What is a Wakizashi

A Wakizashi (pronounced: wa-kee-zah-shee) is a Japanese sword that was worn by the samurai in feudal Japan. The name literally means "side inserted" in Japanese, and it was typically carried along with the katana.

The wakizashi was used for close combat, as well as for self-defense when carrying a katana would have been impractical or inconvenient, for instance indoor fighting, In Japanese traditional custom, you should leave your katana at the door when entering a castle, as a way to show respect, but what if you are invited to an enemy’s place? Going inside unarmed seems like a bad idea. That’s where Wakizashi come into play, Japanese customs didn’t forbidden carrying wakizashi inside someone’s place, so samurai will always carry the wakizashi around. And the name of Wakiazashi “Side inserted”, implied that this is something always inserted in your belt.

What is a Tanto

Similar to Wakizashi, Tanto is an even smaller katana. The name Tanto (短刀) literally means “Short sword”. The Tanto dates back to 1000 years ago, invented during the Heian period. Tanto was also typically carried with Katana or Tachi, as back up weapon.

Tanto is about the length of a long knife, It was designed to be used mainly for stabbing, but its sharp edge can also be used for slashing. Tanto can be double edge o single edged, single edged is more common.

Wakizashi and Tanto in Japanese history

Both wakizashi and tanto can be dated back to thousands of years ago. But they become much more popular in the late Muromachi period, in 1629, all samurai are required to wear Daisho when they are on official duties, The combination of a long and short katana is called Daisho. Daisho literally means “Big and small”. Long sword could be a Tachi, a katana, the short sword can be a wakizashi or tant. Wearing Daisho is a honorable thing because it’s a symbol of a samurai’s ranking.

What’s the difference between a katana, a wakizashi and a tanto

The most significant difference is the blade length, a katana normally has blade length over 60 cm ( our katana blade length is about 72cm), and as katana’s companion swords, wakizashi’s blade is 30-60 cm long, and tanto is only 15-30 cm long.

Most fitting for katana, wakizashi and tanto are interchangeable, it’s very common when we design a katana set (Daisho), we will use the same theme saya, same Tsuba, habaki etc. Having united elements in all 3 swords will look great. But in history there are no set rules about if Daisho should have united design, it’s totally ok if your katana and wakizashi has distinctive looks, from different blade smiths.

What’s the usage of wakizashi and tanto

Both Wakizashi and tanto, as smaller version of a standard katana, can still function as a cutting and slashing weapon. But because of the size, they better serve as stabbing weapons, using for indoor fights. You can always fight well prepared, when in the event of an emergency, when a long sword is not available, a wakizashi or tanto can be used to defend yourself. The blades of wakizashi were often shorter than those of full sized katanas, which made them lighter and easier to use in close quarters.

One of the most famous scenario of using a wakizashi, must be from the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, He created an innovative style of Kenjutsu that combined the use of two swords, both long and short, which is katana and wakizashi. This famous Dual wield katana style is called “Niten Ichi-ryū”, 二天一流, literally means combining 2 heavens into 1.

Able to use 2 swords at the same time will give you advantage when fighting against multiple enemies. You could use Katana for attack and wakizashi for defense. The reason Miyamoto created Niten Ichi-ryū was because he believe that a swordsmen should be able to use his weapon single handed, and since we have 2 hands, it will be a waste not to use 2 swords. In the legend Miyamoto use Niten Ichi-ryū to defeated Sasaki Kojirō. Wakizashi in the his hand is not just a backup weapon.

Tanto was essentially a fixed blade knife. In the famous Japanese suicide ritual “Seppuku”, Samurai who committed serious offences or brought shame to their families were volunteered to commit seppuku, means using a short blade to cut their belly. Tanto was the main choice of weapon, many might think wakizashi was for the Seppuku, but wakizashi is too long to use, in history Tanto was much more common.

Tanto was also used on battlefield to piece armor. There are many gaps in traditional Japanese armor, in close range battle, the most efficient way to put down an fully armed samurai, is to use tanto to penetrate the armor.

Choice of material:

If you are buying a wakizashi, you might want to use it for tameshigiri, or less formal, some backyard cutting for fun. Cutting with wakizashi requires less strength because it’s shorter and lighter than a standard katana. Our material recommendation is T10 Steel or Spring Steel.

If you are buying wakizashi and tanto more for decoration, Both T10 Steel and Pattern steel is a great choice. All our T10 steel blades are clay tempered, you can see the beauty of hamon line in the blade.

If you want to build your own wakizashi sword, you can check out our custom wakizashi section.

Same for tanto, if you want a personalized tanto, our custom tanto can do that for you.

You can also buy a 2 katana set, or 3 Katana set to for the united theme.