War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
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Weapons System

Daisho

Early Modern

The daisho, meaning large and small, is a Japanese term for a matched pair of traditionally made Japanese swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan, formed from daito, meaning long sword, and shoto, meaning short sword. A daisho is typically a katana and wakizashi, or sometimes a tanto, mounted in matching fittings called koshirae, though originally the term simply meant wearing any long and short sword together, and a daisho with blades made by the same swordsmith was possible but uncommon because of the added expense. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Sword / Polearm / Bladed 1
Classification
Service Status
Retired 1
Weapon Class
Matched pair of swords (long and short) 1
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Daisho
  • Lead section, first paragraph
    A daishō is typically depicted as a katana and wakizashi (or a tantō) mounted in matching koshirae, but originally the daishō was the wearing of any long and short katana together.
  • Weapon class (sword-polearm-blade) is a pre-industrial/melee weapon type by its own nature per the entity's own sourced description text; not carried in current active military service.
View the Source
Wikidata: Daisho
Wikidata Q944685, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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