Wado Ichimonji

The Wado Ichimonji is a sword of great personal importance to Roronoa Zoro. It was forged by Shimotsuki Kozaburo and was once a prized heirloom of his family. It is also one of the 21 Great Grade swords. After the death of its previous owner, Kuina, Zoro asked for it from her father, who then gave the sword to him.

Appearance


The sword has a pure-white hilt with a circular handguard. The sheath is painted white, and the hardening line is suguha or straight blade.

In descriptive terms, Wado Ichimonji is a Shinogi Zukuri style Katana that has a traditional yet still stunning pure-white ito wrapped around a gray samegawa covering the tsuka (hilt), leaving a traditional diamond-shaped pattern. The end has a nice, simplistic kashira of the same color as the tsuba. The tsuba, or crossguard, also conveys a harmony of simplicity: It consists of a rounded oval thick tsuba from which the blade goes through, in a nice metallic golden color. To once again convey the beautiful simplicity of this blade, the colors of the edge are divided in perfect equality. The inner bo-hi is a deep black, while the outer ha, or edge, is a shining white. The blade curves slightly towards the end, with a stunning sharp tip that cuts through foes. The sheath represents a peaceful harmony, being completely white with a modest kojiri at the end.

It is described as "magnificent" by Tashigi when it catches her eye in Loguetown.

Abilities


As one of the masterpieces of the legendary Wano swordsmith, Shimotsuki Kozaburo, classified as one of the 21 Great Grade Swords, Wado Ichimonji is among the world's most powerful swords, second to Enma. Tashigi, a sword fanatic, described it as a magnificent katana of the highest caliber, not accepting the fact that such a famous blade was in the hands of a Bounty Hunter-turned Pirate, causing her to hunt Zoro. More than anything, Wado Ichimonji holds a great deal of significance to Zoro, though he'd allow others to examine it, he refuses to ever give this blade up to anyone.

Zoro prefers to place Wado Ichimonji in his mouth when using his Three Sword Style, though prior to the timeskip, he uses it when using his One Sword Style in some battles. After the timeskip, he appears to favor Shusui when using his One Sword Style.

It is extraordinarily durable, all without being imbued with Haki, withstanding a strike from Dracule Mihawk's Yoru, a Supreme Grade Sword and the Strongest Black Blade, which shattered his two ungraded swords, cut large battleships, and a giant iceberg. Both its durability and sharpness are further shown as Zoro used it for his One Sword Style Iai: Shishi Sonson against Mr. 1, cutting through his steel body, despite being lauded as being resistant to slashing attacks thus far. In another battle, Wado Ichimonji was capable of clashing against Shusui, a renowned black blade wielded by the zombified samurai, Shimotsuki Ryuma reanimated using Brook's shadow for an extended period of time, although, he was worried his katana would break if the battle continued.

After the timeskip, from his improved strength and skills, as well as using Busoshoku Haki, Wado Ichimonji's power and defense can be amplified, to the point of being able to cut down Pica at his gigantic form several times, before he cut him down completely coated in Haki. As mentioned by Kozuki Sukiyaki, because Wado Ichimonji and Enma were forged by the same person, it allows Zoro to get used to Enma rather quick during the time spent training. It managed to wound Kaidou having strengthened it using Haoshoku Haki and Busoshoku Haki, used alongside his Nine Sword Style: Ashura Bakkei: Moja no Tawamure, giving him another permanent scar.

Past
Sometime in the past, Wado Ichimonji was created by the swordsmith, Shimotsuki Kozaburo in the Wano Country. When Kozaburo left Wano, he took his handcrafted Meito sword with him. The sword was carefully stored in the warehouse of the Isshin Dojo rarely used as Koushirou does not have any need to use it for combat as his dojo used only wooden swords to train and teach his students. Once, Roronoa Zoro, a student of the Isshin Dojo and rival to Koushirou's daughter Kuina, challenged the girl to a fight with real swords. Kuina then borrowed Wado Ichimonji for this fight.

After Kuina's death, the sword was in the possession of her father, Koushirou. Zoro declared to Koushirou that he will become the strongest swordsman in the world and asked for the sword. Koushirou accepted his request and passed on Wado Ichimonji to his second-best student.

Loguetown Arc
Zoro was left with only Wado Ichimonji after two of his swords were broken in his fight with Dracule Mihawk. After arriving at Loguetown, he went into Ipponmatsu's arms shop to buy two more swords. The owner of the shop recognized Wado Ichimonji and asked Zoro to see the blade. Ipponmatsu tried to fool Zoro to sell his sword for a hefty price, but Zoro refused to sell it for any price.

Tashigi suddenly entered the shop and recognized the blade, and started to explain that the sword is one of the 21 O Wazamono grade swords and that it can only be sold for at least 10,000,000.

Later, when Tashigi found out about Zoro's true identity, she vowed to defeat him and retrieve the Wado Ichimonji from him.

Wano Country Arc
While training with his newfound Enma, Zoro was notified by Tenguyama Hitetsu of Wado Ichimonji's origins, and that it may have been the reason that Kozuki Hiyori chose to bequeath Enma to Zoro.

Trivia



 * In SBS Volume 92, Oda drew Zoro's swords personified as humans. Wado Ichimonji took the form of a man with a thick unibrow, large nose and lips, and dark hair fashioned into a topknot. This depiction bears a striking resemblance to Shimotsuki Kozaburo, the man who crafted the sword.

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