The nagamaki was a long sword with a blade that could be 60 cm or more and a handle of about equal length to the blade. The meaning of this saying is that nagamaki and naginata are equipment for actual combat, not works of art or offerings to the kami, and that the sharpness and durability of swords made from their modifications have been proven on the battlefield. In Japan there is a saying about swords: "No sword made by modifying a nagamaki or a naginata is dull in cutting" (長巻(薙刀)直しに鈍刀なし). This practice of cutting off the hilt of a ōdachi or tachi or naginata or nagamaki and remaking it into a shorter katana or wakizashi due to changes in tactics is called suriage ( 磨上げ) and was common in Japan at the time. In the Edo period (1603–1867), the hilts of nagamaki were often cut off and made into katana or wakizashi (short sword). The famed warlord Uesugi Kenshin, daimyō (feudal load) of Echigo Province, is said to have had a special guard of retainers armed with nagamaki. The historical book Kenbun zatsuroku ( 見聞雑録) mentions that nagamaki were lent to low-ranking soldiers who could not handle the yari well. It was generally used as a weapon for low-ranking soldiers who fought on foot. ĭuring the Sengoku period the nagamaki reached its peak of usage. In the Sengoku period, as the battlefield changed to a tactic where foot soldiers called ashigaru ( 足軽) fought on a large scale in dense formations with tanegashima (gun) and yari (spear), naginata (pole weapon), which were difficult to use in dense formations, were replaced by nagamaki, and heavy and long tachi (long sword) were often replaced by katana. It is believed that this usage evolved into the nagamaki, in which the hilt was lengthened during the manufacturing process. The sword used in this way was called nakamaki no tachi ( 中巻の太刀). Therefore, a strong cord would sometimes be wrapped around the sword from the center of the blade to the tsuba (sword guard), and the user would hold the sword by that part of the cord. The ōdachi, with its long blade, was sometimes too long to be used with a standard length hilt. The nagamaki is believed to have been developed from the ōdachi (great sword). It is possible that nagamaki were first produced during the Heian period (794 to 1185) but there are no known examples dating from before the mid Kamakura period (1192–1333). The nagamaki ( 長巻, "long wrapping") is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword ( nihontō) with an extra long handle, used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Type of Japanese sword with an extra long handle Nagamaki, 135 cm koshirae, 130 cm from tsuka to tip, 50 cm tang, 68 cm tsuka, 60 cm cutting edge
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