Tanto is a samurai dagger, which was designed and used primarily as a stabbing weapon but also for finishing off opponents, cutting off heads, etc. and never as a knife. The edge can be used for slashing as well. Sometimes tanto was worn in daishho as a second sword. Tantos were used mostly by samurai, but they were also worn by doctors and traders as a weapon of self-defense. High society women sometimes also wore small tantos (called kaiken) hidden in an obi (kimono belt) for self-defense or suicide. A dummy tanto with a wooden is used for training in such martial arts as aikido, judo and karate. According to modern rules in Japan, tanto is recognized as a national cultural treasure - one of the variants of the Japanese sword.
