When a samurai met his liege lord in the Edo period, he removed his katana at the entrance. He placed it in the sword racks of the anteroom and stepped into the reception hall. The weapon he carried in with him was the wakizashi — the shorter of the two swords of a daishō pair. It stayed at his belt day and night. Anyone who saw a samurai without a wakizashi saw no samurai at all.

In popular memory, the wakizashi is overshadowed by the katana. But historical reality unfolded differently: in a samurai’s everyday life, the wakizashi was the ever-present weapon, the long sword the occasional one. And the right to two swords distinguished the warrior caste from the rest of society.

What Is a Wakizashi? Definition, Dimensions, Distinction

The wakizashi is a Japanese short sword with a blade length of between roughly 30 and 60 centimetres. The name is composed of waki (脇, „side”) and sashi (差, „to thrust”) — literally „that which is thrust at the side”. It has the same blade curvature as the katana, the same structure of hamon (hardening line), hada (surface pattern) and nakago (the tang with the smith’s signature). What makes it a wakizashi is not its construction, but its function: it is the partner sword to the katana, the second blade of the daishō.

In the Edo period, this affiliation to a system was codified in law. The Tokugawa regulations governed matters down to the last detail: the scabbard of the katana had to have a flat end; that of the wakizashi a rounded one. This single detail — the shape of the scabbard end — remains to this day the most reliable external feature for identifying an official Edo-period wakizashi.

From the Sengoku Period to the Pax Tokugawa

The emergence of the wakizashi is closely linked to the transition from the tachi to the uchigatana. The tachi of the Heian and Kamakura periods was hung at the hip with the edge facing down — for the sword stroke from the saddle. The uchigatana was thrust through the obi with the edge facing up — for a faster draw and infantry combat. With this change between about 1300 and 1400, the practice arose of wearing a shorter second sword alongside the long sword.

Only with the end of the civil wars and the establishment of Tokugawa rule after Sekigahara (1600) did a systematic codification begin. Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s sword hunt (katanagari) of 1588 had forbidden peasants to own weapons. The Tokugawa expanded this privilege further: in the Edo period, the right to two swords — katana and wakizashi together — was the central legal hallmark of the samurai status.

Daishō — The Pair of Swords as a System

The daishō (大小, literally „large-small”) denotes the pair of long sword and short sword as a unit that belongs together. In its strict Edo form, the blades, mounting and fittings were crafted as a coordinated ensemble.

The strictest daishō regime was the banzashi daishō, which samurai had to wear on obligatory visits to the Edo court. The regulations were detailed: scabbards lacquered black, grip with white ray skin, grip cap of horn, katana scabbard end flat, wakizashi scabbard end round. The standardisation had political reasons: the Tokugawa shogunate regulated not only the political hierarchy of the daimyō, but also their visual representation.

With the Daishō Koshirae with blue glass (catalogue no. C35V_33), the Samurai Museum Berlin preserves an exceptional specimen: scabbards lacquered black, inlays of blue glass (presumably Murano glass, which the Dutch imported to Nagasaki), white ray-skin wrapping, a golden dragon menuki, and a grip collar bearing the family crest of the Miura family.

The Wakizashi in the Seppuku Ritual

The widespread notion that seppuku was generally carried out with a wakizashi is historically inaccurate — but it contains a kernel of truth. The classic, highly ritualised seppuku of the Edo period predominantly used a tantō — the short dagger without a tsuba, often wrapped in a sheath of white paper. The wakizashi served as an alternative when no tantō was available, or in spontaneous contexts.

Andrew Rankin’s primary research shows that the standardised seppuku of the Edo period was a late codification that only attained its definitive form in the 17th and 18th centuries. The shogunate sought to establish seppuku not as a samurai’s free decision, but as a controlled punitive measure — and with that, the choice of blade increasingly became a question of state protocol, not of custom.

The Wakizashi in Everyday Life — Indoor Weapon and Constant Companion

In reception rooms and official audiences, the wearing of the long sword was forbidden or unwelcome. The wakizashi, by contrast, was permitted to be worn. The architecture of traditional Japanese houses supported this differentiation: narrow corridors and low door frames made drawing and swinging a katana inside buildings almost impossible. The wakizashi, on the other hand, could be used effectively in interior spaces.

Legally, the wearing of a wakizashi outside the samurai status was restricted, but not entirely forbidden. Wealthy merchants while travelling, physicians and certain craftsmen were permitted to carry a single wakizashi under certain conditions. But the daishō — the combination of katana and wakizashi — remained reserved exclusively for the samurai.

The End — Haitōrei 1876

With the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the end of the samurai status began. In 1876 the Haitōrei followed, the sword ban that prohibited the wearing of swords in public. Within a few years, the domestic market for Japanese swords collapsed. Many smithies closed.

At the same time, Japanese swords became collectors’ items. Western diplomats and traders bought wakizashi as exotic souvenirs. The pieces found in European museums today mostly reached Western institutions between the 1870s and the 1920s.

Five Myths About the Wakizashi

Myth 1: „The wakizashi was merely a reserve weapon.” In many situations — indoors, at audiences — the wakizashi was the only weapon that could be worn. It was often the primary weapon of everyday social life.

Myth 2: „Every wakizashi was used for seppuku.” Classic Edo seppuku predominantly used a tantō. The wakizashi served as an alternative in contexts without a tantō.

Myth 3: „The length of 30 to 60 cm was a strict regulation.” The length categories were conventions, not laws. The classification also depended on context and manner of wearing.

Myth 4: „Only samurai were allowed to carry a wakizashi.” The right to the daishō — the combination of katana and wakizashi — was reserved for the samurai. A single wakizashi was permitted for certain non-samurai groups under conditions.

Myth 5: „Wakizashi and katana were always made as a pair.” In the strict Edo form, yes — but historically, most pairs were pragmatic combinations of already existing blades.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a wakizashi?

The wakizashi is a Japanese short sword with a blade length of between roughly 30 and 60 centimetres. It was worn together with the longer katana as a pair of swords (daishō) and was a central status symbol of the samurai class in the Edo period.

What is the difference between a wakizashi and a katana?

The main difference lies in the length: katana over 60 cm, wakizashi between 30 and 60 cm. Functionally, the katana served as a combat weapon on the battlefield, the wakizashi as an everyday weapon for interiors and audiences.

What does daishō mean?

Daishō (大小) literally means „large-small” and denotes the pair of long sword and short sword as a unit that belongs together. In the Edo period, the blades, mountings and fittings were crafted as a coordinated ensemble.

Visit the Samurai Museum Berlin

The Samurai Museum Berlin displays several wakizashi specimens — from regulated official daishō of the Edo period with strictly prescribed forms to artfully decorated princely pairs, including the koshirae with blue glass inlays and the Miura crest as well as a blade by Hizen Tadayoshi. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Auguststraße 68, Berlin-Mitte.

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Bibliography

  • Samurai Museum Berlin (2025): SMB Katalog 2025.
  • Turnbull, Stephen (2010): Katana: The Samurai Sword. Osprey Publishing.
  • Rankin, Andrew (2011): Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide. Kodansha.
  • Hall, John Whitney (ed.) (1991): The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press.
  • Friday, Karl F. (1997): Legacies of the Sword. University of Hawaii Press.

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