How is this a tanto?? (ebay link)

[BalisongMan]

I've seen several of these before but I am always confused because it is called a tanto!?! How/Why is this a tanto???

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=499094884

Thanks.



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Cameron

"Look deep, deep inside and you will find a place of anger, vengeance, and brutality. Go there. It is your last hope to conquer the truly wicked."

A few of my balisongs
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[Dannyc]

I guess it's trying to follow the blade style of the original tanto, which looks like that, and not the Americanized one, which is chisel-ground.

Dan

 

[BalisongMan]

So the ___/ of the blade does not deem it a tanto? I haven't seen a non-americanized tanto and I would like to see one, that way I won't ask stupid questions.

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Cameron

"Look deep, deep inside and you will find a place of anger, vengeance, and brutality. Go there. It is your last hope to conquer the truly wicked."

A few of my balisongs
My Photopoint album

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I did a search on the sword forum for "tanto" and came across an interesting reference: http://japanesesword.homestead.com/.


Specifically, you might get an idea of the complications involved from http://japanesesword.homestead.com/files/tanto.htm .

 

[richard rosvall]

www.hawkknives.com Steve Corkum makes some "traditional" style tantos.

 

[Mark W Douglas]

That's a Tanto

TitaniumKnutt

 

[Murasame]

Tanto is Japanese word.
This means 'short Japanese sword'.
In japan we call long Japanese sword
'Nihonto' and short one 'Tanto'.
But in the US, Tanto means chizel ground.
This difference made you confused.
Kuzan Oda is Japanese sword artist,so he
named his short model 'Tanto'.

 

[BalisongMan]

Ahhh, thanks for the clarification everyone.

Awesome name Murasame

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've had a lot of computer problems lately

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Cameron

"Look deep, deep inside and you will find a place of anger, vengeance, and brutality. Go there. It is your last hope to conquer the truly wicked."

A few of my balisongs
My Photopoint album

 

[Elvislives]

Murasame

What blade shape does a Japanese sword have? I have assumed that tanto was the angle ended chisel grind. I don't like that blade style myself. But I do like the blade style of the knife in this thread that is called a tanto.

Man, I'm talking knives with a fellow knife enthusiast in Japan. The internet is cool...

Brandon

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Quis ut Deus

spelling...

[This message has been edited by Elvislives (edited 11-25-2000).]

 

[Keith Montgomery]

This is a question for Murasame. If you call a long sword a Nihonto and a short sword a Tanto, what is a Katana and a Wakizashi.
The Japanese Tanto has a point shaped something like the one pictured but with temper lines that give it a much nicer look. This knife looks like a pretty poor replica of a Tanto.

 

[judge]

As said, tanto refers to the overall format (to=sword, tan=some japanese length unit, don´t know how much exactly), a short sword with traditional fittings (tsuba etc.). Original tanto as well as other Japanese swords can have a variety of tip configurations and still are "tanto". During the long history of Japanese blades, they tried out virtually every blade style.
Katana and Wakizashi are historically newer terms for a special format of swords. "to" is the older general word for "edged weapon"

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"Peace is not without conflict; it is the ability to cope with conflict" - Leo Giron
www.messerforum.net - the premier German language knife-related web board

 

[Robert Marotz]

I think it would be best if we continued this discussion over on the Sword Discussion Forum.

But to be vague...tanto is a short sword of one shaku in blade length or less (1 shaku is around 11.93 inches or so). There are exceptions, O-tanto are not too uncommon, they come in a variety of shapes and styles...but most common is the hira zukuri style, which is a simple convex V grind from spine to edge. No secondary edge bevels, no chisel tips, nothing like that.

I can explain more thoroughly if we move this over to the Sword Discussions Forum though.

Shinryû.

I guess I should add just to clarify a few things...

Nihonto literally means "Japanese Sword." It does not imply a long sword, short sword, fat sword, or dyslexic sword. Just Japanese. Katana stems from Uchigatana, the standard infantry long sword developed in Nambokucho/Muromachi periods. Wakizashi means "companion" and refers to the koshigatana. The terms can scramble some people up sometimes. But still, I'd appreciate if anyone had any questions to come over to the [you should know by now] forum.

[This message has been edited by Robert Marotz (edited 11-25-2000).]