Yoroi tōshi
The yoroi tōshi (鎧通し) (yoroi doshi) "armor piercing or piercer"[1][2]or "mail piercer"[3]were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (nihonto) that were worn by the samurai class as a weapon in feudal Japan.
Description
The yoroi toshi is an extra thick tantō (Japanese dagger like sword) which appeared in the Sengoku period (late Muromachi).[4] The yoroi toshi was made for cutting (piercing) through armour[5]and for stabbing while grappling in close quarters, it ranged in size from 20cm to 22cm but they could be under 15cm, with a "tapering mihaba, iori-mune, thick kasane at the bottom and thin kasane at the top and occasionally moroha-zukuri construction".[6]The yoroi toshi motogasane (blade thickness) at the hamachi (the notch at the beginning of the cutting edge) can be up to a half inch thick, which is a characteristic of the yoroi toshi style of tanto. The extra thickness at the spine of the blade identifies the yoroi toshi from a standard tanto blade. Yoroi toshi were worn inside the belt on the back or on the right side[7]with the hilt toward the front and the edge upward. The later also gave it the name metazashi (mettazashi, めった刺し);[8] "right side wear".
Gallery
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Antique Japanese yoroi doshi tanto, armor piercing "yoroi doshi" small sword "tanto" showing the extra thick "motogasane" (sword thickness at hamachi) which is a characteristic of the yoroi doshi style of tanto.
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Antique Japanese yoroi doshi style tanto showing the extra thick blade.
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Antique Japanese yoroi doshi style tanto blade.
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Yoroi doshi tanto.
References
- ^ Japan by Pierre Landy; Nagel Publishers p.68
- ^ Selected masterpieces of Asian art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1992 p.97
- ^ Report of the proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia 1891 p.28
- ^ The Japanese sword, Kanzan Satō, Kodansha International, 1983 P.30
- ^ Secrets of the samurai: a survey of the martial arts of feudal Japan Oscar Ratti, Adele Westbrook p.260
- ^ The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords, Author Kōkan Nagayama, Publisher Kodansha International, 1998, ISBN 4-7700-2071-6, ISBN 978-4-7700-2071-0 P.30
- ^ Japan by Pierre Landy; Nagel Publishers p.68
- ^ Japan by Pierre Landy; Nagel Publishers p.68
- Stone, George Cameron (1999) [1934]. A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. p. 678. ISBN 0-486-40726-8.
External links
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