no dachi

[[Kensei 剣の聖者]]

I heard that samurai used a sword thats longer than the katana called the no dachi when fighting on the battle field (as oposed to one on one), is the art of the no dachi practiced today? is it different to the current sword arts?

[not-I]

I heard that samurai used a sword thats longer than the katana called the no dachi when fighting on the battle field (as oposed to one on one), is the art of the no dachi practiced today? is it different to the current sword arts?

Yup. Nodachi were once common on the battlefield, as they were designed to be a lethal "slashing" weapon (you can't have much precision with such a huge sword), but went out of fashion during the Tokugawa period. There are not many around these days, and as far as i know, they are very rarely used in sword practice today, although some koryu use exceptionally long katana.

http://japantrip.tripod.com/nodachi/nodachi.html if you want to have a look at some. The page isn't very well written, but you can't have it all...