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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;the blacksmith, post: 9419532, member: 20148&quot;]Katana were in fact only used by the samurai. The katana has a blade lenght of more than 2 shaku, roughly two feet, and nobody other than the samurai class were allowed a weapon of this length. Others, commoners, merchants, tradesmen, if they had anything at all, would only have a dagger, and probably they didn&#039;t even have this. Doctors, IIRC, were forbidden to have any weapon at all, and would often have a wooden imitation of a dagger in their obi.</p><p>Katana begin to appear about 1500, and at this time many old and much longer tachi blades were cut down to make them usable as katana. The tachi was worn edge downwards and slung from a belt, whereas the katana was worn at the waist and carried edge upwards, which need a shorter blade length than the older tachi so that it could be drawn from the scabbard. After this time, tachi were relegated to war, or ceremonial dress, but the katana and shorter wakisashi were everyday wear. Even at home, a member of the samurai class, be they male or female, would always have at least a dagger on them.</p><p>What is interesting is that during WWII, when the sword in the original post and that shown by Komokwa were made, they could have an ancient family heirloom blade in them. The oldest such sword that have owned was made in about 1350, and was cut down from an earlier tachi blade to make it a katana.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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