Sword "Ōdachi"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Mar 1931
name: label: Donor Name
content: Victor J. Evans
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: ""Deposited in a Shinto temple, a war god "Hachimandaiboshutch by Tokugawa". Mr. Francis P. Sullivan says the inscription on the hilt reads "Hachiman Dai Bosatsu" or "Hachiman, the great Bodhisattva". He also says "Hachiman is, of course, the God of War, who is here, by some strange theological reconciliation, made to occupy what seems to be a very incongruous position in the Buddhist pantheon." He believes that the sword was intended for use as an accessory to a statue of the god, a heroic size, such as might be set up in some important temple. S. Kajiwara, Professor of Kiushiu Imperial University, Japan, says "Sword made 450 to 500 years ago. Deposited in a Shinto Temple, by Tokugawa, of the Shaguan [Shogun?] family. (Prime Ministers of Japan for 450 years.) To the War god Hachimandaibosutsh.""
label: Notes
content: Information from Virginia Johnson, August 6, 1987: "The suggestion was made that the strange dedication, placing the War God Hachiman well on the road to enlightenment of Buddhism might have been added at the time the sword was retired at the temple. "Bodhisattva" is a stage of enlightenment. Thus, a sword once dedicated to the God of War, could be taken from his service by a further dedication, an addition which might neutralize the sword's original purpose. ... Very large swords were wielded by the Japanese. A strong man or woman might lift this one, so perhaps it was not purely ceremonial."
label: Notes
content: Kristen Datta, Cheng-Harrell Intern, Archives and Collections Management, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, in 2024 has provided documentation and proposed provenance for sword E361676. See pdf copies of her documentation and her student paper attached to multimedia section of this record.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 27 Jan 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Japan, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Japanese
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 113605
label: USNM Number
content: E361676-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Sword
physicalDescription: label: Weight - Object
content: 5.1 kg