yoroi tōshi
The yoroi-dōshi (鎧通し), "armor piercer" or "mail piercer", is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (nihontō) that were worn by the samurai class as a weapon in feudal Japan.
Also recorded as yoroi-dōshi
yoroi tōshi
Samuraiantiqueworld · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Field
- tantō.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
The yoroi-dōshi (鎧通し), "armor piercer" or "mail piercer", is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (nihontō) that were worn by the samurai class as a weapon in feudal Japan.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for yoroi tōshi. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q1273994 · wikipedia · Yoroi-dōshi
In this article
Description
The yoroi-dōshi is an extra thick tantō, a short sword, which appeared in the Sengoku period (late Muromachi) of the 14th and 15th centuries. The yoroi-dōshi was made for piercing armour and for stabbing while grappling in close quarters. The blade was generally from 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 in) in length, but some examples could be shorter than 15 cm (5.9 in), with a "tapering mihaba, iori-mune, thick kasane at the top, and thin kasane at the bottom and occasionally moroha-zukuri construction". The motogasane (blade thickness) at the munemachi (the notch at the beginning of the back edge of the blade) can be up to 1 cm (0.39 in) thick, which is characteristic of the yoroi-dōshi. The extra thickness at the spine of the blade distinguishes the yoroi-dōshi from a standard tantō blade. Yoroi-dōshi were worn inside the belt on the back or on the right side with the hilt toward the front and the edge upward. Due to being worn on the right, the blade would have been drawn using the left hand, giving rise to the alternate name of metezashi (馬手差), or "horse-hand (i.e. rein-hand, i.e. left-hand) blade".
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Japan by Pierre Landy; Nagel Publishers p. 68
- 2.Selected masterpieces of Asian art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1992 p. 97
- 3.Report of the proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia 1891 p. 28
- 4.Secrets of the samurai: a survey of the martial arts of feudal Japan Oscar Ratti, Adele Westbrook p. 260
- 5.The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords, Author Kōkan Nagayama, Publisher Kodansha International, 1998, p. 30
- 6.1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- YJ-83Terminology
- YJ-91Terminology
- YL PGBTerminology
- Yokosuka MXY-7 OhkaTerminology
- Yu-11 torpedoTerminology
- Yu-5 torpedoTerminology
- yubi-boTerminology
- Yun FengTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with yoroi tōshi?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.