Dave, I can't access your vids - can you email them please?
Cheers,
Dave, I can't access your vids - can you email them please?
Cheers,
I thought they were for religous purposes, or as an image to support a Lord.
Is there a real difference between a kodochi and an odachi? One of them means "horse sword", so I'm assuming either they were used to decapitate horses or were carried on the horses. (I like the first one, it sounds like show, lol.)
Arik Hartsaugh
You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.
-Indira Gandhi
From the glossary on Richard Stein's excellent website
KODACHI - small tachi
O-DACHI - very long sword (over 30 inches)
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/glossry.htm
You might wanna spend some time at the following link
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm
Charles Mahan
Iaido - Breaking down bad habits,
and building new ones.
I'm not following. You thought what was for religious purposes? Also, what do you mean by "an image to support a Lord"?Originally Posted by Unskilled_Blade
Kodachi just means small sword and odachi means big sword, in the context used in this thread.Originally Posted by Unskilled_Blade
A katana is an odachi. A wakizashi is a kodachi.
A tachi is an odachi. An uchigatana is a kodachi.
A daito is an odachi. A shoto is a kodachi.
Odachi can also refer to the really big swords, like the one you refer to -- the "horse sword" -- and those big odachi (type) would always be odachi (size); they could never be, by definition, kodachi (small swords).
HTH.
Yours in Budo,
---Brian---
Really big swords? You mean like this one?Originally Posted by Brian Owens
I've seen the name "nodachi" used for those really big ones. Dunno bout translation, but I was hinted it could mean "field-sword" or something like that.
Fredrik Hall
"To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous." /Confucius
Odachi, nodachi, choken... depends. I don't think there's a strict rule, although wikipedia would have one believe otherwise...
Some people will even use words like "daikatana", which is a load of hooey. I think it was made up for a computer game.
Actually, the Kage ryu refers to them as choken. More about the Kage ryu and their long swords can be found here on Hyakutake sensei's extremely informative web site ... http://www.hyoho.com/Nkage1.htmlReally big swords? You mean like this one?
I've seen the name "nodachi" used for those really big ones. Dunno bout translation, but I was hinted it could mean "field-sword" or something like that.
Paul Smith
"Always keep the sharp side and the pointy end between you and your opponent"
As Jon Stewert would say "WWWWWWWWWHHHHAAATT?!?!?!"Originally Posted by Brian Owens
And I meant that kodachis were for.... well, all most as a shrine. And I meant like the lord might carry it as a regular sword and use it to strike fear into people (ie, their kobutos(sp) helmets)
Either way, they were completly useless, lol.
Arik Hartsaugh
You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.
-Indira Gandhi
Tell me you're having a laugh?Originally Posted by Unskilled_Blade
Hyaku, can you drop the NKK a line and ask them why so many ryuha even bother practicing with kodachi/tanto please? The techniques are a pointless exercise, apparently... oh, don't tell Soke I said that, ok? I got enough of a kodachi arse-kicking this year without any more dished out... hehe
Sorry Arik,As Jon Stewert would say "WWWWWWWWWHHHHAAATT?!?!?!"
And I meant that kodachis were for.... well, all most as a shrine. And I meant like the lord might carry it as a regular sword and use it to strike fear into people (ie, their kobutos(sp) helmets)
Either way, they were completly useless, lol.
It is now official. Nobody on this forum has the slightest idea what you're talking about.
Paul Smith
"Always keep the sharp side and the pointy end between you and your opponent"
From what I've read, at least one use of this type of weapon was for front-line shock troops. The term "nagamaki" can refer either to a particular type of massive naginata or to, essentially, an oversized Japanese sword (I don't know if there is a technical difference between the nagamaki and the swords used by Kage-ryu). In Old School, Ellis Amdur says this about the nagamaki:Originally Posted by Unskilled_Blade
Take a good look at these and think about what it would be like to be charged on the battlefield by a large number of men wielding them. Given the choice, I think I'd pass.The warlord Uesugi Kenshin is said to have had a special one hundred-soldier squad armed with nagamaki. They were probably used as shock troops, similar to the landesnect, brawny German warriors who carried an up-to-eight-pound, five-or-six-foot-long, two-handed straight sword to break up lines of pike-wielding enemies. Once within the lines, the landesknect would drop the long sword and, drawing a shorter weapon, slaughter the now-disorganized spearman at close quarters (Amdur, 2002).
David Sims
"Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum." - Terry Pratchet
My opinion is, in all likelihood, worth exactly what you are paying for it.
Give me a ring next time you carry a kodachi on the street, and you DON'T get riddiled with bullets from the SWAT team, lol. I'm being practical here.Originally Posted by pgsmith
Arik Hartsaugh
You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.
-Indira Gandhi
You would be right; It's from "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind", which is by far one of the best RPG's ever made. Is someone a closet nerd? LOLOriginally Posted by 100110
Arik Hartsaugh
You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.
-Indira Gandhi
yeah, but you see, you said "they were completely useless." This implies that you are saying that they never served any useful purpose, not that they are outdated. I'm sure you can understand our confusion, as whether or not swords are a pratical weapon now has nothing to do with the current conversation... unless I missed something. If you're strictly interested in stuff designed to counter bullets, methinks you are in the wrong forum.
David Sims
"Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum." - Terry Pratchet
My opinion is, in all likelihood, worth exactly what you are paying for it.
Okay Arik, back away from the anime and RPGs, and pick up some legitimate history books...to read when you're not at a real dojo learning some real swordsmanship.Originally Posted by Unskilled_Blade
A kodachi is just a short sword. They didn't "strike fear into people" any more (and probably less) than an odachi.
As far as having been "completly useless, lol" -- again -- you need to do a bit more study.
The kodachi in its day, like the sidearm today, was intended to be there when the main weapon wasn't. They could be worn indoors when the tachi or katana couldn't be; they could be carried by spearmen, archers, and musketeers without being so cumbersome as to interfere with the primary weapon; merchants and certain other townspeople were allowed to carry them even when their status didn't permit carry of long swords...
Need I continue?
If you think that short swords were "completely useless" then I challenge you to take up a long sword against a short sword-wielding member of any of the many koryu for whom the kodachi was an important weapon in their arsenal, or against a Kendoka expert in the last three Kendo-no-kata -- the ones dedicated to teach the use of the "useless" kodachi against the odachi.
Do you get what I'm trying to say?
Yours in Budo,
---Brian---