List of Madara's weapons and a little info on Japanese history

[Kirin Rei]

Hi guys!

So, I've been coming across a lot of posts about the arsenal we saw on Madara's wall and thought I'd dig a little deeper into it.

In Japan, weapons are more than just tools and each have a very intriguing history behind them. I don't know if said thing applies to Madara and the reasons why he chose these specific weapons, but I'll just let you decide on that.


Here we go:

- The giant shuriken on the wall

First of all, they're not shuriken (手裏剣). They are called hira shuriken (ひら手裏剣) or shaken (車剣) which is a subcategory of shuriken.

Back in the day the shape of the hira shuriken were used to identify the school they belonged to.
To make it a little clearer, below, you can see the different shapes of a variety of shuriken (many of them hira). The differences between them helped to identify the region and school they came from.

Madara's giant hira shuriken belongs to Kouga Ryuu (甲賀流), which is an actual school of ninjutsu that originated from the Shiga prefecture (滋賀県) in Japan around the year 1550.

Here is an actual replica of the Kouga hira shuriken.

I don't know if any of you are interested in Japanese history, but another ninja clan, Iga Ryuu (伊賀流) that originated in the Mie Prefecture (三重県) has been depicted as the rival of the Kouga Ryuu throughout history.

Lookie here, the symbol of the Uchiha police force. A hira shuriken in the Kouga style.

Fun fact; the Iga Ryuu divided their ninjas into three classes.
Guess what they are?
Yup! From high ranking to low; jounin, chuunin and genin!

- The chain aka meteor hammer

It's not a simple chain and it's definitely not the same chain Tobi used against Minato.
The one Tobi used was just a regular kusari (鎖) that was cuffed to his wrists. The use of it was to phase through the enemy and capture said enemy using the chain. Nothing more.

The one Madara has on his wall is a kusarifundo (鎖分銅) which is also known as manrikigusari (万力鎖).
It's basically a chain with weights on each side, a long range combat weapon. It's not uncommon to attach a scythe or a sickle (surprise surprise!) to one end and use it as a kusarigama (鎖鎌).

Also, guess what, it's a very common weapon of the Kouga clan teached under the name of kusarigamajutsu (鎖鎌術).

- The war fan

It's called gunbai (軍配), gunbai uchiwa (軍配団扇) or dansen uchiwa (按司団扇).
As many of you already know Uchiwa, romanized as Uchiha, means fan. So there's one reason for Madara to carry a gunbai.

It's original purpose was to aid communication on the battlefield. Very much like how aircraft marshalling works nowadays.

There are many folk tales about war fans in general, but the gunbai has a few prominent ones.

For example, it's said that at one of the battles of Kawanakajima (川中島の戦い) Takeda Shingen (武田 信玄) took on Uesugi Kenshin (上杉 謙信) with his gunbai.
Kenshin had parried through Shingen's entire army, sword in hand, but Shingen stood there with his gunbai.
He deflected Kenshin's attack, hence, the gunbai began being regarded as a high ranking deflective and defensive weapon.

This story might have something to do with how Madara's gunbai seems to effortlessly withstand and deflect even the most OP attacks. :shrug:

- The scythe/sickle

It's called kama (鎌) in Japanese and it's considered to be a very versatile weapon.
It can either be used on it's own or it can be attached to a chain and used as a kusarigama (鎖鎌).

As I've mentioned above, kusarigamajutsu (鎖鎌術) was a well practiced branch of ninjutsu of the Kouga clan.
The kama was an easily concealed weapon of the ninja due to many farmers carrying one on them, so it was nearly impossible to accuse someone of having an ulterior motive whilst wielding one.
Besides, same as the hira shuriken, it could be used to determine the clan the ninja was from because of it's rarity. Only six clans included kusarigamajutsu or simply kamajutsu (鎌術) in their teachings, the pioneers being Kouga Ryuu and Shindou Muso Ryuu (神道夢想流) .

- The swords

The tachi (太刀) seems to be the same sword that pierced Madara in his battle against Hashi.

But yet again, I might be wrong, because I noticed something else.
In his earlier battles, Madara is seen to have a vast array of weapons, including a sword or two. The two swords just might be his old weapons, I don't think they have much of a significance though...

And just if you're wondering, the other sword on the right end side could be anything from a yoroi toshi (鎧通し) to a shinobigatana (忍刀).
They are usually straight, relatively short swords that accompany a tachi. Their main purpose is to pierce opposed to tachi whose main purpose is to cut. Both of them on one sash make quite a tag team.

- As a last note, I found something. Madara's gunbai, kama and kusari combo!

I stated above that kamas were usually wielded attached to a kusari which turned them into kusarigamas.

Well, lo and behold, Madara has taken it a step further and combined them both with his gunbai.

In the top left side of the first panel you can see Madara's gunbai and kama attached with his kusari.
So that might explain the kusarifundo on the wall. He might just mix and match the three weapons to his taste and additionally wield his two swords that are tucked in his sash whenever he wants.

Anyways, that's all for now, cheers!

[SasoriOfTheRedSaand]

Nice one, he could bring a pebble to a fight and it somehow would take out like 50 guys.

[★-Carnage-]

yup....kishi gets all his ideas from either real things or a religion...*****

[SasoriOfTheRedSaand]

yup....kishi gets all his ideas from either real things or a religion...*****

^ Also japanese mythology, or chinese.

[★Vēx]

Great thread ^_^

[Narutohokage7]

Great work, very interesting.

[★-Carnage-]

^ Also japanese mythology, or chinese.

yeah...by religion i meant mythology...lol

[Normal fanboy]

Epic thread it makes alot of since considering how naruto is based of alot Japanese folk tails and what not.

[jussayin]

wow, good research, thanks

[Chatte]

This is a very nice thread. Nice reading! Thanks for sharing the info!

[yondaime4]

well done.

[Kirin Rei]

Thanks guys.

There's really a hell of a lot more similarities between the Iga and Kouga clans and the Uchiha and Senjuu.

They're not that consistent, but Kishi seems to have taken snippets of their attributes and incorporated them into the story of the Senjuu and Uchiha.

For example, it's said that the founder of Kouga Ryuu, Oni no Kami Iechika (鬼の神家親) was trained by a buddhist monk named Tatsumaki Hoshi (竜巻星) on the arts of genjutsu and doujutsu. Actual, real life practices. Not the Narutoverse kind.

So in Narutoverse, the Uchiha who have similarities with the Kouga are masters of mind manipulation and ocular powers. :shrug:

Kishi needs to re-up his credibility.

Heads up for the incoming ban.

[minato23]

This is awesome

Good find :y

[kiros23]

good work! O_o

[Straw Hat Zoro]

Wow a lot of info and spot on great thread *****

[Cursed Prince]

nice thread

[adeshina365]

Brilliant thread.

[Codex]

Excellent stuff, as always!!! And welcome back. 'Tis been a while.

[Kirin Rei]

Excellent stuff, as always!!! And welcome back. 'Tis been a while.

Hahaha thanks, it's always nice to be back.
Oh, how I've missed it here.

[Vincent Kagamine]

Great job. You did your homework and came out on top + rep