Muramasa
Muramasa (村正?), commonly known as Sengo Muramasa (千子村正?), was a famous swordsmith who founded the Muramasa school and lived during the Muromachi period (14th to 16th centuries) in Kuwana, province of Ise, Japan (present-day Kuwana (Mie)).
Despite their original reputation for fine blades favored by the Tokugawa shogun Ieyasu and his vassals, katana swords gradually became a symbol of the anti-Tokugawa movement. Furthermore, in the tradition and popular culture of the 18th century, swords have been considered yōtō (妖刀.
Work
Style
Like his unique reputation, Muramasa is known for some rather unusual features in his work. These attributes are often called by terms prefixed with 'Muramasa'.
- Muramasa-ba ( "Borde type Muramasa"?) The first particular characteristic of it is the frequent use of a hamon in wave form. The Hamon of Muramasa is classified as gunome-midareI mean, random waveforms. In particular, the gunome-midare Muramasa has very long and shallow valleys among a group of forms gunome. In addition, the front and rear pattern often match well.
- Muramasa-nakago (Русский "Spider in Muramasa style"?) The other easily identifiable feature that will be seen in the leaves of Muramasa is the shape of the nakago belly (tanagobara). Hayashi Shigehide (oriented?) in the centuryXIX I often simulated this style.
Notable works
Although the Muramasa school is extremely famous in popular culture, none of its swords are designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Property.
Myōhō Muramasa (妙法村正 "Muramasa of the Sublime Dharma"?) is the only sword officially designated as an important work of art. Uchigatana, length 66.4 cm, curvature 1.5 cm, lower width 2.8 cm, shinogi -zukuri, iori-mune and chū-kissaki nobi (see also Glossary of Japanese swords). The front side contains a Muramasa sign and a myōhō renge kyō mantra sign (妙法 蓮華経?) (a mantra from Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō or the Lotus Sutra of Nichiren Buddhism). The reverse contains a year sign 永正十年葵酉十月十三日 (13th day of the tenth month of Eishō 10, i.e. 10 November 1513). It is very likely that the date was chosen because the high priest Nichiren died on the 13th day of the tenth month of Kōan 5 (1282). Both parts contain beautiful engravings of Kurikara (the mythological sword of Fudō Myō ō empowered by a flaming dragon). The style of the engravings is similar to that of the blacksmith Heianjō Nagayoshi, so some scholars suggest that Muramasa studied with Nagayoshi. It is also silver damask with the characters Nabeshin (鍋信?), suggesting that the sword was once in the possession of Nabeshima Katsushige (1580-1657), the first daimyō lord of Saga Domain. This sword was later given to the son of Katsushige, Nabeshima Motoshige, the first lord of Ogi Domain, and has been inherited by his successors.
Muramasa's students also made excellent weapons. Fujiwara Masazane, a disciple of Muramasa, forged Tonbokiri, one of the Three Great Spears of Japan. Masazane also forged a sword called Inoshishi-giri (猪切 "Boar Killer"?) whose name comes from a legend that Sakai Tadatsugu killed a wild boar with this sword when he accompanied Ieyasu on the hunt.
History
Origin
The exact origin of the Muramasa school is unknown. The oldest extant sword equipped with a Muramasa name sign and a date sign shows the year Bunki 1 (1501). Scholars, however, claim that several swords signed Muramasa (but without year signs) are slightly older than 1501 in light of their styles. The Muramasa school is generally believed to have spanned at least three generations. It is unclear when the school disappeared, but some Muramasa swords contain the Kanbun year sign. (1661-1673).
Lords in the late Muromachi period (early XVI-1573) declared that Muramasa I was a student of Masamune (c. 1300), the greatest swordsman in Japanese history, and the Hon'ami family (family dynasty of swordsmen and sword connoisseurs) commented that their floruit was the Jōji era (1362–1368). However, Scholars from the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1600) to modern days have dismissed the relationship of Masamune and Muramasa as fantasy because all extant Muramasa swords are too new to support this theory. Another theory claims that Muramasa I was student of Heianjō Nagayoshi, a prominent Kyoto swordsman known for his spears and engravings. The Masashige School (正 重?), a notable branch of the Muramasa school, records Masashige I died in 1456, so Muramasa was active before 1456 if the record is to be believed.
Sengo (千子?), Muramasa's epithet, is also covered in myths. A common belief says that Muramasa was born in a place called Sengo, but in reality there is no such place near Kuwana. Another popular legend says that Muramasa's mother worshiped the bodhisattva Senju Kannon and was therefore called Sengo, a shortened form of Senju no ko (千手の子 "son of Senju"?).
Kanzan Sato states that Muramasa I's starting year was Entoku and Meiō (1489-1501), Muramasa II's was Tenbun (1532-1539), and Muramasa III's was Tenshō (1573-1591). On the other hand, Suiken Fukunaga considers that the Muramasa floruit was close to Shōchō (1428-1429) and the 1501 sword was forged by Muramasa III.
Relationship with the Tokugawa dynasty
Due to their exquisite sharpness, Muramasa swords were especially favored by the Mikawa samurai (led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, and his ancestors). Naturally, when misfortune occurs in the Tokugawa clan, is often associated with Muramasa, definitely not because they are 'cursed', but simply because most Mikawa samurai use these swords. Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, a grandfather of Ieyasu, was mistakenly killed by his own vassal Abe Masatoyo with a Muramasa. Ieyasu's father, Matsudaira Hirotada, was also stabbed with a Muramasa by Iwamatsu Hachiya, who lost his mind from excessive drinking. When Ieyasu's first son, Matsudaira Nobuyasu, was forced to commit suicide (seppuku), his beheader (kaishakunin) Amagata Michitsuna used a Muramasa.
Despite these unfortunate incidents, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his generation seemed to greatly appreciate Muramasa's weapons. Ieyasu himself owned two swords forged by Muramasa and left them to his family; As of 2013, the Owari-Tokugawa family still has one of the two as an inheritance. Honda Tadakatsu, one of Ieyasu's Four Greatest Generals, wielded Tonbokiri, a legendary spear forged by Fujiwara Masazane, who studied at the school of Muramasa. Sakai Tadatsugu, another of the Four, wielded Inoshishi-giri, a sword forged by Masazane.
However, later generations in the shogunate gradually came to think of Muramasa as sinister items. Arai Hakuseki, the official academic bureaucrat of the shogunate, commented: "Muramasa is associated with sinister events." Even Tokugawa Jikki (1849), the official history book published since the shogunate, quotes Kashiwazaki Monogatari (柏 崎 物語? 1787), which tells a legend that Ieyasu considered Muramasa as objects cursed and banned them from his family, although it is clearly a made-up product. history considering the heritage of the Owari-Tokugawa family.
In the Bakumatsu period (1853-1868), Muramasa was somewhat considered a bearer of curses against the shogunate, and therefore shishi (anti-Tokugawa activists) wished to acquire Muramasa blades. Although The Muramasa school does not have an exalted or prestigious status to be used by the imperial family in ordinary times, Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army against the Tokugawa shogunate, exercised a Muramasa. Boshin War (1868-1869). To meet growing demand, fake Muramasa blades were also often made in this period.
Cultural relevance
In popular culture, Muramasa swords are often depicted as swords cursed with demonic powers. Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook said that Muramasa' was a very skilled blacksmith but a violent and poorly balanced mind bordering on madness, which was supposed to have passed to the blades from him. It was popularly believed that they hungered for blood and would drive their warrior to commit murder or suicide. It has also been said that once unsheathed, a Muramasa blade must draw blood before it can return to its sheath, even up to the point of forcing its wielder to injure or commit suicide. Therefore, it is considered a demonic cursed sword that creates bloodlust in those who wield it.
These stereotypical images date back to kabuki dramas in the 17th century. 18th-19th century, like Katakiuchi Tenga Jaya Mura (敵討天下茶屋聚 ?) (1781), Hachiman Matsuri Yomiya no Nigiwai (1860), Konoma no Hoshi Hakone no Shikabue (木間星箱根鹿笛? ) (1880), and Kago-tsurube Sato-no-Eizame (1888).
When Matsudaira Geki went mad from the power harassment of his superiors and killed them in Edo Castle in the sixth year of Bunsei (1823), the townspeople rumored that Geki used a Muramasa, although in reality the sword It had no signal and there was no evidence to support the rumor. This incident shows how great the influence of Kabuki dramas was on common people.
In the manga and anime One Piece there are Kitetsu katanas, famous for their great quality but considered cursed, which is a clear reference to the Muramasa.
In the anime Bleach, Muramasa is one of the main antagonists.
DC's Katana uses a sword called "the Soul Thief" made by muramasa.
In several Marvel Comics stories, Muramasa is a blacksmith who forges a sword used for a time by Wolverine. Wounds inflicted by the Muramasa sword could not be healed by the comic book characters' accelerated healing factor.
In the game Happy Wars the muramasa is a limited edition and somewhat difficult to obtain.
In the anime Akame ga Kill! one of the protagonists, Akame, uses the cursed sword Murasame, which she kills with a single slash. This is a clear reference to the Murasama swords.
In the game Metal Gear Rising, the antagonist Sam carries a red muramasa sword, which is unlockable.
In the game Yakuza (video game), the Muramasa sword can be obtained in the casino in exchange for 9,800 Chips.
In the anime, manga and light novel C3 — Cube x Cursed x Curious there is a character named "Konoha Muramasa" which she has the ability to transform into a Muramasa sword and be manipulated by its owner, in addition to possessing sword cutting abilities with her hands in human form. It is mentioned that it was a cursed tool whose curse made its owner go crazy and want to cut anyone who crossed him, nicknamed it "sword of the demon";
In Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II (2008 video game) Muramasa has a shop where the player can upgrade Ryu Hayabusa's weapons.
Guernsey producer Alexander Crossan chose the stage name Mura Masa in honor of Sengo Muramasa.
In the video game Fate/Grand Order he is a Servant of the Saber class.
In the video game Terraria there is a sword called Muramasa.
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