King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Nodachi

Japanese sword

野太刀 · 노타치

Type
Japanese sword
Place of origin
Japan

An ōdachi (大太刀, large/great sword) or nodachi (野太刀, field sword) is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (日本刀, nihontō) used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The Chinese equivalent of this type of sword in terms of weight and length is the miaodao or the earlier zhanmadao, and the Western battlefield equivalent (though less similar) is the Zweihänder.

To qualify as an ōdachi, the sword in question would have a blade length of around 3 shaku (90.9 cm (35.8 in)). However, as with most terms in Japanese sword arts, there is no exact definition of the size of an ōdachi.

External links

Facts from Wikidata Q944641 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.