Nagamaki (長巻) - A unique Japanese sword

Nagamaki (長巻) - A unique Japanese sword

One of the few artistic representation of the Nagamaki; on the centre left, a fleeing warrior is holding said weapon while running from a cavalry charge. From the Kiyomizu Dera Engi Emaki (清水寺縁起絵巻)

The Nagamaki (長巻) is a unique sword design found only in Japan, with very few exceptions.

The name itself means "long wrapping" and there is a very specific reason behind it that I'm going to explain in this article.
Before discussing the weapon itself, it should be clarified why it is considered a sword; despite having the length required to be classified in the polearms category, the nagamaki is used as a sword, which means that both hands are in a fixed position and the weapon is held in the same way a sword is held, with few-to-none hands changing along the handle.
The closest example of this weapon found outside Japan is the European Spetum, although this weapon was used as a polearm rather than as a sword.

History

It is very hard to pinpoint with accuracy when this weapon appeared on the Japanese battlefield, mainly because it's often confused with the naginata (薙刀); however, the main theory is that the nagamaki was introduced in the late Kamakura period, around the early 14th century.

In this period, extremely long sword called Nodachi (野太刀) started to be used by Japanese warriors both on foot as well on horseback.

Because such weapons, with their short hilts relative to their blade lengths, were difficult to handle, it became common practice to wrap the lower part of the blade with thin cord, effectively extending the grip and making the weapon easier to swing and control.

These nodachi were called Nakamaki Nodachi (中巻野太刀) which means central wrapped field sword or simply Nakamaki (中巻- central wrapping).

Later, the hilt itself was simply made longer, to produce the nagamaki, which consisted of a sword-like blade about a meter in length, mounted in an equally long hilt that was usually wrapped in leather or silk cord, like the hilt of an ordinary tachi or uchi-gatana. 

A very approximate sketch made by me explaining the pattern that lead to the creation of the nagamaki. On top, a nodachi, in the middle a nakamaki nodachi and at the bottom a nagamaki.

The nagamaki was still used in the 15th and 16th century, although the shift from the warfare of the early 14th century to the one of the late 15th century, where mass formations started to prevail, made this weapon rather ineffective in such contexts: due to its size and intended use, the space required wasn't compatible with the pikes formations and tactics.
Despite this limit, it was still popular during the Sengoku period among some clan, like the Oda and the Uesugi, which often deployed soldiers with this weapon.

However, due to the decreasing popularity of this weapon in the 16th century, many nagamaki were cut down and refurbished as swords and short swords; this process is called nagamaki naoshi (長巻直し) and it was also done with naginata and nodachi.

Due to the beauty and effectiveness of this design, many swords were directly made as if they were cut down nagamaki or naginata; so they aren't nagamaki naoshi in the strict meaning.

A Nagamaki naoshi; picture taken from here

This trend of shortening nagamaki continued in the Edo period, were laws concerning the sword's length were promoted by the Shogunate.

Shape and Use

The most specific feature of the nagamaki is that the handle is as long (or slightly shorter/longer) than the blade, which was usually designed as Japanese swords, especially Nodachi (野太刀), are: slightly curved with a single edge and (usually) a shobu zukuri blade geometry or at least a very slender and narrow Ōkissaki, with a very long tang.

       

Four different examples of antique nagamaki blades.

The blade is usually in between 70 and 100 cm (although some exceptions existed) and was thicker and more heavy than most Japanese blade, since it was meant for the battlefield.
Sometimes the blade was very similar to the ones that can be found in some variations of the Ōnaginata (大薙刀).

Another important aspect is that the handle is made like the handle of a Japanese sword, which means that is wrapped in silk, leather cords or a mix of the two, and could be either curved or straight.
It was usually fitted with a small tsuba (鍔) or with a type of crossguard called hadome which is often used in Japanese polearms to work as parrying hooks.

Two possible variations of the same weapon made by me; the one on the top has a curved handle, with two different types of wrapping, a small tsuba and a very long, curved and slender shobu zukuri blade, similar to the blades used for some type of naginata.
The one below has a straight red handle, with a hadome guard and a minimal curved shinogi zukuri blade with a Chukissaki, which is more similar to a normal sword blade.

It was primarily intended to be used on foot, although just like the naginata and the nodachi, it could be used on horseback as well.
It was used to unseat horseman as well as cutting the horse itself, and being a top heavy polearm, the cut was extremely powerful and capable of damaging the bones underneath the area protected with light armor.
Since the blade was usually narrow and slender, it was also used to poke into the unarmored zone of the enemy.

On the right, two Nagamaki blades with a straight handle; from 武器袖鏡. 初編

Differences between Nagamaki and Naginata

Although these two weapons are closely associated, there are some key differences that are worth mentioning.
First of all, the mounting; the naginata has a longer straight and lacquered handle, and usually it has a shorter blade, even if there are some exceptions. While the nagamaki has longer blade, an equally long handle wrapped in cords or leather which could be curved as well.

However, there are some very subtle differences even in the blade: the naginata has more blade variations, which could be much more curved, occasionally with a sharpened false edge, it lacks the typical yokote, which is the line that delimited the kissaki or tip of the blade and has on the other hand a unique groove that is called naginata-hi (薙刀樋 ).
The nagamaki could have a yokote, is usually longer, has a less pronounced curvature and lacks the naginata-hi.

On the right, a very curved and short naginata blade with a red groove; on the left, a longer nagamaki blade with a very small curvature and a shinogi zukuri blade geometry with a chukissaki; this is how far the two respective weapons could get.

I hope that you have enjoyed this article! For any question please feel free to ask in the comment.

Gunbai.