Daishō
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The daishō —"large and small"—is a Japanese term for a matched pair of traditionally made Japanese swords (nihonto) worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.
Daishō style sword mounting, gold banding on red-lacquered ground. 16th century, Azuchi–Momoyama period. Important Cultural Property. Tokyo National Museum.
Daishō mountings with ice crack pattern design. Edo period, Designated as Important Mounting, The Japanese Sword Museum
Daishō style handachi "half tachi" sword mounting, silver stream design on green lacquer ground. 16th–17th century, Azuchi Momoyama－Edo period. Tokyo National Museum.
Daishō for formal attire with black scabbard, hilt winding thread and white ray skin hilt, which were regulated by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Daishō owned by Uesugi clan. Late Edo period.
Tachi
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A tachi is a type of sabre-like traditionally made Japanese sword (nihonto) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Tachi and uchigatana generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on the location of the mei (銘), or signature, on the tang. The tachi style of swords preceded the development of the katana, which was not mentioned by name until near the end of the twelfth century. Tachi were the mainstream Japanese swords of the Kotō period between 900 and 1596. Even after the Muromachi period (1336–1573), when katana became the mainstream, tachi were often worn by high-ranking samurai.
Itomaki-no-tachi style sword mounting with chrysanthemum and paulownia crests on nashiji laquer ground. The blade was made by Masatsune. Blade, 12th century; mounting, 18th century. Tokyo National Museum.
In the noh drama Sanjō Kokaji, the 10th-century blacksmith Munechika, aided by a kitsune (fox spirit), forges the tachi (samurai sword) Ko-Gitsune Maru.
Tachi, Okanehira, by Kanehira. Ko-Bizen (old Bizen) school. 12th century, Heian period, National Treasure, Tokyo National Museum. Okanehira, together with Dojikiri, is considered one of the best Japanese swords in terms of art and is compared to the yokozuna (the highest rank of a sumo wrestler) of Japanese swords.
Kazari tachi. 12th century, Heian period. National Treasure. Tokyo National Museum.