is a name of a Japanese school of swordsmiths from
Higo province who produced swords in the ''Bizen'' tradition during the feudal period of Japan.
''The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords''
Kōkan Nagayama, Kodansha International, 1998 9784770020710 P.34, 106, 197
Dotanuki School
The Dotanuki school evolved in Higo Province with its ancestry going back to the famous "Enju Kunimura" (延寿 国村). Enju Kunimura founded the Higo Enju school in approximately 1305. Kunimura was born in Yamato province to the swordsmith Hiromura. He moved to Yamashiro province, became a student of Rai Kuniyuki, and later married Kuniyuki's daughter. Kunimura then moved to Higo and founded the Enju school. There are only six blades by Kunimura known to exist.
The Dotanuki school emerged in the small Higo village of Dotanuki in the mid-16th century, following the decline of the Higo Enju school in the latter part of the Koto period. The Dotanuki school founder is said to be Dotanuki Masakuni, he was called Oyama Kozuke no Suke and his original signature was Nobuyoshi. The famous general Katō Kiyomasa
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was Higo-no-kami. His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Hideyoshi's Seven Spears of Shizugatake.
Biography ...
honored Masakuni with one character of his name, and from that point onward Nobuyoshi was known as Masakuni. However, the majority of his works are only signed "Dotanuki Kozuke no Suke".
Dotanuki swords quickly gained great popularity among the warrior class due to their superior cutting ability. The Dotanuki smiths cared little for aesthetics, but instead focused on strength, sharpness, and durability in the field. They were renowned for producing blades which would endure the harshest conditions, the most difficult battle field situations and survive to return to battle day after day, year after year.
Fictional references
The dōtanuki has appeared in several entertainment outlets, featured as a blade wider and thicker than any normal build of katana. Ogami Ittō in the manga ''Lone Wolf and Cub
is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and i ...
'' had a dōtanuki (using the spelling 胴太貫 “torso–thick–penetrate”) as his principal weapon. The katana named ''Gassan'' in Soulcalibur II
is a 2002 fighting game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco and the third installment in the ''Soulcalibur'' series of weapon-based fighting games. It is the sequel to ''Soulcalibur'', which was released in July 1998. Originally in ...
and Soulcalibur III is a dōtanuki. ''Gassan'' is wielded by Heishiro Mitsurugi in Soulcalibur II.
Many works of historical fiction write ''dōtanuki'' with different characters as 胴田貫 (roughly "torso– paddy–penetrate"), with a folk etymology claiming it is because when used to cut the torso of a cadaver lying down in a paddy, the sword would pierce right through it and into the field. This name and story apparently originated in fiction, as they are not found in any historical manuals or catalogues.
References
External links
Information about nihonto and dōtanuki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dotanuki
Japanese swordsmiths