Tanto History

The Tanto is one of the oldest and most famous swords of feudal Japan. Its uses, as well as its design and utility, have changed dramatically over the years.

In the beginning it was a key weapon for the samurai. But little by little it had to compete against new types of swords, which greatly diminished its popularity.

But let’s start with the first thing.

The tanto is a Japanese sword (or knife, we’ll talk about that later) that was designed as a companion to the then famous tachi during the Heian period.

The tachi had proven to be a very effective weapon on the battlefield. Its curved design and size allowed the samurai to use all the strength generated by a galloping horse to execute powerful blows.

It was a weapon made for open spaces. However, when the fight was moved to closed spaces then it stopped being so useful. Furthermore, a warrior could not depend only on a sword on the battlefield.

Wakizashi vs Tanto

The wakizashi was not properly “created” as a sword. In the beginning, wakizashis were nothing more than katanas for poor warriors who could not afford longer swords.

However, as time went by, the samurai began to take notice of these novel short swords. They were long enough to be useful in open air encounters, and short enough to be viable in indoor fighting.

Of course, nothing would make the samurai replace their flagship weapon: the katana. This was still the king of swords.

However, what did gradually replace the samurai was the use of the tanto by the wakizashi.

As more and more importance was given to the wakizashi as a fighting sword and more and more of these swords began to appear, seeing a tanto became more and more rare.

Over the years, the wakizashi ended up completely replacing the tanto as a backup weapon for the katana.

The tanto became an ornamental weapon. It was still effective in combat, but the samurai had already opted for the wakizashi.

Is the Tanto a Sword or a Knife?

This is one of the most persistent questions. The blade of the tanto measures between 15 cm and 30 cm, which creates confusion when defining this Japanese weapon.

This is why we propose this distinction here:

The longest variants of the tanto (30 cm of blade alone) are practically small swords. This is a size that does not go unnoticed.

On the other hand, the shorter variants of the tanto (about 15 – 20 cm of blade alone) are practically long knives. This is the kind of knife you would expect to see in the hands of a military or survival expert.

Remember that you can create your dream tanto with our online application. Choose from dozens of pieces for each part of your weapon, customize the size of the blade, and even order custom engravings!