Utagawa Kunisada-c1850-Horibe Yahei-Horibe Yasubei

An is a large wooden war mallet used by the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

class of

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inve ...

. The ōtsuchi had a shaft of about much like the ono (war axe). It was mainly used for

door breaching Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction (inward or outward), construction materials, etc., ...

.''Pauley's Guide - A Dictionary of Japanese Martial Arts and Culture''
Author Daniel C. Pauley, Publisher Samantha Pauley, 2009 P.131

References

Hammers Pole weapons Samurai weapons and equipment Weapons of Japan {{Martialart-stub