Japanese Axe Warrior

The jitte refers to a steel rod that is fitted with a handle.

Japanese axe warrior. The masakari 鉞 is an axe of the larger variant in japan. As with axes in other cultures ono are sometimes employed as weapons. The samurai used this weapon to catch a felon s sword blade. One of the most recognizable warrior in japanese history oda nobunaga was a charismatic leader as well.

Saitō musashibō benkei 西塔武蔵坊弁慶 1155 1189 popularly known as simply benkei was a japanese warrior monk who lived in the latter years of the heian period 794 1185 1 benkei led a varied life first becoming a monk then a mountain ascetic and then a rogue warrior. 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. But unlike the halberd the naginata had no axe and was usually longer than the six foot 1 8 meter european polearm. He later came to respect and serve the famous warrior minamoto no yoshitsune.

Japanese hatchet and axe heads from mizuno seisakujo in sanjo niigata province are normally made with a 3 layer laminated steel head warikomi. That way the felon would be disarmed and taken alive. Cc by sa 3 0 jitte. The ono 斧 historically wono をの or masakari is the japanese word for an axe and is used to describe various tools of similar structure.

In 1560 he killed yoshimoto imagawa who attempted to take over kyoto and set the foundation of the unification of japan. The most common type of polearm used in early medieval japan was known as the naginata and techniques of its use were called naginata jutsu. It has either one or two hooks along the edge of its blade. The forest hatchet and the splitting axe are made of unlaminated steel.

There is a hard steel insert of 0 45 carbon steel in the middle for the cutting edge and two softer iron laminations to support it and form the rest of the head. However those depictions are total fantasy due to the impressive dimension of the weapons. Japanese manriki or kusari fundo. Axe which is the general classification term for axes in japanese while the term masakari is specifically given to large axes or an axe with an exceptionally long cutting edge.

This versatile weapon resembles the halberd used by european soldiers.