Masakari (鉞) - The Samurai's War Axe

Masakari (鉞) - The Samurai's War Axe

Samurai holding a battle axe; detail from the 春日権現験記. 第８軸

Also know as Ono (斧) or as Fuetsu (斧鉞), this weapon is one of the less related within the "Samurai warfare" context.
For many years inside the internet I've read a lot of stuffs about the fact that Samurai didn't use Axes in battle. If there is someone to blame, his name is Bashford Dean. Although I do extremely respect the man for his pioneering approach inside the field of Samurai Arms & Armors in the late 19th and early 20th century, we can read in his first catalogue, "Catalogue of  the Loan Collection of Japanese Armor" dated 1905 from the "Metropolitan Museum of Art" one of the most "romantic" cliché associated within the Samurai warrior culture.

             

    

     Bashford Dean wearing Samurai Armor

Quoting from the man itself, page 10 of the catalogue:

""In Japan, on the other hand, the aim of the armorer was rather to produce harnesses which were light, strong and flexible, which would hinder the wearer as little as possible in the active use of arrow, spear and sword. This could the better be done since the war hammer and kindred weapons were generally regarded as unsoldierly." Yes, a classic episode of "Bullshido"; anyway, it was the 1905.

Samurai and Japanese warriors used those kindred weapons and quite effectively.
It might not be a surprise since Axes used as tools were highly developed due to the relevance of wood's architecture and carpentry in medieval Japan; yet battle axes differs from those used to work with threes and forest, and were also deeply related with the military culture.

 
Twin axes used as Maedate in this Kabuto made by a famous Myochin armorer

However it is fair to highlight that despite the fact that we have some evidences of their actual use, war axes seems to be quite rare, and I will try to give you some explanations to this fact later on.

In the Japanese Folklore, the axe was the weapon of choice of Kintaro (金太郎) and in many Ukiyo-e, huge war axes were associated with mighty warriors; however those depictions are total fantasy due to the impressive dimension of the weapons. Battle axes were also used as maedate, or helmet crest, to highlight the strength and the power of the warriors, and were also associated with the martial culture of the Sohei (僧兵): the warrior monks used these tools to help them to clear the path for their "Shugendo"(修験道) , an ascetic training to obtain enlightenment through the study of the relationship between man and nature in rugged areas such as the sacred mountains across the country, but they also used these tools as weapons when they were involved in battles.
In fact those axes became ritual and sacred objects too. 

A really huge Axe taken from a section of the Ukiyo-e "Descending Gees at Yahagi Bridge" by Yoshitoshi, 1868

Kintaro and his huge axe, from 金太郎山狩

Shape and Use

Unfortunately, when it comes to the Masakari, we lack the amount of data we have with spears or swords, so this article will be quite short.
Axes were used both as cutting and percussive weapon; in fact most of the weight of the weapon is on the head: this make the weapon an heavy hitter, capable of cutting, chopping but also bypassing armor to some extent; Akamatsu Ujinori used his axe to smash the helmets of several opponents during the wars of the 14th century.
They were mounted on shafts of various sizes, and were used both as one handed or two handed weapons.
But they were also useful to destroy gates, barricades, standing shields , ladders and others objects one could find on sieges battlefields.
They were used on the battles of the Nanbokucho period (南北朝時代) and also during the Ryukyuu Invasion; the Shimazu clans listed them in their inventories according to the Shimazu Ryuukyuu Gunseiki.
Later Edo period iconography often shows Samurai wielding axes from horseback.
Here are some sketches made by me** to show what kind of axes were used during the medieval period (11th-17th century roughly speaking). I'm definitely not an artist, so please forgive my shaking hand.

Here is an interesting type of axe with a long spear-like back head. The heart-shape holes are quite unique to the Japanese design. From 武器袖鏡. 初編

Here instead are my sketches; starting from left to right:

- The first one is actually a pretty famous ritual axe called Nyuubu Ono (入峰斧) and not a battle ones; despite this fact the blade is quite thin and the back head seems pretty useful to bypass any type of armor, two hints that might suggest its martial usefulness. Is from the 14th century and is currently in the Tokyo National Museum.

- The second one has a very thick base which tapers towards the edge; it must be quite heavy to wield. The three red lacquered lines are a typical Japanese features and this particular axe resemble the one depicted in the Ukiyo-e. Is currently located in the store room of the "Überseemuseum Bremen",Germany 

- The third one is actually a really fine example of a Ono Su Yari, an axe combined with a spear. It is also called ken'iri masakari (剣入鉞), and is often a ceremonial weapon, although a "practial version" existed too, with a longer shaft and a lighter blade; in this case, it is called fusō (斧槍) and it will be discussed in the Yari article.This particular example was also decorated with dragons and clouds. Is currently located in the "Samurai Art Museum" in Berlin, dated 16th century.

- The fourth is the same model as the one seen in the 十二類巻物の書誌情報 and probably it was the most common one handed axe used in the Muromachi Period. The back head looks similar to the ritual axe, but more compact and small.

- The last one came from the "A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times" by George Cameron Stone. Although is the only one that doesn't show any particular Japanese design features (like heart shaped holes or dragons/clouds decorations) is listed as a Japanese axe in the book. The back head is a spike, capable of damaging armor.

Other examples made by me:
 
The first one is another common depiction that appears in the 前九年絵巻物, while the second one is another Ono Su yari, with clouds decorations, dated from the 16th century which could be seen inside the book "Japanese Spears: Polearms and their use in old Japan" by Ronald and Patricia Knutsen.

On the far right a Tsukushi Naginata (筑紫薙刀) which resemble the model of a western "Bardiche" and a complex Magari Yari (曲槍) with a convex type of blade which resemble an axe blade, dated from the late 16th century, currently located to the "Royal Armouries" in Leeds, Uk.

And here other examples of axes appearing inside artworks, from the 絹本著色聖徳太子絵伝. [3] ,十二類巻物の書誌情報 and the 前九年絵巻物. [1] ;

This is the "絹本著色聖徳太子絵伝" which describes event of the 7th century; However, like in the majority of the warriors artistic representations, the armor and the weapons are the same of Kamakura period and the scroll is dated Muromachi ( around the 15th century). It is quite weird to see shields, Oyoroi and axe in the same scroll!!

Some Final Thoughts

As I said before, axes were never mainstream weapons; the reason behind this might be the fact that others polearms, like Naginata and Yari were capable of outperforming the heavy Masakari in reach and speed, not to mention that sometimes, similar axe's blades were found in some variations of the Naginata and the Yari themselves (see my sketches in the picture above) .
Anyway, some warriors, unlike the majority of people think, still adopted these weapons on the battlefield of the medieval Japan.

Please feel free to comment and share this article if you like it!

**As I stated in the descriptions of the items I've drawn, the models are based on real objects. However I wasn't able to use pictures due to various copyright issues; I hope you would still be able to understand what kind of shapes they have!

Gunbai