Every Japanese Sword is a Katana

This is exactly what we're Tachi-ng about.^{L-R, T-B}Sacrificial Sword, The Black Sword, Prototype Rancour, Amenoma Kageuchi, Mistsplitter Reforged, Haran Geppaku Futsu

Frank Washington: What does "katana" mean?
Joe Marshal: It means "Japanese sword".

— Samurai Cop

Japanese swords have evolved throughout Japanese history. That fact is entirely lost in popular culture, however, in which Japanese swords, regardless of design, are referred to as "katanas," because Katanas Are Just Better. In reality, the katana is a fairly recent weapon, relatively speaking, and hadn't been introduced yet during the classical period portrayed in many Jidaigeki films. That people in Japan sometimes use "katana" as a generic term for "sword", regardless of type, does not help to alleviate the confusion.

There is some Truth in Television as in Japanese, the word katana simply means sword, not any particular type of sword. Uchigatana, striking sword, is the Japanese sword used for the specific type of sword which is usually known just as katana.

Types of Japanese swords include:

• Tsurugi (剣): The oldest type of Japanese sword, most of these swords were the jian imported from China, although some were produced in Japan as well. The blade is straight and double-edged, which, uncannily makes it more comparable to a medieval European sword than a katana.
• Chokutō (直刀): A straight, single-edged sword that existed prior to the 10th century. While they're also called tachi, it was written with different kanji (大刀) and was very different in design. While it resembles a katana more than the tsurugi, it's still not a proper one.
• Warabitetō(蕨手刀): A particular sword that is the predecessor of the tachi, used during the 8th century by an ethnic group called the Emishi people. It has a short and curved blade, very similar in design to the contemporary Chinese dao.
• Tachi (太刀): The predecessor of the more familiar uchigatana. It has a slightly longer and more curved blade than that of the uchigatana. The nagasa (blade length) was on average 28~31 cm and it was worn from the waist with the edge facing down. This sword came in the Kamakura period (12th century), and was primarily used on horseback by the samurai. The earlier variations of the tachi were tempered to a harder degree as well, which proved to be somewhat of an Achilles Heel against the Mongols; the samurai complained their blades tended to chip against the Mongol armour. However, the forging process have improved considerably in the later centuries to the point, the tachi continued to be used until the end of the Muromachi period as the battlefield side weapon of the samurai; the uchigatana, which was introduced in this period, were primarily used by the common ashigaru (foot soldiers).
• Uchigatana (打ち刀): literally means "Striking Sword", the uchigatana is the official, more specific term for the Japanese katana people today are accustomed to. The blade is shorter and less curved than that of the tachi, and the sword was worn thrust through the waist sash with the cutting edge facing up. The uchigatana was introduced in the Muromachi period (mostly analogous to the Sengoku-jidai), mostly due to changes in warfare, but also to provide sidearms for the common ashigaru. Thus, these swords, especially during this particular time period, were often mass produced from cheap, disposable materials. Some earlier tachi were also shortened into uchigatana (on average, 28 cm nagasa) to compensate for fighting on foot and fighting in close quarters. New swords produced during this period were also made with less and different curvature to reflect their wearer's greater likelihood of drawing and using them on foot in a duel than from a horse on a battlefield.
  • It is also worth noting that by the Edo period of the 1600s (the time when Japan finally entered peacetime after nearly a century of brutal fighting from the Sengoku-jidai), the term katana, became synoymous with uchigatana, as this was the most common type of sword the samurai would have carried with them in public, alongside the wakizashi. And unlike how they were made from the previous period, swords during this period were meticulously crafted, as they were more ornate and beautifully decorated.
• Ō-katana (オオカタナ): Essentially, this is an uchigatana that is buffed in size, with a longer blade almost comparable to that of the tachi (around 31~33 cm). The naming is modern, as it is derived from Western mis-readings of the word "大刀". In standard Japanese, this would be read as "daitō", which literally means "big sword", and it can refer to anything like the tachi or the even the standard uchigatana. Most uchigatana had on average around 28 cm blade length. However, larger specimens were sometimes made to compensate if the user was abnormally tall. Alternatively, it could be based from the user's fighting preference, as a longer blade will allow more reach while still being easier to carry and unsheathe.
• Ōdachi (大太刀‎)‎ and Nodachi (野太刀): These are larger swords than your average uchigatana or tachi. The blade length of these swords were around 90 cm, with a total length, including the hilt to be around 120 cm (4 ft), thus making it roughly comparable to your German Zweihänder in medieval Europe. Primarily used in the Sengoku-Muromachi period for anti-cavalry purposes, these swords were often so large that wielders had to wear them on their backs. Eventually, these swords became obsolete with the field armies, as they were very expensive, uncomfortably heavy, and really difficult to make. That doesn't mean the Japanese stopped making them, however, as these swords were still made for ceremonial purposes; the most famous being the Norimitsu Odachi, which is said to be allegedly used by a giant. Incidentally, Ōdachi is a somewhat redundant term, as the kanji for it literally means "Great Big Sword".
• Zanbatō (斬馬刀): If you thought the ō-dachi wasn't big enough, wait until you see this monstrosity. The zanbatō is the larger ōdachi, roughly the size of a claymore. This sword is entirely fictional, like the ninjato, and it is a common trope in anime. The terminology is probably derived from the Chinese zhanmadao (as they both use the exact same characters), a sword that reputedly could cut through rider and horse at the same time; the name literally means "horse-executing sword".
• Wakizashi (脇差): A Muromachi-period short sword, worn thrust sideways through the belt. (The name literally means "thrust sideways.") Sometimes worn together with a katana (this combination is called daishō, 大小) - this pair became the samurai's standard set of weapons during the Edo period, and was something of a status symbol. Their usage as such is actually much older, but only in Edo period it was strictly codified and actually enforced. Most samurai homes had a sword-rack near the door so that visitors could leave their katana there but keep their wakizashi in case anything happened inside.
• Chiisagatana (小さ刀): A sword of intermediate length halfway between a katana and a wakizashi.
• Tantō (短刀): Though the kanji literally means "Short Sword", the tantō was more like a large dagger. They were generally mostly straight, and often rather wide. Was commonly worn with tachi as a part of an earlier form of the daishō, but diminished in popularity with the adoption of katana. In later eras they got stuck with the unfortunate name of harakirigatana, i.e. "the blade you use to cut your stomach open when committing seppuku".
• Nagamaki (長巻): Sword with a particularly long handle, roughly halfway between a sword and a polearm. Got their name (literally, "long winding") after the fact that their handles were wrapped in a manner similar to the katana, rather than having simple wooden shafts like the naginata.
• Daishō (大小): Literally meaning "big and small", it is most commonly referred to a set of two swords, the katana and wakizashi. On rare occasions, it can also refer to a combination of a tachi and a tantō, or a katana and a tantō, just as long as it consists of a main, larger sword with a smaller complementary one. The standard daishō (katana and wakizashi) has been commonplace during the Edo period of the 17th century, as the samurai used it more as a status symbol and a personal defense weapon.
• Kodachi (小太刀): A short sword that, while similar to the wakizashi, is effectively a down-sized tachi, since the kanji literally (and oxymoronically) means "Small Big Sword". The main difference between the kodachi and wakizashi is that kodachi have a stricter blade length at around 60cm or less, while wakizashi were made to complement the katana paired with it, with the blade length varying depending on the user's height or the katana's blade length.
• Ninjatō (忍者刀)/Ninjaken (忍者剣)/Shinobigatana (忍び刀): A fictional sword similar to the katana, depicted as being a Ninja's version of the weapon. It is usually straight-bladed, has a square guard, and is shorter than katana. Often it can hold small weapons in the hilt. Sometimes it is explained that the blade is of lower quality than a samurai's swords and cheaper to make, so it was used by ninja. Again, it's fictional, and there's no physical evidence they actually existed. In reality, ninja were either samurai or even a peasant who were assigned for espionage. Therefore, they would have used anything they got their hands on.
• Bokken (木剣) or bokutō (木刀): A wooden sword used for training. It is typically modeled on the katana but can also be based on other swords, such as the wakizashi or the tantō. With the right training, it too was a deadly weapon (the legendary Miyamoto Musashi won his most famous duel with a bokken). A bokken is often designed to match the length and balance of the real sword, but to be heavier. The added weight helps build up muscle tone in the arms while training. Modern martial artists often use bokken made of even denser wood than was available to real samurai.
• Shinai (竹刀): Not really a sword, but a flexible shaft of tightly tied bamboo splints that represents one in kendo to avoid injury. Still can be extremely painful and can give a serious injury if used wrong, since the flexible splints can transfer energy better than a solid object under some conditions. It's also why kendo uses padded armor.
• Dosu (ドス): A very short sword that looks more like a long knife. Easy to conceal, and traditionally carried by the Yakuza.
• Kyū Guntō: The old military sword, adopted by the Japanese military after the Meiji Restoration. Roughly resembles a Western-style sabre, but has a longer grip and balance closer to that of the katana, in order to make it easier to use for those officers familiar with Japanese weapons. The blade also has a Japanese look to it. Was later phased out in favor of the...
• Shin-guntō (新軍刀): Mass-produced officers' and NCOs' blades used from 1934 to the end of WWII. However, nationalists demanded that a more "native" sword be carried, so a design closely patterned on the katana was adopted. While some Type 94 shin-guntō used traditionally made blades (particularly those carried by officers from the old samurai families, who would often place their ancestral blade into a Type 94 hilt), the Type 95 and 98 versions all used a blade that was essentially a piece of machined steel with an edge ground onto it. While they weren't exactly bad swords any stretch of the imagination—in fact earlier shin-guntō were fairly functional—they lacked the characteristics of traditionally-created Japanese blades. The quality of later productions worsened as Japan's resources dwindled near the end of the war. When possession of swords was banned post-WWII, the only exceptions were for those of gendaitō (traditional handmade swords that pose "artistic merit" in the modern day). As a result, most of the machine-made shin-guntō were melted down, with the exception of quite a large number that had been taken back as souvenirs by American soldiers.
• Iaitō (居合刀): Similar to the bokken and shinai as these are practice swords. The biggest difference is that the iaitō is completely metallic (but unsharpened), usually made from aluminium-zinc alloy, which is cheaper and lighter than steel. As modern Japanese society undergoes a strict legislations on the manufacture of swords made of ferrous metals, this serves as a good alternative for iaido and experienced kenjutsu practitioners in today's world.
• Shinken (真剣): Literally meaning "real sword", these are katanas made in the present day since the end of World War II. Unlike the iaitō, they are sharpened, and are often used in tameshigiri (test-cutting) by martial artists. They are not to be confused with the simple wall decorations that you would find at an oriental store for a couple of bucks. A functional shinken (that can perform well in cutting tests) would cost at least several hundred dollars, with better ones going for more. Certain manufacturers like Hanwei and Musashi are known to make such good shinken at a reasonable budget. Granted though, almost all of these manufacturers have their shinken made in China. So they are reproductions instead of the real deal from Japan. If the latter is the one you are looking for, be prepared to spend at least several hundred thousand dollars.
• Gendaitō (現代刀): Literally meaning "modern-made sword", these are a specific type of shinken traditionally made in Japan. Because of the very strict weapon laws placed in Japan, only licensed swordsmiths in the country are allowed to make gendaitō and only in limited quantities per year. The pricing often goes for about $500K~$1 million in value, which is largely due to the intensive labor and the cultural and artistic value placed into the forging. For this reason, they should be treated more as a work of art, rather than a weapon.

See the UsefulNotes.Swords page for more about, well, swords. Please note that because of the nature of this trope's description, all examples below will be subversions and aversions. Compare All Swords Are the Same.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The Blade of the Immortal villain Anotsu Kagehisa carries a tsurugi instead of a katana to distance himself from the kenjutsu schools he despises.
• In Bleach most of the Soul Reapers' zanpakuto take the form of a katana when they're sealed (when released they can end up in almost any form, including ceasing to be swords at all in some cases), but Tetsuzaemon Iba, who is designed to look like a traditional Yakuza enforcer, keeps his tucked away in the form of a dosu, a popular weapon for old Yakuza. And Shunsui Kyōraku's zanpakuto is unique in that its sealed form is a daishō pair instead of a single sword. The Arrancar meanwhile get more nuance to their sealed swords.
• Drifters has several Japanese characters, and the two swordsmen avert the trope completely. Protagonist Toyohisa wields an excessively large blade akin to a nodachi or even a zanbato. Minamoto no Yoshitsune, having lived at the tail end of the Heian era a few centuries before the creation of katana, carries an ornate tachi.
• In Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, Prettz' main weapon, alongside his bombs, is a nodachi.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1999), Impa prominently uses a kodachi in battle, as does Sheik. No full-sized katanas appear in the setting.
• Katanas appear from time to time in Naruto, but there are many, many different kinds of swords. Sasuke has a chokuto, the Samurai of the Land of Iron carry wakizashi, and Kakashi used a tanto in his youth. In the anime, the design of Orochimaru's Kusanagi is changed to a tsurugi.
• The prominent Japanese swords in One Piece are katanas, but Trafalgar Law and Shiryu both carry nodachi. Issho wields a shikomizue on account of his being an Expy of Zatoichi.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Aoshi, Sanosuke, and Enishi wield a kodachi, zanbato, and tachi. Aoshi later upgrades to Dual Wielding a pair of kodachi with a scabbard that makes them look like a single nodachi when sheathed. Saito briefly used a shikomizue. The monk Anji carries a short, spearpoint tsurugi. Many katanas that do appear in the series have custom features: Kenshin's sword is blunt where the edge would be, and is sharpened on the back instead; Shishio has a serrated blade; and Cho has a Whip Sword fitted with a tsuka.
• In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kamina's sword is a nodachi.

Comic Books

• Most samurai in Usagi Yojimbo carry a daisho, although the art style makes each sword look like a wakizashi. Zato-Ino carries a shikomizue, and one story is based on the retrieval of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.

Fan Works

• Averted in The Good Hunter. The kunoichi Murasaki Natsume uses a kodachi rather than a katana. It makes sense for someone trained in infiltration work to carry a short sword rather than something long like a katana.
• In The Legend of Zelda: The Sage of Darkness, the White Sword is a katana, and Aaron carries a wakizashi. The guard "Lumpy" also carries a wakizashi, which Zelda impales him with via magic.

Films — Live-Action

• In the film version of Battle Royale, Kiriyama uses a kodachi to kill Oda.
• Done oddly in Equilibrium, where some soldiers carry katana in a tachi fashion (edge-down and suspended from a belt).
• The Japanese officers in Letters from Iwo Jima carry Shin-guntō.
• The villain Torrez in Machete brings a katana and wakizashi to his fight with the titular hero.
• In The Raid 2: Berandal, the Japanese gangsters Hammer Girl fights carry dosu.
• In Rashomon, Toshiro Mifune's character, a highwayman and thug, fights with a straight, cross-hilted sword that is clearly different to rather more typical one wielded by his samurai opponent. He even states he found the sword in an ancient grave, where a tsurugi would be more likely to be found than a katana.
• Most of the samurai in Seven Samurai carry a daisho, and a few of the bandits have katana. The peasant-turned-fighter Kikuchiyo carries a nodachi and a tanto.
• The Twilight Samurai: In contrast to his katana-wielding peers, the titular character has been taught to use a short kodachi. The defensive nature of his style allows him to hold his own against those with longer blades, such as Koda and Yogo Zenemon.
• The Japanese officer shown in the flashbacks of The Wolverine carry Shin-guntō as part of their uniforms. In the present, the two incarnations of the Silver Samurai (Shingen and Ichiro) use both katana and wakizashi in battle.
• In Yojimbo, almost every fighter shown has a katana. However, Sanjuro carries a daisho set for most of the film, and Kannuki has a nodachi for when he doesn't have his mallet on him.
• In the Edo-period setting of Zatoichi, Ichi wields a shikomizue almost exclusively.

Literature

• In Snow Crash, Hiro Protagonist has a katana and wakizashi that had been repurposed as shin-guntō in World War II and taken by his father as war trophies.

Live-Action TV

• Arrow: Deathstroke has a katana, as does his son Joe, but Prometheus wields a chokuto.
• Deadliest Warrior: One of the samurai's tested weapons is a katana, but he also wears a wakizashi in the fight simulation. The ninja is given a ninjato, which is described on the show as a Japanese sword slightly shorter than typical katanas to make faster quick-draws.

Video Games

• In BlazBlue, Jin Kisaragi uses a katana, while the armored hero Hakumen carries a nodachi with a square tip. Takehaya-Susano’o-no-Mikoto can also summon a Laser Blade in the shape of a tsurugi.
• Subverted in Conqueror's Blade: practically the only type of Japanese sword that appears is the nodachi, which is actually based on a tachi (not a katana, or else it would be called an okatana). The only katana users are the Ronin unit.
• Epic Battle Fantasy 5: The Honjo Masamune, a cat toy for NoLegs, is called a katana in its description, in spite of being closer in size to a kodachi. Lampshaded by its desceiption, which calls it "a bit shorter than expected" and somewhat justified by NoLegs being about half as tall as everyone else.
• Cloud Strife can equip a couple of katanas in Final Fantasy VII, and the Big Bad Sephiroth wields a nodachi named Masamune.
• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade has the wodao, a Chinese dao modeled after the tachi that was often used by Japanese pirates.
• The Legend of Zelda
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, each member of the Garo ninja clan dual-wields a pair of kodachi to contrast the cleaver-like swords used by the Ikana warriors. The Mountain Smithy shop also has a zanbato hanging on one wall, although it can never be used in-game.
  • Link can use several Japanese-style swords in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. They include the wakizashi-length Eightfold Blade, the katana-sized Eightfold Longblade, and the zanbato-sized Windcleaver.
• In the final case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations, the Big Bad wields a tanto while the culprit who killed her host used a shikomizue.
• In Red Steel, the player character has a katana for most attacks and carries a tanto for defensive and complementary moves.

Western Animation

• While Leonardo usually plays it straight and sports twin katanas, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trades them out for an odachi.

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