Kaiken (dagger)

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Japanese kaiken/kwaiken style tanto.

A kaiken (懐剣?) is an 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long, single or double-edged dagger[1] without ornamental fittings housed in a plain mount.

Uses

It was once carried by men and women of the samurai class in Japan. It was useful for self-defense in indoor spaces where the long blade katana and intermediate sword wakizashi were inconvenient. Women carried them in their kimono either in a pocket-like space (futokoro) or in the sleeve pouch (tamoto)[2] for self-defense and for ritual suicide by slashing the veins in the left side of the neck.[3][4] When a samurai woman married, she was expected to carry a kaiken with her when she moves in with her husband.[5]

Orthography

Prior to modern orthographic reform the kaiken is now called Kwaiken kwaiken (pocket knife). The modern term and has no reference in historical records;[6] also called a futokoro-gatana

See also

References

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External links


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