Kaiken (dagger)

A  kaiken   (懐剣, prior to modern orthographic reform kwaiken (pocket knife);   also  futokoro-gatana )   is an 8-10 inch long, single or double bladed  dagger  without ornamental fittings housed in a plain mount, formerly carried by men and women of the  samurai  class in  Japan. It was useful for self-defense indoors where the long  katana  and intermediate  wakizashi  were inconvenient. Women carried them in their  kimono  either in a pocket like fold (futukoro) or in the sleeve (tamoto)  for self-defense and for ritual suicide by slashing the veins in the left side of the neck. When a samurai woman married, she was expected to carry a kaiken with her when she went to her husband's house to live.