A Samurai carried a Katana, a Wakizashi and a bow, a yari, or a Nodachi and a bow.Stygmata wrotea not so well known fact : the main weapon for the samurai was the bow , it was shameful to fight with the sword as it will become blunt and very brittle in a duel and might well crack
Swords Importing Law
wakizashi was mainly used for ritual suicide or to decapitate an enemy , rarely used in combat .. ( also it was not restricted to samurai )Die_Kapitan wroteA Samurai carried a Katana, a Wakizashi and a bow, a yari, or a Nodachi and a bow.Stygmata wrotea not so well known fact : the main weapon for the samurai was the bow , it was shameful to fight with the sword as it will become blunt and very brittle in a duel and might well crack
as for the nodachi it was used for ceremonial rituals or simply as fashion or caste definition ( nodachi predates katana by more than 100 years )
the yari or spear was used mostly by cavarly with the nodachi ( the nodachi's length is between 70 to 90 cm ..very unsuitable for close quarter combats or indoor )
the bow is called yumi
PS : a very nice subject , i rarely had anyone discuss this subject with me since my trip to Japan 3 years ago
- Edited
A Samurai always carried a Wakizashi in case anything happened to his Katana, as for the Nodachi it was used mainly by the Ikko Ikki in place of the Katana during the Sengoku Jidai. Also, the Yari was used by cavalry, but they also used the Naginata.Stygmata wrotewakizashi was mainly used for ritual suicide or to decapitate an enemy , rarely used in combat .. ( also it was not restricted to samurai )Die_Kapitan wroteA Samurai carried a Katana, a Wakizashi and a bow, a yari, or a Nodachi and a bow.Stygmata wrotea not so well known fact : the main weapon for the samurai was the bow , it was shameful to fight with the sword as it will become blunt and very brittle in a duel and might well crack
as for the nodachi it was used for ceremonial rituals or simply as fashion or caste definition ( nodachi predates katana by more than 100 years )
the yari or spear was used mostly by cavarly with the nodachi ( the nodachi's length is between 70 to 90 cm ..very unsuitable for close quarter combats or indoor )
the bow is called yumi
PS : a very nice subject , i rarely had anyone discuss this subject with me since my trip to Japan 3 years ago