Ôdachi Gallery

Norimitsu Ôdachi

This Ôdachi was made by Norimitsu of Osafune in August 1447.

Specifications are as follows:

Total length - 377 cm.  

Nagasa (cutting edge) - 226.7 cm.

Sori (curvature) - 5.0 cm

Nakago (tang) - 151 cm.

Thickness - 2.34 cm.

Habaki (collar to hold blade in scabbard) - 5.85 cm.

Weight - 14.5 kgs.

Mei (name): Bishu Osafune Norimitsu. 

Location: Kibitsu Jinja, Okayama.

Period: Muromachi (1447).

Sugata (shape): Shinogi-zukuri, maru-mune, bo-hi with maru-dome.

Hada (grain): Itame.

Hamon (temper pattern): Ko-gunome, choji with tobiyaki and kinsuji.

This Ôdachi is the longest in Japan.  

What is so amazing about this Ôdachi is that it was forged the same way as a traditional Japanese sword.  It was made as a complete sword and not simply made in sections and tacked together.  It was forged with incredible skill, which is evident from looking at the hada.  

Norimitsu was a popular line of swordsmiths that started in the Oei Bizen school (1394) and continued until the end of Bizen.  No one knows much about the current owner of this Ôdachi, but it was recently polished and named "Kibitsu maru" by the priest at Kibitsu Jinja.  This Shrine is one of the most sacred in the Kibi area (present day Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures).

This Ôdachi is real, the hada is real, the hamon is real.  It is overwhelming to comprehend the creation of this Ôdachi.  Truly a wonder.