is a legendary
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese
swordA sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
and one of three
Imperial Regalia of JapanThe , also known as the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, consist of the sword Kusanagi , the mirror Yata no Kagami , and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama...
. It was originally called but its name was later changed to the more popular
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grass Cutting Sword").
Legends
The history of the
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi extends into legend. According to
Kojikiis the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...
, the god
Susanoo, also known as is the Shinto god of the sea and storms. He is also considered to be ruler of Yomi.-Myths:In Japanese mythology, Susanoo, the powerful storm of Summer, is the brother of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, and of Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. All three were born from Izanagi, when...
encountered a grieving family of
kunitsukami ("gods of the land") headed by in
Izumo provincewas an old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku Region.- History :It was one of the regions of ancient Japan where major political powers arose...
. When Susanoo inquired of Ashinazuchi, he told him that his family was being ravaged by the fearsome
Yamata-no-Orochi, an eight-headed serpent of
Koshiwas an ancient province or region of Japan in the area of Echigo, Etchū and Echizen provinces. Also encompassed are Noto and Kaga provinces which were once part of Echizen. It was sometimes called ....
, who had consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and that the creature was coming for his final daughter, . Susanoo investigated the creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushinada-hime's hand in marriage, which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb (one interpreter reads this section as "using a comb he turns into [masquerades as] Kushinada-hime") to have her company during battle, he detailed his plan into steps.
He instructed the preparation of eight vats of
sake (rice wine) to be put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with eight gates. The monster took the bait and put one of its heads through each gate. With this distraction, Susanoo attacked and slew the beast (with his sword
Worochi no Ara-masaThe , , , or Worochi-no-Aramasa is the legendary sword of the Shinto god Susanoo. It was also the sword used by Izanagi to kill his offspring, Kagu-tsuchi.- History :...
). He chopped off each head and then proceeded to the tails. In the fourth tail, he discovered a great sword inside the body of the serpent which he called
Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, which he presented to the goddess
Amaterasu, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning "shining in heaven." The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great August kami who...
to settle an old grievance.
Generations later, in the reign of the Twelfth Emperor,
Keikō; also known as Ootarashihikooshirowake no Sumeramikoto, was the 12th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 71–130.-Legendary narrative:Keikō is...
,
Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi was given to the great warrior,
Yamato Takeru, originally Prince Ousu was a Japanese legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Keikō of Yamato, a legendary monarch who is traditionally counted as the 12th Tennō or Emperor of Japan. The tragic tale of this impressive figure is told in the Japanese chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki...
as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt,
Yamato-hime the Shrine Maiden of Ise Shrine, to protect her nephew in times of peril.
These gifts came in handy when Yamato Takeru was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous warlord. The lord had fiery arrows fired to ignite the grass and trap Yamato Takeru in the field so that he would burn to death. He also killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato Takeru used the
Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi to cut back the grass and remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind and cause it to move in the direction of his swing. Taking advantage of this magic, Yamato Takeru used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men, and he used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them. In triumph, Yamato Takeru renamed the sword
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (lit. "Grasscutter Sword") to commemorate his narrow escape and victory. Eventually, Yamato Takeru married and later fell in battle with a monster, after ignoring his wife's advice to take the sword with him.
History
Although the sword is mentioned in the
Kojikiis the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...
, this book is a collection of Japanese myths and is not considered a historical document. The first reliable historical mention of the sword is in the
Nihonshoki. Although the Nihonshoki also contains mythological stories that are not considered reliable history, it records some events that were contemporary or nearly contemporary to its writing, and these sections of the book are considered historical. In the
Nihonshoki, the Kusanagi was removed from the Imperial palace in 688, and moved to
Atsuta Shrineis a Shinto shrine traditionally believed to have been established during the reign of Emperor Keikō located in Atsuta-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in Japan. The shrine is familiarly known as Atsuta-Sama or simply as Miya...
after the sword was blamed for causing
Emperor Temmuwas the 40th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Temmu's reign lasted from 672 until his death in 686.-Traditional narrative:...
to fall ill. Along with the
jewelMagatama , are curved beads which first appeared in Japan during the Jōmon period.They are often found inhumed in mounded tumulus graves as offerings to deities . They continued to be popular with the ruling elites throughout the Kofun Period of Japan, and are often romanticised as indicative of...
and the mirror, it is one of the three
Imperial Regalia of JapanThe , also known as the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, consist of the sword Kusanagi , the mirror Yata no Kagami , and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama...
, the sword representing the virtue of valor.
Kusanagi is allegedly kept at Atsuta Shrine but is not available for public display, and its existence cannot be confirmed. During the
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, a Shinto priest, claimed to have seen the sword. According to him, the sword was about 84 cm long, shaped like
calamusAcorus calamus, commonly known as Sweet Flag or Calamus and erroneously as "rush" or "sedges", is a plant from the Acoraceae family, in the genus Acorus. It is a tall perennial wetland monocot with scented leaves and more strongly scented rhizomes...
, fashioned in a white metallic color, and well maintained. Another record claims that this priest died from the curse and the power of the sword, but this is most likely a story that was spread to emphasize its power. Recently, Japan's nationally run broadcasting station,
NHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
, went to Atsuta Shrine to videotape the sword but were turned away.
In
The Tale of the Heikeis an epic account of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War...
, a collection of oral stories transcribed in 1371, the sword is lost at sea after the defeat of the Heike clan in the
Battle of Dan-no-uraThe ' was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On March 24, 1185, the Genji clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike clan fleet, during a half-day engagement.The Taira were outnumbered, but...
, a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the Heike clan forces and the child
Emperor AntokuEmperor Antoku was the 81st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1180 through 1185. During this time, the imperial family was involved in a bitter struggle between warring clans...
at the hands of
Minamoto no Yoshitsunewas a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and the third and final son and child that Yoshitomo would father with Tokiwa Gozen. Yoshitsune's older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura...
. In the tale, upon hearing of the Navy's defeat, the Emperor's grandmother led the Emperor and his entourage to commit suicide by drowning in the waters of the strait, taking with her two of the three Imperial Regalia: the sacred jewel and the sword Kusanagi. The sacred mirror was recovered in extremis when one of the ladies-in-waiting was about to jump with it into the sea Although the sacred jewel is said to have been found in its casket floating on the waves, Kusanagi was lost forever. Although written about historical events,
The Tale of the Heikeis an epic account of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War...
is a collection of epic poetry passed down orally and written down nearly 200 years after the actual events, so its reliability as a historical document is questionable.
According to some records, the Tenth Emperor,
Emperor Sujin; also known as Mimakiiribikoinie no Sumeramikoto or Hatsukunishirasu Sumeramikoto; was the tenth emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession....
, is reported to have ordered the fashioning of a replica of Kusanagi. However, this information was reportedly only made public after it was known that the sword had been stolen. The imperial household claimed that it was the replica which was stolen, but it is just as likely that the replica was made after the fact to replace the irrecoverable sword. Sujin is considered a "legendary Emperor" by historians because there is insufficient evidence to assign him to a historical period.
Another story holds that the sword was reportedly stolen again in the sixth century by a monk from Silla. However, his ship allegedly sank at sea, allowing the sword to wash ashore at Ise, where it was recovered by Shinto priests. Given the somewhat fantastic nature of this story, its historical accuracy is questionable.
Due to the refusal of Shinto priests to show the sword, and the rather sketchy nature of its historical references, the current state of or even the existence at all of the sword as a historical artifact cannot be confirmed. The last appearance of the sword was in 1989 when Emperor
Akihitois the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...
ascended to the throne, the sword (including the jewel and the Emperor's two seals) were shrouded in packages.