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A chisakatana is a shortened katana. A katana was two shaku or longer in length (one shaku = about 11.93 inches, roughly rounded up to approximately one foot). However, a chisakatana is longer than the wakizashi, which was somewhere in between one and two shaku in length. The common blade length for a chisakatana was approximately eighteen to twenty-four inches (or two feet).
Chisakatana were not really all that common, since a katana was made for a tall person or a wakizashi for a short person. The most common definition of a chisakatana is a shortened katana that does not have a companion blade. They were most commonly made in the Buke-Zukuri mounting (which is generally what is seen on katana and wakizashi). The chisakatana was able to be used with one or two hands like a katana (with a small gap in between the hands). The hilt was usually around ten to eleven inches in length. |
Martial Arts Weapons