, commonly known as , was a famous

swordsmith Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodworkin ...

who founded the Muramasa school and lived during the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

(14th to 16th centuries) in Kuwana,

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears i ...

, Japan (current

Kuwana, Mie is a Cities of Japan, city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 141,045 in 60,301 households and a population density of 1000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kuwana is located i ...

).Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 5, pp. 166–167. In spite of their original reputation as fine blades favored by the

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

and his vassals, the

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

swords made by Muramasa gradually became a symbol of the anti- Tokugawa movement. Furthermore, in lore and popular culture from the 18th century, the swords have been regarded as .

Work

Style

Much like his unique reputation, Muramasa is known for some fairly unusual features in his work. These attributes are often called by terms prefixed with "Muramasa". * —The first particular characteristic of his is the frequent use of a wave-shaped hamon. The of Muramasa is categorized as , that is, it forms randomized wave-like shapes. In particular, Muramasa's has very long, shallow valleys between a cluster of shapes. Furtheremore, the front pattern and the back one often coincide well. In regards to ''hataraki'', or metallurgical patterns created through the differential heating and quenching process, his hamon are extremely clear cut with defined nioi. Muramasa's hamon are also known to be near exact symmetrical duplicates of one another, said to be extremely intricate and difficult in the process of the hamon creation process. * —The other easily identifiable feature one will see on Muramasa blades is the fish-belly (tanagobara) shape of the nakago. in the 19th century often simulated this style.

Notable works

Although the school of Muramasa is extremely famous in popular culture, none of their swords is designated as a

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

or an Important Cultural Property. Nabeshima Katsushige Portrait

is the only sword officially designated as an '.Sato, 1990. pp. 209-212.

Katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

, length 66.4 cm, curvature 1.5 cm, bottom width 2.8 cm, , , and (see also Glossary of Japanese swords). The front side contains a sign of Muramasa and a mantra sign (a mantra from

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō ''Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō'' () are Japanese words chanted within all forms of Nichiren Buddhism. In English, they mean "Devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra" or "Glory to the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra". The words refer to the Japanese ...

or the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of ...

). The back side contains a year sign 永正十年葵酉十月十三日 (13th day of the 10th month of Eishō 10, that is, 10th of November, 1513). It is highly probable that the date was chosen because the high priest

Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of B ...

died on the 13th day of the 10th month of

Kōan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-J ...

5 (1282). Both sides contain beautiful engravings of Kurikara ( Fudō Myō-ō's mythological sword empowered by a burning dragon). The style of the engravings is similar to those of the swordsmith Heianjō Nagayoshi, so some scholars suggest Muramasa studied under Nagayoshi. It is also silver-damascened with characters , which suggests that the sword was once in possession of

Nabeshima Katsushige (December 4, 1580 – May 7, 1657) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Born to Nabeshima Naoshige, he became lord of Saga-''han''. Biography Katsushige was born in Saga, the son of Nabeshima Naoshige. At the time, Naoshige was a ...

(1580-1657), the first

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

lord of Saga Domain. Later this sword was given to Katsushige's son Nabeshima Motoshige, the first lord of

Ogi Domain was a Japanese domain in the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Muramasa's students made excellent weapons too. Fujiwara Masazane, a disciple of Muramasa, forged

Tonbokiri The is one of three legendary Japanese spears created by the famed swordsmith Fujiwara Masazane, said to be wielded by the ''daimyō'' Honda Tadakatsu, a leading general of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The spear derives its name from the myth that a dragon ...

, one of the

Three Great Spears of Japan The Three Great Spears of Japan are three individual spears (yari) that were made and crafted by the greatest historical blacksmiths of Japan: # Tonbokiri (蜻蛉切): This spear once wielded by Honda Tadakatsu, one of the great generals of Tokuga ...

. Masazane also forged a sword called whose name came from a legend that

Sakai Tadatsugu was one of the most favored and most successful military commanders serving Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late-Sengoku period. He is regarded as one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa (''Tokugawa-Shitennō''). along with Honda Tadakatsu, Ii Naoma ...

killed a wild boar with this sword when accompanying Ieyasu in hunting.Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 1, pp. 107–108.

In history

Origin

The exact origin of the Muramasa school is unknown. The oldest extant sword equipped with both a name sign Muramasa and a date sign shows the year

Bunki was a after ''Meiō'' and before '' Eishō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1501 through February 1504. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1501 : The era name was changed to mark the anniversary of the enthronement of ...

1 (1501). Scholars, however, assert several swords signed with Muramasa (but without year signs) are slightly older than 1501 in light of their styles. It is generally thought that the school of Muramasa spanned at least three generations. It is hardly clear when the school disappeared, but some Muramasa swords contain the year sign

Kanbun A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. A ...

(1661-1673). Lores in the late Muromachi period (early 16th century–1573) stated that Muramasa I was a student of

Masamune , was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the ''Sōshū'' school. However, many of his forged ''tachi'' were made into ...

(c. 1300), the greatest swordsmith in Japan's history, and the Hon'ami family (family dynasty of swordpolishers and sword connoisseurs) commented that his

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

was the

Jōji was a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', lit. year name) of the Northern Court (Japan), Northern Court during the Nanboku-cho, Era of Northern and Southern Courts after Kōan (Muromachi period), ''Kōan'' and before Oan, ''Ōan''. This perio ...

era (1362–1368). Scholars from the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1600) to modern days, however, have dismissed the relationship of Masamune and Muramasa as fantasy because all of extant Muramasa swords are too new to support this theory.Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 5, p. 166. Another theory states that Muramasa I was a student of Heianjō Nagayoshi, a prominent

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

swordsmith known for spears and engravings. The school of , a notable branch of the Muramasa school, records Masashige I died in 1456, so Muramasa I was active before 1456 if we believe the record. , the epithet of Muramasa, is also covered with myths. A common belief states Muramasa I was born in a place called Sengo, but there is no such a place near Kuwana in reality.Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 5, p. 167. Another popular legend says the mother of Muramasa I worshipped the

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

Senju Kannon Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She w ...

and thus he was called Sengo, a shortened form of . Kanzan Sato claims that the starting year of Muramasa I was

Entoku was a after ''Chōkyō'' and before ''Meio''. This period spanned the years from August 1489 through July 1492. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1489 : The era name was changed to mark an event or a number of events. The old era ended ...

and

Meiō , also known as Mei-ō, was a after ''Entoku'' and before ''Bunki''. This period spanned the years from through . Reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1492 : The era name was changed to mark an event or a number of events. The old era ...

(1489-1501), that of Muramasa II was

Tenbun , also known as Tenmon, was a after ''Kyōroku'' and before '' Kōji''. This period spanned from July 1532 through October 1555. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1532 : At the request of Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the 12th ''shōgun'' of the ...

(1532–1539), and that of Muramasa III was Tenshō (1573–1591). On the other hand, Suiken Fukunaga considers the floruit of Muramasa I was around

Shōchō was a after ''Ōei'' and before ''Eikyō'', from April 1428 until September 1429. Reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1428 : The era name was changed to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenc ...

(1428-1429) and the 1501 sword was forged by Muramasa III.

Relationship to the Tokugawa dynasty

Because of their exquisite sharpness, Muramasa swords were favored especially by the samurai of Mikawa (led by

, the founder of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, and his ancestors).Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 5, p. 168. Naturally, when a misfortune happens in the Tokugawa clan, it is often related to Muramasa, definitely not because they are "cursed," but simply because most Mikawa samurai used these swords.

Matsudaira Kiyoyasu was the 7th lord over the Matsudaira clan during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japan. Kiyoyasu was the grandfather of the third "great unifier of Japan", Tokugawa Ieyasu. Biography Kiyoyasu gained control of the whole of northern Mikawa ...

, a grandfather of Ieyasu, was mistakenly killed by his own vassal Abe Masatoyo with a Muramasa. Ieyasu's father

Matsudaira Hirotada was the lord of Okazaki Castle in Mikawa province, Japan during the Sengoku Period of the 16th century. He is best known for being the father of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Biography Hirotada was the son of Matsudaira ...

was also stabbed with a Muramasa by Iwamatsu Hachiya, who lost his mind by excessive drinking. When Ieyasu's first son

Matsudaira Nobuyasu was the eldest son of Matsudaira Ieyasu. His ''tsūshō'' ("common name") was . He was called also , because he had become the lord of in 1570. Because he was a son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, he is often referred to, retroactively, as . Biography No ...

was forced to commit suicide (''

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

''), his beheader (''

kaishakunin A ''kaishakunin'' ( ja, 介錯人) is a person appointed to behead an individual who has performed seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide, at the moment of agony. The role played by the ''kaishakunin'' is called ''kaishaku''. Aside from being spared p ...

'') Amagata Michitsuna used a Muramasa. In spite of these unfortunate incidents, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his generation seemed to greatly appreciate Muramasa weapons. Ieyasu himself owned two swords forged by Muramasa and left them to his family; as of 2013, the

Owari-Tokugawa family The is a branch of the Tokugawa clan, and it is the seniormost house of the ''Gosanke'' ("three honourable houses of the Tokugawa").

Honda Tadakatsu , also called Honda Heihachirō (本多平八郎) was a Japanese samurai, general and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings along with Ii N ...

, one of the Four Greatest Generals under Ieyasu, wielded

Tonbogiri The is one of three legendary Japanese spears created by the famed swordsmith Fujiwara Masazane, said to be wielded by the ''daimyō'' Honda Tadakatsu, a leading general of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The spear derives its name from the myth that a dragon ...

, a legendary spear forged by Fujiwara Masazane, who studied under the Muramasa school.

, another of the Four, wielded Inoshishi-giri, a sword forged by Masazane. Later generations in the shogunate, however, gradually came to think of Muramasa as sinister items.

Arai Hakuseki was a Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of the Edo period, who advised the ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ienobu. His personal name was Kinmi or Kimiyoshi (君美). Hakuseki (白� ...

, the official

scholar-bureaucrat The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...

of the shogunate, commented "Muramasa is associated with not a few sinister events." Even ' (1849), the official history book published from the shogunate, cites , which tells a legend that Ieyasu regarded Muramasa as cursed items and banned them from his family, although it is clearly a fabricated story considering the heirloom of the Owari-Tokugawa family. In the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...

period (1853–1868), Muramasa was somehow considered to be a curse bringer against the shogunate, and thus shishi (anti-Tokugawa activists) wished to acquire Muramasa blades. Even though the school of Muramasa does not have an exalted or prestigious status to be used by the imperial family in ordinary times, a Muramasa was wielded by

Prince Arisugawa Taruhito was a Japanese career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army, who became the 9th head of the line of ''shinnōke'' cadet branches of the Imperial Family of Japan on September 9, 1871. Early life Prince Arisugawa Taruhito was born in Kyoto in 18 ...

, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army against the Tokugawa shogunate during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

(1868-1869). To satisfy growing demand, forgeries of Muramasa blades were also often made in this period.

Cultural significance

Sano Jirozaemon Murdering a Courtesan LACMA M

In popular culture, Muramasa swords have been often depicted as cursed swords with demonic powers. Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook said that Muramasa "was a most skillful smith but a violent and ill-balanced mind verging on madness, that was supposed to have passed into his blades. They were popularly believed to hunger for blood and to impel their warrior to commit murder or suicide." It has also been told that once drawn, a Muramasa blade has to draw blood before it can be returned to its

scabbard A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. As well, rifles may be stored in a scabbard by horse riders. Military cavalry and cowboys had scabbards for their saddle ring carbine rifles and Lever action, lever-action ...

, even to the point of forcing its wielder to wound himself or commit suicide. Thus, it is thought of as a demonic cursed blade that creates bloodlust in those who wield it. These images date back to

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

dramas in the 18–19th century such as (1781), ' (1860), (1880), and ' (1888).Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 5, p. 169. When was driven mad because of

power harassment Power harassment is a form of harassment and workplace bullying in which someone in a position of greater power uses that power to harass or bully a lower-ranking person. It includes a range of behavior from mild irritation and annoyances to ser ...

from his superiors and killed them in

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established the ...

in the 6th year of

Bunsei was a after ''Bunka'' and before ''Tenpō''. This period spanned the years from April 1818 through December 1830. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * April 22, 1818 (): The new era name was created to mark the enthronement of the emper ...

(1823), townspeople rumored that Geki used a Muramasa, although actually the sword had no sign and there was no evidence to support the rumor. This incident shows how great the influence of kabuki dramas upon common people was.

References

Bibliography

* Sato, Kanzan (1990) (in Japanese) . Akita Shoten. . * Fukunaga, Suiken (1993) (in Japanese) . Yūzankaku. {{ISBN, 4-639-01202-0. Japanese swordsmiths 16th-century Japanese people