The Japanese sword (nihontô) has traditions dating back thousands of years. A Samurai’s sword represented his soul. The sword was the symbol of the Samurai class and a Samurai carried two of them, the long katana and the short wakisazhi, passed down from one generation to the next. Together, they formed the daishô (long and short), the Samurai's basic weaponry, which was carried during peacetime on his left side, with the blade pointing upwards. Other types of swords included the long tachi, which was carried with the blade pointing downwards and only when wearing armour, and the tantô, a straight-bladed dagger. The Samurai were most displeased when they and civilians were forbidden from carrying swords altogether in 1876 (haitôrei).
