Nagamaki

Nagamaki is a distinctive weapon whose blade and handle are nearly equal in length, reaching about two meters overall. Its name comes from the fact that the handle, like the blade, is wrapped in silk or leather.

The nagamaki developed in the Nanboku-chō period from the nakamaki no-dachi, in which the handle of the large, unwieldy ōdachi was lengthened and thread or leather was wound tightly around the base of the blade. It appeared in the Muromachi period. Its peak came in the Sengoku period, and the Taikōki records that Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobunaga favored having it used. The nagamaki units of the Uesugi clan are also known.

The defining feature of the nagamaki is that its length of more than two meters places it between the spear and the sword. It has the reach of a spear while excelling at cutting like a sword, and it was highly effective in infantry combat. Its manufacture as a sword followed the techniques of ordinary swords, but securing the strength to support the long handle was an important challenge.

When the Edo shogunate was established, individuals were basically forbidden to own swords with blades three shaku or longer. For this reason, many nagamaki were shortened and reworked into swords or wakizashi, a process called nagamaki naoshi. As a result, the number of surviving nagamaki is limited, and they are a valuable legacy in the history of swords.