* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Tarō Tachi
太郎太刀
Also known as: The Great Blade of Magara Naomoto
Description
Overview of the Sword
Tarō Tachi is renowned as one of the longest great swords surviving in Japanese history, and is said to have been wielded in actual combat by Magara Naotaka (真柄直隆), a Sengoku-period warrior of monstrous proportions. The blade length measures an extraordinary 221.5 cm—a measurement of two shaku, two sun, one bu, five rin—with a curvature of two sun, one bu. When one considers that a standard Japanese sword has a blade length of approximately two shaku, three sun (about 70 cm), the abnormal scale of Tarō Tachi becomes immediately apparent. Magara Naotaka's phenomenal strength and martial prowess in wielding this colossal blade on the battlefield were such that he earned the epithet "demon"—a fitting title for a warrior of the Sengoku age. Tarō Tachi pairs with Jirō Tachi (wielded by Magara Takashige, or possibly Naosumi, with a blade length of approximately 166.6 cm), and the two blades together form the legendary "Magara's Tarō and Jirō," the most eloquent physical evidence of the superhuman strength legends transmitted down through the Sengoku period.
Magara Naotaka—The Demon of Echizen
Magara Naotaka was a warrior of Echizen Province (present-day Fukui Prefecture) who served Asakura Yoshikage, the Sengoku daimyo of Echizen, and whose name survives in the battle records of the age. According to tradition, he exceeded six shaku in height (approximately 182 cm), a giant of a man who wielded the immense Tarō Tachi as effortlessly as a spear—a sword that would have been impossible for an ordinary person even to lift. Enemy soldiers feared him as a "demon" and spoke of "a mountain walking," and his mere appearance on the battlefield is said to have unnerved his opponents. The Magara clan was a powerful kokujin of Echizen, and Naotaka, renowned from his father's generation as a master of great sword technique, refined what the family called the "great sword art" (daichōjutsu) to match his extraordinary physique and superhuman strength. The appellation "Magara's Tarō Tachi" derives in part from Naotaka's use of "Tarō" as his personal name, and his memory persists as a figure inseparable from his blade.
The Technical Challenges of Great Sword Forging
Forging a great sword exceeding two shaku in blade length presented technical difficulties of an entirely different order from ordinary Japanese swords. As the blade grew larger, the challenges of temperature control, managing distortion, and achieving uniform forging during the hardening process—quenching, clay coating, and water tempering—increased exponentially. Particularly during the quench, plunging a blade of such extraordinary length into water or oil at a constant speed and angle required the coordinated labor of multiple craftsmen—a high-level collective operation impossible for a single smith to complete. Despite its enormous scale, Tarō Tachi functions as a complete sword, testifying to the high technical skill of its maker (attributed to Kaneshige or unknown) and the organizational capacity of the smithing collective of the time. During the Northern and Southern Courts period (14th century), large blades called "nagamaki" (long wrapping), "daichō" (great sword), and "nodachi" (field sword) were produced in abundance to answer tactical requirements of foot soldiers in formation combat against mounted warriors. Tarō Tachi ranks among the largest of these, representing one of the most extreme expressions born from the Northern and Southern Courts warfare to Japanese sword culture.
Dedication to Atsuta Jingū and the Sword of Kusanagi
Tarō Tachi is presently enshrined and preserved at Atsuta Jingū, located in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Atsuta Jingū is one of Japan's most sacred sword sanctuaries, its divine object (goshintai) being the Sword of Kusanagi (also known as the Heavenly Cluster of Clouds Sword, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi), said in Japanese mythology to have been wielded by Yamato Takeru. After the fall of the Magara clan, this immense blade was, over the course of many years, dedicated to Atsuta Jingū, demonstrating that the sword's spiritual and cultural value transcended its function as a practical weapon. It is now designated a National Important Cultural Property and is carefully preserved alongside Jirō Tachi in the shrine's treasure house. The fact that Japan's most ancient mythical legendary sword and the Sengoku period's greatest practical great sword rest together in the same sacred place exemplifies the profound spiritual reverence the Japanese people have held for the sword.
The Battle of Anegawa and the End of the Magara
On the twenty-eighth day of the sixth month of Genki 1 (1570), the Battle of Anegawa—fought on the banks of the Anegawa River in Ōmi Province—was one of the greatest battles in Sengoku history, pitting the allied forces of Azai and Asakura against the allied forces of Oda and Tokugawa. Magara Naotaka, carrying Tarō Tachi into this battle, fought fiercely, launching single-handed charges into enemy formations, but was ultimately overwhelmed and slain by multiple warriors. The battle records note that Naotaka's blade exceeded the height of a man, and those who witnessed it recorded in detail their astonishment at its extraordinary size. In the same battle, his son Takashige (the wielder of Jirō Tachi) also fell, and the Magara clan was effectively destroyed on that day. Father and son, each wielding a great sword, both lost their lives in the same battle—this tragic end of the Magara clan stands as a paradigm of the fated tragedy of a Sengoku warrior family and continues to be remembered today.
Tarō Tachi as the Greatest Surviving Practical Battle Sword
In the history of the Japanese sword, Tarō Tachi is the largest existing blade known to have been wielded by a human being in actual combat, and its existence is the most eloquent testament to the remarkable diversity of the Japanese sword and to the extraordinary physical strength and spiritual fortitude of Sengoku warriors. Unlike decorative presentation swords dedicated to shrines, Tarō Tachi stands unparalleled in possessing authentic records and traditions of use in actual warfare. The marks of use upon the blade, including edge chipping and wear patterns, speak to Tarō Tachi not as a museum specimen but as a living witness to history, enshrined in the treasure house of Atsuta Jingū.
Legends & Stories
## Magara Naomoto — The Great Warrior Known as a Demon-Spirit Among warriors appearing in the battle records of the Sengoku period, few are as bound to a legendary greatsword as Magara Naomoto. Naomoto is said to have stood seven shaku tall (approximately 210 cm), a giant of a man, and to have wielded with bare hands a great tachi with a blade length of seven shaku (approximately 221 cm) as if it weighed nothing. Enemy soldiers who witnessed this figure reportedly trembled in fear, believing a demon-spirit had appeared. Multiple records remain concerning Naomoto's death at the Battle of Anegawa, and all agree that several warriors finally brought him down only through their combined efforts. One can almost envision this great warrior, wielding the Tarō Tachi until the very end and fighting with all his might. ## The Brother Relationship with the Jirō Tachi The Tarō Tachi and Jirō Tachi are transmitted as "brother giant swords" used across two generations of the Magara family. The names Tarō (blade length approximately 221 cm) and Jirō (blade length approximately 167 cm) derive from a distinctly Japanese perspective that designates the larger as the elder brother and the smaller as the younger brother. The fact that even swords of such magnitude are treated as "brothers" reflects the aesthetic sensibility of the warrior class. That both swords are housed at Atsuta Jingū and have been preserved together to the present day carries profound significance — transmitting the memory of the Magara family to posterity. ## Kusanagi no Tsurugi and Atsuta Jingū — the Sacred Ground of Swords Atsuta Jingū, one of Japan's three major imperial shrines, stands as one of Japan's foremost holy sites with deep connections to the sword, enshrining the Kusanagi no Tsurugi (also known as Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi), said to have been wielded by Yamato Takeru during his eastern conquest, as its sacred object. That the Tarō Tachi and Jirō Tachi are enshrined here carries meaning far beyond mere historical preservation; it embodies the distinctly Japanese provenance of weapons — the great swords that raced across battlefields ultimately come to rest before the gods. The image of Japan's most ancient legendary sword, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, resting alongside the greatest giant sword of the Sengoku period is profoundly moving — a sight that symbolizes the eternal flow of Japanese sword culture.