Kaiken (dagger)
Encyclopedia
A is a dagger
formerly carried by men and women of the samurai
class in Japan
. It was useful for self-defense indoors where the long katana
and intermediate wakizashi
were inconvenient. Women carried them in the obi
for self-defense and rarely for jigai
(suicide). A woman received a kaiken as part of her wedding gifts. Many of these daggers had black-lacquered handles and matching scabbards. They could be carried in a pouch of brocade with a drawstring for easy access.
In modern times, kaiken have become part of the traditional Japanese marriage, being one of the items carried by a bride for good luck.
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
formerly carried by men and women of the samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
class in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It was useful for self-defense indoors where the long katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
and intermediate wakizashi
Wakizashi
The is one of the traditional Japanese swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.-Description:...
were inconvenient. Women carried them in the obi
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
for self-defense and rarely for jigai
Jigai
The word means "suicide" in Japanese. The usual modern word for suicide is . Related words include , and . Jigai refers to suicide by both females and males....
(suicide). A woman received a kaiken as part of her wedding gifts. Many of these daggers had black-lacquered handles and matching scabbards. They could be carried in a pouch of brocade with a drawstring for easy access.
In modern times, kaiken have become part of the traditional Japanese marriage, being one of the items carried by a bride for good luck.