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# If they made it sharp enough
one blade would do fine.

woo!
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:14, archived)
# one blade...
is all the samauri needed
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:15, archived)
# I believe most samurai carried two swords, the Katana and the Wakizashi,
as the following source of information indicates.

japanesesamuraiswords.com/

\pedant
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:19, archived)
# Yep
Although they come in sets of three.
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:20, archived)
# Just like plaster ducks.
Maybe there is a link.
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:21, archived)
# I beg to differ!
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:21, archived)
# And
sometimes a tanto?
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:21, archived)
# Google tells me Tanto is another name for the short sword.
EDIT - I am wrong, it is different.

Classifications of swords by length

Japanese use the shaku to measure the length of the cutting edge of the samurai swords. 1 shaku = 11.903542 inches.

1. Long Sword (Daito): over 2 shaku in length; there are the longer of the two swords commonly worn by the samurai; difficult to temper a daito because of its length.
2. Medium Sword (Wakizashi): 1~2 shaku in length; worn by samurai as auxiliary sword, or by non-samurai, who were allowed to wear no more than one sword of this length.
3. Short Sword (Tanto): less than 1 shaku in length; the shorter of the two swords worn by the samurai as auxiliary swords. Women and tradesmen used them as protective weapons. Commonly called as hara-kiri knives. They are usually the hira-zukuri (without ridgeline) types.
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:22, archived)
# Tanto
is a knife used by samurai of about 6 inches

EDIT: That's the ones!

Katana - main sword
Wakiwakiwakaday + tanto, auxiliary swords!
(, Thu 20 Nov 2003, 16:24, archived)