True origin of the Japanese sword Options

[iganinjaF]

I think many of you here already know the true origin of the Japanese sword, but in case some people still have wrong notions about it, my post here may be of interest.

Some say that the origin of the Japanese sword lies in ancient China or Korea, but that is not correct. The Japanese borrowed their sword design from the Emishi, the indigenous Japanese who lived in the north-eastern part of Japan until around the 1500s.

The Emishi had their own single-edge, curved (or straight) sword called the Warabite sword (蕨手刀). Here are some images of the Warabite sword on Google:

http://www.google.co.jp/search?num=10&...1ac.ryVwfwnwxrw

Most of the Warabite swords (more than 200) have been excavated from eastern Japan, while just a couple of them excavated from western Japan.

In the Nara to Heian period (710 to 1185), the Yamato government made attempts to conquer the Emish land in north-eastern Japan. In many cases, however, they had bitter fights because of Emishi cavalry's powerful bows and Warabite sword swung down from horseback. The Japanese finally adopted the Warabite sword design and gave up the straight sword that came from the continent earlier.

The Warabite sword later evolved into the Kenukigata-tachi (毛抜型太刀).
Here are some images of the Kenukigata-tachi on Google:

http://www.google.co.jp/search?num=10&...219&bih=648

The Kenukigata-tachi (毛抜型太刀) finally evolved into the Japanese sword we see today.
We may well believe that the Warabite sword is the true ancestor of the Japanese sword.

This post has been edited by iganinjaF: Dec 25 2012, 10:47 PM