A fictional axe: is it real-world based?

[lordraphael]

Hello everybody from a new member.
I'm a japanese graphic novel translator (very often) in distress...

Take a look at this picture (btw, it IS a copyright infringement, but it was not me to upload this picture on the Internet):

www.gianisa.com/blade/ art/random/japset1.jpg

Please look at the second weapon counting from the bottom, the oddly shaped battle-ax... The author claims this drawing is based on a Nepalese weapon, but I couldn't find any evidence of that.
What do you think, is this weapon based on some real-world example, or is it pure fantasy?

_____
Raffaele
from Italy

[Rick]

Hi , the link is not working .

[micas]

Link's not working for me either.

Are you referring to the weapon held by Anotsu Kagehisa in the manga: Blade of the Immortal?

From http://www.answers.com/topic/blade-of-the-immortal

Weapons of Blade of the Immortal
The weapons found in Blade of the Immortal are largely fictional, most created by Samura, who confesses he has no idea what some of them are supposed to do. Usually, major characters have unique and specialized weapons - hidden crossbows, throwing knives, poisoned blades, and even weapons meant to inflict maximum pain. Manji himself carries a number of blades - Sukehiro Amatsubaki ("Rain Camellia"), Kotengu ("Little Devil"), Okorobi ("Man Toppler"), Merabi ("Lady Gadfly"), Karasu ("The Crow"), Shido ("The Four Paths"), Imo-No-Kami Tatsumasa ("Sister Defender Tatsumasa"), a spear-like weapon called Aun, and an unnamed hooked weapon. Some of Samura's other creations include Giichi's thresher-like throwing blade, known as Kanetsura's Mito-No-Kami ("Guardian of the Three Paths"), which he uses to sever the heads of his enemies, and Anotsu's large Kabutsuchi battle-axe, which was based on an example from Nepal.

[lordraphael]

Ooops, I'm sorry... this link should be working:

http://www.gianisa.com/blade/art/random/japset1.jpg

And yes, it is Kagehisa Anotsu's battle-axe from "Blade of the Immortal".
Thank you everybody who may provide a clue.

BTW, another character's sword is named either "Grand Turc" or "Grand Turk"... does anybody know of the word "turk" or "turc" ever being used to refer to a kind of European blade? I'm attempting to estimate the proper spelling...

___
Raffaele

[Ian]

Does not ring any bells for me.

A slap up the side of the head with that one would certainly ring my bell, though.

[Ferguson]

The only Nepalese weapon that is even close is the Kora. You can see one in this thread. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=kora

Steve

[Tim Simmons]

It looks rather like one of these clubs from San Cristobal Island- Solomon Islands called a Roromaraugi. Tim

[fearn]

Hi Raffaele,

I'm glad that helps. So far as I know, having a weapon forged of a single piece of steel would probably not be a good thing, if we assume that the author knew something about Medieval Japan. The reason it's not a good thing is that it only works if the steel is of exceptional quality and carefully (and differentially) heat treated. Folding, on the other hand, performs two functions: it allows the smith to join two (or more) bars of steel with differing properties, and it allows him to control the size of impurities such as silica crystals that would weaken the blade. In the first case, it would be common to join a hard but brittle edge to a more flexible back, creating a sword that would not shatter on impact, but which would be hard enough to cut. In the second case, careful folding would allow the smith to use more inferior metal (i.e. one contaminated with silica, etc) to make a superior blade.

Making the *BIG* assumption that the Manga author knows this (which I doubt), this weapon would be inferior. However, it sounds cool and unique, which probably matters more in the context of the Manga.

Finally, I have to ask a dumb question: is this weapon an axe (ono) or a sickle (kama/gama)? The reason I'm asking is that the samurai carried a variety of "kama" as rank insignia, and some of them looked more than a bit like this weapon. If it is a kama, then it fits very nicely as a slightly exotic side weapon for a samurai type. Otherwise, its user is basically being weird.

This all assumes that it didn't just come out of the author's imagination. Fun to speculate, though.

F

[lordraphael]

Thank you very much for your help.

The weapon is specifically called an "ono" (axe) in Japanese, and it's specifically a non-Japanese weapon.
The author states it "may come from somewhere around Nepal"... a statement people on this board don't support.

Anyway, it was the author's purpose to make it a weird weapon fit to a weird user. That guy's the leader of a rogue "fighting school/style" strongly contending against the formalism of (peace-time) Tokugawa Japan martial arts, on the ground that "exploiting any effective mean to win is the only true martial art".
Somewhere else in the series, he says something on the lines of:
"This cumbersome axe is not as sharp as a Japanese sword, I agree. However, you don't need to use strength to block it [meaning, I think, that he just lets it fall, then controls it by dexterity alone]. That's a crucial advantage to me, with my skinny arms and slight build."
Pure fancy?

R.

[fearn]

Hi R,

Thanks. I suspected as much, but I thought there's a certain amount of irony in the situation. A lot of samurai favored the kusarigama, or various flavors of kama. By favoring a kama-like weapon, this character is a bit more tradition bound than his creator might have thought.

Actually, however you interpret the response, this "axe" that sounds like a kora, and I think most forumites would agree. While I've never swung a kora, you do hit point-down with the beak, and they are front-weighted like axes. In that sense the character is right. The part that's a little goofy is that you need decent muscles to recover after the swing, so presumably, he makes his first shot count each time?
F