Doctor's Sword

In Japan during the Edo period (1600-1868) only a select group of people were entitled to carry a sword. Doctors, for example, did not have that right. That is why as an indication of their status they wore a kind of small wooden blade, the design of which sometimes did not even remotely resemble a sword. This specimen, however, was carved with befitting details, with a serpentine dragon as the main motif.