Tachi

A tachi (太刀) was a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (nihonto) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tachi style of swords preceded the development of the katana—the first use of the word katana to indicate a blade different from tachi appears toward the end of the twelfth century.

Chokutō, straight swords, were also called tachi, but written as 大刀.

History and description

The production of swords in Japan is divided into specific time periods:

Authentic tachi were forged during the Kotō period, before 1596. With a few exceptions katana and tachi can be distinguished from each other if signed , by the location of the signature (mei) on the tang. In general the signature should be carved into the side of the tang that would face outward when the sword was worn on the wielder's left waist. Since a tachi was worn cutting edge down, and the katana was worn cutting edge up the mei would be in opposite locations on the tang of both types of swords.

Tachi (disambiguation)

Tachi may mean:

Ōdachi

An ōdachi (大太刀) (large/great sword) or nodachi (野太刀, field sword) was a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (nihonto) used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The Chinese equivalent and 'cousin' for this type of sword in terms of weight and length is the Miao dao, and the Western battlefield equivalent (though less similar) is the Spanish Espada Bastarda or Scottish Claymore.

The character for ō (大) means "big" or "great". The dachi here (太刀) is the same as tachi (太刀, lit. "great sword"), the older style of sword/mounts that predate the katana. The chi is also the same character as katana (刀) and the tō in nihontō (日本刀 "Japanese sword"), originally from the Chinese character for a blade,dāo.

To qualify as an ōdachi, the sword in question would have a blade length of around 3 shaku (35.79 inches or 90.91 cm); however, as with most terms in Japanese sword arts, there is no exact definition of the size of an ōdachi.

Purpose

Practically speaking, the function/use of most ōdachi fall into the first two categories—as ceremonial objects and cavalry swords. The possible functions of the ōdachi can be categorized as follows: