The samurai sword would be more clearly defined as any Japanese sword wielded by Samurai or Bushi, as they were known in Japanese history, however, modern films and television programs have been incorrectly interpreted to be only the katana well known, and rarely use the proper terminology or classifications of real samurai swords.
To discover the history of the Samurai Sword we have to review the past, during the Middle Ages, when the use of steel instead of bronze for edged weapons vastly improved, single-edged swords became more popular in Asia, and the production of the Japanese and Tachi Uchigatana began. Japanese swords, or Nihonto are traditional weapons of foil used throughout the history of Japan. The Tachi was primarily used by cavalry with the edge downward and to the curvature near the hilt of the sword. The Uchigatana was mainly used by foot soldiers and lead to the edge of the strap at the greater curvature of the tip of the sword. With the evolution of military and feudal society in these times, a new warrior class emerged. They were the masters of the art of war and went from being simply employees serve as security guards powerful leaders, in a totally dominant class of there own, the Samurai.
This led to the creation of a feudal army then established roads of Bushido, which dominates the social structure of Japan for the next 700 years. Its main function as knights including total and absolute loyalty military for which they pledged to fight, and if necessary, die defending, which resulted in the need for a single-sheet top gun used in close melee combat and defense. Their demand for these weapons produced high quality swords for the next generation of perfection unmatched because they had to be flexible enough to withstand the direct impact without breaking, but also had to be hard enough to maintain its sharp edge.
Only the most experienced Japanese sword smiths were able to develop methods of forging and heat treatment that resulted in the swords that had these properties, which eventually was named the katana. Even the katana changed much in the style in the course of history of the samurai sword. At the end of the 15th 14 and earlier tended to be two and a half feet long, but by the 16th century the length was adjusted to two feet, with a circular or square tsuba Guard wrapped hand grip that could accommodate two hands. These swords Katana were often accompanied by the fact that similar but smaller or Shoto Wakizashi swords, and the two arms together represented the social power and personal honor of wielding Samurai.
After many periods of war throughout the history of Japanese art of sword making deteriorated and it was not until the age Shinshinto sword smiths who came to the construction of superior quality blades, after rediscovering lost several techniques. As soon as the era of the Meiji Restoration, however, was passed which prohibited the possession of all samurai swords as weapons, but one class of privileged. As a result Smiths ancient sword teacher began to hide their forged blades simple foot sticks to the soul of the samurai life, and the superior swordsmanship could survive and not be lost.
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