biggest usable sword?

Komamura's Bankai if that counts. If your rules for what a sword is is more traditional, i guess Ichigo's soul slayer is huge.
 
Dominic Kihlstrand said:
Hey what game is that? No matter what it looks fun!

Also, wasn't the biggest usuable sword a nodachi?

Note: There are actually much bigger nodachis out there.

Depends on what you mean by usable. Use in what context. Swiss two handed swords used to break pikes/pike formations, open battlefield against people, so on. Back when I was a kid living in Europe, my old man, determined to shove Western culture down my throat whether I liked it or not, dragged me around to what seemed like every museum. I naturally gravitated towards the arms and armor section. I remember some of those historical pieces being well over 6 feet in length, which is about the limit of a usable oodachi/nodachi. I remember being pretty disappointed when I was told that they were probably more for show than for actual battle.

Here's a page with an oodachi that almost FOUR METERS in length and weights almost 15 kgs. Obviously, this one's for ceremonial use.

http://japantrip.tripod.com/nodachi/norimitsu.html
 
if you can weild a nodachi of that length with reasonable control in the air, it's impressive enough. and you can't use it like the bagua broad sword i posted since it's too narrow to use tehe groove as a weapon.

I'd like to try one, it must give you a hell of a strength/endurance workout to just weild it slowly.
 
I think in order to wield a big sword and still keep it in practical use, you need to be big yourself. So probably something German or Scottish. Anyone could wield a massive sword but effectively and with enough leverage and strength and size?
 
The Gubbinz said:
I think in order to wield a big sword and still keep it in practical use, you need to be big yourself. So probably something German or Scottish. Anyone could wield a massive sword but effectively and with enough leverage and strength and size?

not neccessarily. there are tricks to weilding it like i said.
 
wallaceSword.JPG


"..Wallace's huge sword. While it's not actually a Claymore (the traditional Scottish broadsword), it stands 5 feet in height!"
 
i saw this post and i was looking for the name of the sword the girl is holding in Dominic Kihlstrand post from that video game?
 
hey... finaly a post in my area of expertise!

I'm gonna assume that by biggest, most people assume how long it is and I'm also gonna stay in the realm of reality here... so the guy with the big bagua sword does not count... sure you could use it in a real fighting situation, but only once because when you cut something with it, its so thin that it will bend very easily.... and what about blocking with it..? sorry... not gonna happen. That blade was designed not to hit anything and for forms only... you need some kind of shape in the blade to support the edge to make it stiff enough to withstand multipule cuts and blows....

the Europeans are usually considered to be the ones with the biggest usable swords in some quantity... and while asia did make some long blades... they are pretty rare and most were for cerimonial use...

this is mostly due to iron ore deposits... europe had lots.... asia does not... thats why we see the advent of iron and steel plate armor come in... so in asia the thinking was... "we only have so much raw material... why make one suite of armor when we can make many smaller blades..?"

and also to clear up the weight issue.... just becasue a sword was big does not mean it weights 20-80 lbs... most two-handers never weighed more than 7-8 lbs... most were in the 4-6lbs range for anything over 50"... example here...Angus Trim 1592

and another from the makers Arms and Armor 16th Cent Danish two-hander

so... keep in mind when thinking about two-handers and other greatwords is.... is it made well..? sound hilt construction..? and most important... can I wield it effectively.. that being a key word... you can make a sword as big as you want as long as you can control it.... if you can't... well... your a dead man and might as well be holding a lead pipe.

oh... and these swords were never meant to chop off horses legs or anything of such nonsense.... spears are better for cavalry.. two-handers were good at melee and believe it or not... spear formations.... they would wade in, knocking or cutting off spear heads as they closed ranks and decimated spearmen and anyone else in their path...

for further reading....

MyArmoury.com

and

Historical weights of swords

Best,

kokoro
 
wallaceSword.JPG


"..Wallace's huge sword. While it's not actually a Claymore (the traditional Scottish broadsword), it stands 5 feet in height!"

actually... funny enough.. wallaces sword was a peice of shit... when examined its been found to have been repaired twice from the blade breaking during battle... that and no one can really confirm if thats actually his sword.

Kokoro
 
This is as big as you need:

1431114104_6fe0a36145.jpg


This is the dreaded Gummy-Martini Sword!
 
The German zweihander used in the 15th century by doppelsoldners is bigger than both.
Yea...those are wicked weapins and were actually used effectively at breaking up formations of pikemen.
 
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