Ōdachi
大太刀 · ōdachi
Also known as: nodachi
An extremely long Japanese sword of the tachi type with a blade of roughly 91–227 cm, carried on the back or in hand; by the Edo period only a votive offering to shrines.
Quick Facts
JapanAbout the weapon
The ōdachi is a type of traditional Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan; it is a long tachi, an older type of sword than the katana. It became established in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and was most popular in the Nanboku-chō period of the 14th century. The related name nodachi contains the character 野, "field," referring to its use in field battles. The blade measures roughly from 90.9 cm (three shaku) to 226.7 cm, and the weight ranges from 2.2 to 14.5 kg. The Norimitsu ōdachi of 1446 measures 377 cm overall, of which the blade is 226.7 cm, and weighs 14.5 kg. The longest known ōdachi, the Haja-no-Ontachi ("great blade crushing evil"), measures 465 cm, weighs 75 kg, and is kept at Hanaoka Hachiman Shrine in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The ōdachi was too long to be worn at the hip: it was carried on the back or in its scabbard in hand, and in the Muromachi period an attendant often helped draw it. Combat centred on downward cuts. The Kōden Enshin-ryū school developed a special draw in which the scabbard, not the blade, is pulled away, so a shorter ōdachi could be worn at the waist; a similar method was adopted for the classic katana by the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū and Shinmusō Hayashizaki-ryū schools. In the Edo period, the ōdachi turned from a weapon of war into a ceremonial offering to Shinto shrines.