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Ichimonji Shime
("Chrysanthemum-straight line"), often romanized with a somewhat misplaced hyphen as ''Kikuichi-monji'', is a collective name given to the ''katana'' (a type of Japanese sword) made by the thirteen swordsmiths who were in attendance to the Emperor Go-Toba in 1208. Each swordsmith was in attendance to the emperor for a month of the Japanese calendar. Most of the thirteen swordsmiths were from the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, which belongs to the Japanese sword#Bizen School, Bizen school. The swordsmiths of the Fukuoka-ichimonji School traditionally inscribed only the Japanese ''kanji'' character "Ichi" (δΈ€, ''one'') on the Tang (tools), tang of their swords as their signature. Among the forged swords, Imperial chrysanthemum emblem was engraved on the tang of the sword which the Emperor Go-toba cooled with water, which was the process of making the sword. Therefore, the swords made by thirteen swordsmiths together with the Emperor Go-toba came to be called 'Kiku-ichimoji.' (lit,. c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |