Ninjatō

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Ninjatō (忍者刀) supposedly is a Japanese sword used by ninja that was similar to the katana, but tended to be straighter, and was generally not made of pattern welded metal.

Many beliefs are held about the sword of the ninja. The discussion on veracity of these is left out of this article; however this weapon is almost certainly entirely fictitious as using a sword with inferior strength, blade geometry, and cutting ability would not have been useful to a ninja's purpose. Even more baffling would be a ninja carrying a sword that could have automatically identified him as a spy. To be less conspicuous, ninja carried daishō since such weapons were commonly carried by the samurai class. However, this may have gone to the fact that most ninja were outlaws and mountain people and as such could not afford the expensive quality craftsmanship the samurai could.

Some claims about this weapon:

1. The ninja did not put much effort and soul into his equipment (in contrary to the samurai's bushido). Therefore the sword could be abandoned if necessary.
2. The cord (sageo) hanging from the saya was longer so the user could climb over a wall with his ninjato and later lift the sword up with the cord he brought with him.
3. The hilt (tsuka) was longer to facilitate its use as a launchpad over walls, etc.
4. The blade was rarely sharp across all of its length. Most effort was put into the end, where cutting and stabbing were performed.
5. The blade was shorter (so it could be easily carried and drawn from back) because close quarters work was often performed by the ninja.
6. The hilt was sometimes longer so that various things could be hidden inside it. Examples: shuriken, blinding powder, tools, such as lockpicks, and secret documents.
7. The scabbard was often as long as a katana saya, as it tricked enemies into thinking that the blade was longer, and the ninja had the element of surprise when he quickly drew his blade and killed the attacker before thay had even drawn their sword. It is also believed that the extra room in the scabbard was used to store other weapons or tools, such as shuriken.

The ninjatō was more than likely created during WWII, and branded as a sword used by ninja. Easily created by mold casting methods, it would obviously offer less strength than a katana, or similar weapon, that would be folded and hand-forged. A weapon of similar build, in practical use, would more than likely snap or break against a folded weapon, which would then become a danger to the wielder of the weapon.

The ninjatō is sometimes claimed to be straight, because of the inferior blacksmithing techniques used by poorer, rural blacksmiths. The truth is that all blacksmiths created curved weapons, either as farm tools: sickles (known as kama), scythes, or something similar; or created to order for samurai. The way in which a blade curves while using the folding technique is naturally occurring. This technique was by no means a secret, and known to all who would call themselves a blacksmith. The technique was part of the quenching process (the process in which the blade is heated to extreme temperatures and quenched in a medium such as water or oil).

There is one reference to a straight-bladed sword - albeit of greater length - that might fit the definition of the ninjatō (however unlikely.) It was known as "The Drying Pole", used by Sasaki Kojiro, an arrogant yet very talented swordsman in the samurai epic, Miyamoto Musashi written by Eiji Yoshikawa. Since this is a fictional novel however, it adds little to the historical debate.de:Ninjatō es:Ninjato fr:Ninjatō