The term chokuto (kanji: 直刀) means "straight sword" in English. It is written ちょくとう in hiragana. It may also be rendered in English as chokutō , chokutou , choku-to , choku-tō or choku-tou. It's pronounced roughly like "cho-koo-toe".
Literally, straight sword. Of course, chokutō refers not to just any straight sword but to a particular type that has been in use since the Heian era. The second kanji, 刀, is pronounced by itself as katanaKATANA 刀 "sword" learn more....
The first kanji, 直, is pronounced in the Chinese way as “choku” and can mean straight or upright. Many words with 直 are used to describe a person’s character. For example, to be “socchoku” (率直) is to be candid, unpretentious.