Wakizashi

The wakizashi is a short Japanese sword, shorter than the katana but longer than a simple knife, worn alongside the katana by samurai as a matched pair known as the daisho. While shorter companion blades had accompanied longer swords in Japan for some time, the wakizashi's status as the mandatory, socially defined half of the daisho pairing was formalized under Edo-period shogunate sumptuary law, most notably an edict of 1638 that restricted the right to wear the paired long and short swords to the samurai class alone, making the daisho a visible legal marker of samurai status rather than merely a practical weapon choice. Because samurai were expected to remove the katana upon entering a private home or similar setting but could keep the wakizashi on their person at all times, the shorter sword also served as an indoor and personal-defense weapon, and it was additionally the blade traditionally used in the ritual act of seppuku.