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Post by aussie-rabbit on Oct 10, 2014 23:38:42 GMT
Makes you wonder if they didn't invent the helicopter of death, mind you a spear like throw would be just as problematic, deflecting it with a polearm would set it spinning and if you ducked... well the guy behind you copped it. :lol:
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Oct 10, 2014 23:54:45 GMT
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Post by Jussi Ekholm on Oct 11, 2014 14:27:07 GMT
The biggest downside of Kensei is they didn't make a hi for it. Hi is pretty much common feature on odachi due to their very large size because it helps to cut down the weight.
Kensei has massive motohaba for it's size 4,2 cm. It has broad shinogiji so it could have had a wide hi to reduce the weight. As it's relatively thin blade like odachi usually are if it would have hi then its weight would be much more manageable.
There are various theories on how odachi were used in the battle. Kawachi Kunihira has in his book a great article about Sasaki Kojiro, in which he discusses earlier period use of odachi. "Originally nodachi was a special type of sword that was created for use in battle. In the period of civil strife, the average Japanese male stood about 157 cm tall, so it's utterly unthinkable that such a person walked around carrying swords of over 90 cm in length in their daily lives. ... But if this were a battle, it would be different. Such a weapon is too long to wear attached to waist; a nodachi would actually be too big to actually draw or wield easily in small places such as in a room or a narrow alley. But on a wide-open battlefield with several enemies, a sword with long blade is ideal."
He continues how spear was the main weapon in the battlefield, and swords generally just a backup weapon. And that the odachi were too big for mounted use. He however tells how some foot soldiers got no horse, insufficent armor, no firearms and no spear. Their only weapon was a nodachi, a large sword of great possibility. He also describes a scary situation when a mounted samurai had fell off his horse and had broken his spear, so he had to face a nodachi wielding foot soldier with his own sword, which was roughly 66 cm in length. After handling swords of various sizes I would not want to give the opponent the 30cm + advantage in blade length.
I think it was common for soldiers to have main weapon, during Muromachi usually a spear, then a backup weapon a sword, and possibly a tanto for really close combat. However it's of course a lot easier for a samurai who is mounted and has retainers to carry all the gear (they could have a lot more gear), where as a lowly foot soldier had to carry all by himself.
Many books describe the very large nodachi being used in similar fashion that very large European twohanders were used, which for me makes perfect sense.
Even though I like odachi, I still think that legends of cutting through the samurai & mount are exaggerated. Mounted warriors were to my understanding samurai who wore good armor. Cutting through that armor is no easy task. Cutting through the neck or the legs of the horse I can see happening.
I would approarch the True Swords offerings with caution, to me their Giant Odachi looks like it could snap once you hold it in hand and move it. And I really don't like the Shinwa Nodachi either, even though it looks much safer than the other one.
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Mikeeman
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Post by Mikeeman on Oct 11, 2014 17:30:56 GMT
It honestly does look like a chunk O' junk, but then again, so did a lot of swords at one point before someone got one and saw what was really going on. That's why I was hoping to get this thing around a little. Maybe a little attention to them would pop up a little niche in the production market for them.
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Post by crazywolf on Oct 11, 2014 17:45:33 GMT
I agree wish there were more choices for other weapons Eastern or European but since the market is so small it won't happen soon and were stuck with ether cheap junk and good stuff with sky high prices.
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