A kodachi made of wood

[Soliber]

Does anyone know of an easy way to buy a wooden kodachi? I've searched all over the net and I can't seem to find a site which sells them :s
P.S.: I'm not sure if you know what a kodachi is so please don't take this as an insult if you do: a kodachi is a light sword that has a length between a wakizashi and a regular katana, great for defensive use...

[Dr. Hellsing]

i did't find a kodachi but i found cheap fake wepons that they say are real.http://www.japanimation.com/j-store/...s.html&cart_id=

[Neil Gendzwill]

Kodachi is not necessarily as you define. For kendo, we call the shorter bokken used for kata kodachi and it is quite short (55 cm). Kodachi just means short sword, it could mean a wakizashi, it could mean something else.

[Raiza]

Are you sure that's the terminology for the sword you want to find? In kendo the kodachi/shoto corresponds to the wakizashi. The only ones I've seen longer than that but shorter than your average bokken are for smaller people, no offense.

Anyhow, this place has a few with measurements you can have a look at to jog your memory.

[Dr. Hellsing]

i thought the small swords used in kata were wodden tantos?

[Neil Gendzwill]

i thought the small swords used in kata were wodden tantos?

Nope, a tanto is a knife, quite a bit shorter.

[Karaken]

Nope, a tanto is a knife, quite a bit shorter.

And Tando normally doesn't have Tsuba.. Kodachi does.

Center.

[Soliber]

Yes I'm quite sure of the terminology. What I know is: a katana is the standard weapon, that we use to fight normal battles. A wakizashi is a secondary sword (a 55cm wooden bokuto as you say) that's great for indoor use , because you would soon get stuck with your katana in the ceiling or something. And a kodachi is a sword with a lengt between the 2 previous ones. It's great for defensive use, in combination with kempo, but you can also use 2 of them. That's why I want to find one, but offcourse preferably in wood first...

[Neil Gendzwill]

I'm here to tell you that your terminology is wrong. The term "kodachi" is not used so specifically as that.

[Soliber]

You mean to tell me there are 2 different names for the same sword? I very much doubt that The length of a kodachi may varie, but I doubt that a kodachi and a wakizashi can be the same sword. Confusions are often made, because at first sight they ressemble each other a lot...

[Neil Gendzwill]

You mean to tell me there are 2 different names for the same sword?

Yes, welcome to the wonderful world of nihon-go.

[Yowai]

The Japanese used an unique form of a length classification system.
The length of a sword is always rounded to the nearest senchi.
(A senchi is a traditional form of Japanese measurement and 1 senchi is roughly a centimenter)

I will list the base words and their respective sword lengths:
tanto - 40 senchi
kogatana - 45
kodachi - 50
wakizashi - 55
shoto - 60
nihonto - 70
chouto - 80
katana - 90
daito - 100

If the length of the sword falls between the base words' lengths, attach "oo" (if bigger) or "shou" (smaller) to the nearest base word. For an example, 67 senchi sword will be a "shounihonto" and a 42 senchi sword will be a "ootanto." If the length of the sword falls directly between two base words' lengths, prefix a "chu" and use both base words. A 85 senchi sword will be a chuchoutokatana. Swords that are of extreme lengths, such as 120 senchi, are named choudaito.

I hope you understood.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Yowai is pulling your leg. Sorry to spoil your fun, couldn't let this stand - too many impressionable film fans here lately.

I don't know what a senchi really is (but if I know Yowai, you've been insulted somehow). Swords are measured (from tip to the beginning of the blade) in the traditional Japanese units of shaku, sun and bu. 1 shaku == ~ 1 foot. 10 sun == 1 shaku. 10 bu == 1 sun. Kodachi, wakizashi and shoto are all words that refer to the same general type of sword. Daito simply means "long sword", shoto "short sword". In the daisho (the pair of swords worn by samurai), the katana would be the daito and the wakizashi would be the shoto. A modern version of this terminology can be seen with nito players, where the long and short shinai are referred to as daito and shoto.

OTOH, a katana refers to a specific type of sword, curved, more than 2 shaku long, mounted for use thrust through the belt, edge up. Tachi simply means sword, any sword, but is often used to denote an older style of curved sword, usually (but not always) longer and with more curve than a katana, mounted for use slung on cords edge down (calvary style). The way to tell them apart is to look on the tang for the smith's signature - it was always on the side that faced out when worn as intended.

Nihonto of course simply means Japanese sword of any type.

[Kuri]

A senchi is a not so traditional measurement (Sorry Yowai). It's the Japanese pronounciation of centimeter.

[Soliber]

To Neil Gendzwill: I feel I owe you an apologie; I searched another site, and there they had, like you said, short bokuto's of 55cm with the name kodachi. My apologies for not believing you...