A short single or double edged blade, typically 15-30cm, the tanto was most often worn by samurai in a short-long sword pair (paired with a tachi blade). The tanto was primarily used to stab, with some particularly thick iterations capable of piercing armour. The advent of the katana is generally regarded for the demise of the tanto’s widespread popularity as the wakizashi was more often chosen as the katana’s short sword companion. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate declared that all samurai must wear the katana-wakizashi pair. Production of tanto increased significantly with the restoration of the Emperor during the Meiji period, however, restrictions of sword production post-WWII reversed this uptick and production, again, drastically fell. The traditional Japanese tanto should not be confused with the western iteration which instead of a curved tip, features a tip squared at a shearing angle.