tachi

A tachi (太刀) is a special kind of curved sword made in old Japan. It was used by samurai warriors during the time when Japan was ruled by noble families and knights. The tachi is different from another famous sword called the katana. One big way they are different is how long they are and how much they curve. Tachi swords were usually longer and curved more than katanas.

Tachi swords were worn in a special way. Samurai would put them in a sheath on the left side of their body, with the blade pointing up. This was different from how katanas were worn later on. The tachi became popular around the year 900 and stayed important until about 1596. Even after that, important samurai leaders still liked to wear tachi swords sometimes.

These swords were not just tools for fighting; they were also a sign of honor and status. The making of a tachi sword was a careful craft, with each part carefully shaped and balanced. Today, tachi swords are treasured for their beauty and history, showing us about the brave samurai and the old days of Japan.

History

The making of swords in Japan happened in different time periods. These periods are called Jōkotō (ancient swords, until around 900), Kotō (old swords, around 900–1596), Shintō (new swords, 1596–1780), Shinshintō (new new swords, 1781–1876), and Gendaitō (modern or contemporary swords, 1876–present).

In the middle of the Heian period (794–1185), samurai improved an early sword called warabitetō to create kenukigata-tachi (early Japanese swords). These early swords had a gently curved, single-edged blade and a special shape called shinogi-zukuri. Unlike later swords, kenukigata-tachi did not have a wooden hilt; instead, the part called the tang (nakago) was held directly.

Later, the tachi sword was developed with a hilt fixed to the tang using a pin called mekugi. This design, along with the curved blade and shinogi-zukuri shape, became the basic form of Japanese swords. The curved shape was especially useful for samurai fighting on horseback, as it made cutting downward more effective.

During the Heian period, ordinary samurai wore tachi swords with black lacquered scabbards and wrapped hilts. Court nobles, however, had more decorative swords called kazari tachi or hosodachi, which were often straight and used for ceremonies rather than fighting.

In the Kamakura period (1185–1333), high-ranking samurai wore hyogo gusari tachi swords, which had scabbards covered in gilt copper and were hung by chains at the waist. Later, simpler versions of these swords were made for use in Shinto shrines.

During the Mongol invasions of Japan in the 13th century, swordsmiths like Masamune studied broken swords to create stronger, lighter blades. They used a mix of soft and hard steel and adjusted the shape of the blades for better cutting and piercing.

By the 15th century, Japanese swords were famous worldwide, with many being sent to China and Korea. Bows were still the main weapon in Japan, but tachi and naginata were used in close combat. As battles changed, shorter swords like the katana became more practical, and the tachi began to be seen more as a symbol of rank.

From the 16th century onward, many tachi swords were changed into katana by shortening the tang. This was called suriage. Some tachi swords were also exported to Thailand, where they were highly valued.

Features

The tachi and katana are two types of traditional Japanese swords. You can tell them apart by where the maker’s mark, called a mei, is placed on the part called the tang. For a tachi, this mark is on the side facing outward when the sword is worn on the left side of the waist with the cutting edge down. The katana is worn with the cutting edge up, so its mark is in the opposite place.

A real tachi sword was usually about 70 to 80 centimeters (28 to 31 inches) long along the cutting edge. It was thinner and more curved than a katana and had a smaller point. Tachi swords were mainly used by riders on horses. Some smaller tachi swords were called kodachi, and very large ones, used mostly for ceremonies, were called ōdachi. To wear a tachi sword, it needed special fittings called tachi koshirae, which had extra hooks to hold the sword horizontally with the edge down.