Masamune
Masamune Okazaki
(岡崎 正宗 Okazaki Masamune),
also known as Goro Nyudo Masamune (Priest Goro Masamune), is widely
recognized as Japan's greatest swordsmith. As no exact dates are known for
Masamune's life, he has reached an almost legendary status. It is generally
agreed that he made most of his swords in the early-to-mid 14th century,
1288 - 1328. He created swords,
known as katana
in Japanese and daggers called tantō, in the Soshu
tradition. He is believed to have lived and worked in the Sagami Province.
An award for swordsmiths exists called the Masamune prize which is
awarded at the Japanese Sword Making Competition.
Although not awarded every year it is presented to a swordsmith who has created
an exceptional work.
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Style The swords of Masamune have a reputation
for superior beauty and quality, remarkable in a period where the steel necessary
for swords was often impure. He is considered to have brought the art of
'nie' (martensitic
crystals
embedded in pearlite
matrix, thought to resemble stars in the
night sky) to its perfection. Masamune studied under Shintogo Kunimitsu and made blades in suguha
(straight temper
line) but he made magnificent notare hamon, where the leading edge of blade
slowly undulates where it was quenched. There are also some blades with ko-midare (small
irregularities) which appears to have been copied from the Old Bizen and Hoki Province
styles. His works are well characterized by rich chikei (clear grey lines on
the leading edge) and kinsuji (lines like lightning streaking across the
blade), and beautiful nie a grey shadow on the front of the blade caused by
quenching. Swords created by Masamune often are
referred to with the smith's name (much the same way that other pieces of
artwork are), often with a name for the individual sword as well. The Honjo
Masamune, a symbol of the Tokugawa shogunate and passed down from one shogun
to another, is perhaps the best known Masamune sword. Signed works of Masamune are rare. The
examples "Fudo Masamune", "Kyogoku Masamune", and "Daikoku
Masamune" are accepted as his genuine works. Judging from his style, he
was active from the late Kamakura period to the Nanboku-cho era. His swords are the most frequently cited
among those listed in the Kyōho Meibutsu Cho[4],
a catalogue of excellent swords in the collections of daimyos edited during
the Kyoho
era by the Hon'ami family of sword appraisers and polishers. The catalogue
was created on the orders of the Tokugawa Yoshimune of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1714 and consists of
three books. The first book known as the Nihon Sansaku is a list of the three
greatest sword smiths in the eyes of Toyotomi Hideyoshi including Etchu Matsukura Go Umanosuke
Yoshihiro, Awataguchi Toshiro Yoshimitsu, and lists
41 blades by Goro Nyudo Masamune. The three books together list 61 blades by
Masamune. There are far more blades listed for Masamune than the next two
sword smiths combined. It is known that Hideyoshi had a passion for Soshu
sword smiths which may explain this. A third of all swords listed are Soshu
blades by many of the greatest Soshu masters including Masamune's students. The swords of Masamune are often contrasted
with those of Muramasa,
another Japanese swordsmith. Muramasa has alternatively been described
(incorrectly) as a full contemporary of Masamune, or as Masamune's student.
Since Muramasa dated his work, it is known he worked right around 1500 AD, and as
such he lived too late to have met Masamune. In legend and fantasy,
Muramasa's blades are described as bloodthirsty or evil while Masamune's are
considered the mark of an internally peaceful and calm warrior. Legends of Masamune and Muramasa A legend
tells of a test where Muramasa challenged his master, Masamune, to see who
could make a finer sword. They both worked tirelessly and eventually, when
both swords were finished, they decided to test the results. The contest was
for each to suspend the blades in a small creek with the cutting edge facing
the current. Muramasa's sword, the Juuchi Fuyu (10,000 Winters) cut
everything that passed its way; fish, leaves floating down the river, the
very air which blew on it. Highly impressed with his pupil's work, Masamune
lowered his sword, the Yawaraka-Te (Tender Hands), into the current
and waited patiently. Not a leaf was cut, the fish swam right up to it, and
the air hissed as it gently blew by the blade. After a while, Muramasa began
to scoff at his master for his apparent lack of skill in the making of his
sword. Smiling to himself, Masamune pulled up his sword, dried it, and
sheathed it. All the while, Muramasa was heckling him for his sword's
inability to cut anything. A monk, who had been watching the whole ordeal,
walked over and bowed low to the two sword masters. He then began to explain
what he had seen. "The first of
the swords was by all accounts a fine sword, however it is a blood thirsty,
evil blade as it doesn't discriminate as to who or what it will cut. It may
just as well be cutting down butterflies as severing heads. The second was by
far the finer of the two, as it doesn't needlessly cut that which is innocent
and undeserving." In another account of the story, both
blades cut the leaves that went down on the river's current equally well, but
the leaves would stick to the blade of Muramasa whereas they would slip on
past Masamune's after being sliced. Or alternatively both leaves were cut,
but those cut by Masamune's blade would reform as it traveled down the
stream. Yet another version has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade while
the leaves were repelled by Masamune's, and another again has leaves being
sliced by Muramasa's blade and healed by Masamune's. In yet another story Muramasa and Masamune
were summoned to make swords for the Shogun
or Emperor and the finished swords were held in a waterfall. The result is
the same as the other stories, and Masamune's swords are deemed holy swords. In one
version of the story Muramasa is killed for creating evil swords. While all known legends of the two ever
having met are historically impossible, both smiths are widely regarded as
symbols for their respective eras. Masamune is believed to have trained a
great number of sword smiths, 15 are known, 10 of which are considered to be
the Juttetsu or 'Ten Famous Students' or "10 Great Disciples of
Masamune". (備州長船住長義作 - Bishu Osafune Ju Chogi Saku) (備前國長船住長義 - Bizen Kuni Osafune Ju Chogi) (備前國長船住兼光 - Bizen Kuni Osafune Ju Kanemitsu) (備州長船住兼光 - Bishu Ssafune ju Kanemitsu) (備前國長船住左衛門尉藤原兼光 - Bizen no Kuni Osafune ju Saemonjo Fujiwara Kanemitsu) (兼氏 - Kaneuji) (金重) (長谷部国重 - Hasebe Kunishige) (来源国次 - Rai Minamoto Kunitsugu) (左 - Sa) (筑州左 - Chikushu Sa) (筑前國住左 - Chikuzen no Kuni ju Sa) (則重 - Norishige, 佐伯 - Saeki) (郷,義弘 - Go,Yoshihiro) (石州出羽直綱作 - Sekishu Izuwa Naotsuna Saku) (直綱作 - Naotsuna Saku) ·
Fuji · Tomishi · Hiromitsu (相模國住人廣光 - Sagami Kuni Junin Hiromitsu) - Along with Akihiro brought about the
second period of the Soshu style. · Sadamune
- A student and possibly son or adopted son of Masamune. Like his father he
left no signed work, but is considered peerless in the Soshu tradition after
Masamune. · Akihiro (相州住秋廣 - Soshu Ju Akihiro) (相模國住人秋廣 - Sagami Kuni Junin Akihiro) - A direct student of Masamune, along with
Hiromitsu was responsible for refineing the Soshu style to create the Soshu
second period. The Honjo Masamune[4]
is a katana,
a Japanese
sword
most commonly carried by samurai. This katana represented the Shogunate
during most of the Tokugawa Era and had been passed down from one Shogun to
another. It is one of the best known of the swords created by Masamune and is
believed to be one of the finest katana ever made. It was made a Japanese
National Treasure (Kokuhō) in 1939. The name Honjo possibly came about
due to this swords connection to the general Honjo Shigenaga
本庄越前守重長 (Honjo "Echizen no kami" Shigenaga) who gained the sword in
battle. Honjo Shigenaga, general of Uesugi Kenshin[4]
in the 16th century, was attacked by Umanosuke who already possessed a number
of trophy heads. Shigenaga was attacked with the Honjo Masamune which split
his helmet, but he survived and took the sword as a prize. The blade had a
number of chips from the great battle but was still usable. The blade was
kept by Shigenaga until he was sent to Fushimi Castle,
Bunroku
around 1592-1595. Shigenaga ran out
of funds and was forced to sell the sword to Toyotomi Hidetsugu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew and retainer. It
was bought for 13 Mai, 13 O-Ban, which was 13 large gold coins. The blade was
later valued in the Kyoho Meibutsu Cho at 1,000 Mai. It then went to Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉, Shimazu Hyogo Yoshihiro 島津義弘, again to Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu
徳川家康, Tokugawa Yorinobu 徳川頼宣, and finally Tokugawa Ietsuna 徳川家綱. It remained in the Kii 紀伊 branch of the Tokugawa family, the last known owner being Tokugawa
Iemasa 徳川家正 at the end of World War II. Apparently Tokugawa Iemasa
gave the Honjo Masamune and 14 other swords to a police station at Mejiro in December of 1945. Shortly thereafter in January
1946, the Mejiro police gave these swords to Sgt. Coldy Bimore (U.S. 7th Cavalry).
The Honjo Masamune is with out a doubt the most important of the missing
Nihonto, still today the current location of the sword is unknown.[8] As previously mentioned this is one of the
few blades signed by Masamune that is not in question. It was bought by Toyotomi Hidetsugu[4]
in 1601
for 500 Kan and was passed to Shogun Ieyasu
and from him to Maeda Toshiie. Maeda Toshitsune
presented it again to the Shogun, possibly on his retirement. Later, the
sword was handed down among the Owari Tokugawa. This blade is a tantō approximately 25 cm (8
sun 6.5 bun) with a carving of roots on the Omote (Front, outer edge) side.
It also has chopstick like grooves (Gomabashi 護摩箸) on the back and a Dragon at the ura part of blade (Kurikara 倶利伽羅). The blade features an engraving of Fudo Myo-o,
the buddhist
deity which gives this blade its name[9]. The "Hōchō" Masamune refers to any one of three particular and unusual tantō[9]
attributed to Masamune. These tanto have a wide body, unlike his normal slim
and elegant work, making them appear quite similar to a Japanese Chef's
knife, or in other words, a kitchen knife (a hōchō or bōchō). One of the three blades has a Gomabashi in cutout (Sukashi). It was
restored around 1919 and sold for approximately 10 Hiki which was worth
around 14¢ US at the time. Even taking inflation into account the price is
still amazingly low. It is presently on display in the Tokugawa Art Museum. Kotegiri
Masamune The Kotegiri (or Kote giri) is a kendo
strike to the wrist , the reason for the choice of name comes from this
Katana being used by Asakura Ujikage to cut the steel mail off an opposing
samurais arm in the battle of Toji in Kyōto. Oda Nobunaga gained possession
of this sword and had it shortened to its present length. In 1615 it
eventually passed down to the Maeda clan who in 1882 presented it as a gift
to Emperor Meiji, a known sword collector. Helmet Breaker The Helmet Breaker is a fascinating blade
inscribed by Masamune and is purported to read: · Made by the Japanese Swordsmith ·
Priest Goro Masamune made this ·
A lucky day in the first month of the first year of
Genko (1331) · Made for Kusunoki Masanari |
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