
Wakizashi Practical
References to wakizashi use date at least back to the sixteenth century. Originally, the term wakizashi was used to mean any sword worn on the side of the main sword. Later, the term was used to denote the group of swords which were shorter than the main sword of the samurai, and as a result, wakizashi acquired the meaning of the side sword, because a side sword was shorter than the main sword by its nature.