Masamune

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Masamune's portrait

Okazaki Masamune ( Japanese 岡 崎 正宗 ), also known under the name Okazaki Gorō ( 岡 崎 五郎 ), Gorō Nyūdō Masamune ( 五郎 入道 正宗 , dt. "Priest Gorō Masamune"), was one of the most famous swordsmiths in Japan . The exact dates of life are unknown. Today it is generally assumed that he made most of his swords, mainly katana and tantō blades in the style of the Sōshū tradition , between 1288 and 1328 in the Sagami province .

style

Exhibit in the museum of the city of Steyr

Masamune's swords were extremely beautiful and of excellent quality. This is particularly noteworthy because the steel available at the time was often of inhomogeneous composition. It is generally assumed that he brought the art of nie (embedding martensitic crystals in a pearlite matrix ), which in their appearance are reminiscent of stars in the night sky, to blossom.

Masamune was a pupil of Shintogo Kunimitsu and placed Suguha - blades with straight hardness line ago, but also created great notaries Hamon blades where the cutting edge has at the front edge of a gently undulating hardening line. There are also some blades with ko-midare (small irregularities) made in the manner of the ancient Bizen and Hoki Province styles.

His work is characterized by chikei (clear gray lines on the cutting edge) and kinsuji , a lightning-jet pattern on the blade. From the style of his work one can conclude that it was made from the late Kamakura period to the Namboku-chō .

Masamune swords are often named after a combination of the name of their maker and a specific name for the sword in question. One example is the Honjo Masamune, which as a symbol of the Tokugawa - shogunate served and passed from ruler to ruler. It is probably the most famous of the swords made by Masamune. Other well-known swords are Fudo Masamune , Kyogoku Masamune and Daikoku Masamune .

Among the swords listed in the Kyōho Meibutsu Cho, a directory of excellent swords from the collections of daimyos from the Kyōhō era , the weapons of Masamune are the most cited.

The Kyoho meibutsu Cho was on the orders of Tokugawa Yoshimune the Tokugawa - shogunate written in 1714 and consists of three books. The first book is known as Nihon Sansaku and contains a list of the works of the greatest swordsmiths from Toyotomi Hideyoshi and lists 41 blades by Goro Nyudo Masamune.

The works by Masamune that still exist today all have the status of a Japanese national treasure or are part of the imperial treasure. About half of them are short tantōs , the other half are katana with a standard length, half of which were originally made as longer nodachi and shortened to their current length by later generations.

Comparison with Muramasa

Masamune's swords are often compared to the work of Muramasa , another Japanese swordsmith from the 15th century. In the legends surrounding the blades of the two blacksmiths, the weapons of Muramasa are described as bloodthirsty and evil, while Masamune's blades are said to be calm and serene.

Swords

Honjō Masamune

The sword Honjō Masamune ( 本 庄正宗 ) is a katana , it was the symbol of the Tokugawa shogunate and was passed on from shogun to shogun. It is one of Masamune's most famous swords and is believed to be one of the best katana ever made. The name Honjō is probably derived from a previous owner, the general and lord of Echizen Honjō Shigenaga , who captured the sword in a battle.

The sword was declared a national treasure ( kokuhō ) in 1939 , but its whereabouts are unknown today: like so many historical swords, it was captured by the US Army at the end of World War II. To this day, the Honjō Masamune is considered lost, as it is unknown whether it was destroyed like many other swords or is still lying somewhere.

Fudō Masamune

This blade is one of the few that have been signed by Masamune and there is no doubt about its originality. It was bought by Toyotomi Hidetsugu for 500 Kan and was passed on to Shogun Ieyasu and from him to Maeda Toshiie . Maeda Toshitsune gave them back to the Shogun. The blade later became an heirloom of the Owari-Tokugawa . The Fudo Masamune is a tantō of about 25 cm (8 sun 6.5 bun) in length, with a root engraving on the omote side and a dragon on the ura. The blade is engraved with a representation of Fudō Myō-ō , a Buddhist deity who gave the blade its name.

Hōchō Masamune

This slim and elegant blade is a tanto of 21.8 cm in length. The blade has a gomabashi in sukashi. It was restored around 1919 and sold for about 10 hiki , which was about 14 ¢ US at the time. The Hocho Masamune is located in the Tokugawa Art Museum .

Kotegiri Masamune

Kotegiri or Kote giri is a kendo blow to the wrist. The name is derived from a previous owner, Asakura Ujikage, who used it to sever the steel gauntlet from the arm of an opposing samurai in the Battle of Toji in Kyoto . Oda Nobunaga came into possession of the sword and had it shortened to its current length. In 1615 it came into the hands of the Maeda clan, who gave it to Emperor Meiji , who was a well-known sword collector, as a gift in 1882 .

Hachiwari

A blade inscribed by Masamune:

  • 日本 鍛冶 祖 匠 (人) ( Nihon kaji soshō (jin) , German "The Japanese master swordsmith")
  • 五 島 入道 正宗 造 之 ( Gorō Nyūdō Masamune tsukuru no , dt. "Made by the priest Gorō Masamune")
  • 楠 多 門 兵衛 正 成 ( Kusunoki Tamon Hyōei Masashige , dt. " Kusunoki 'Tamon Hyōei' Masashige ")
  • 元 弘 元年 正月 吉日 ( Genkō gannen shōgatsu kichijitsu , dt. "A happy day in the first month of the first year of Genkō " (1331))

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 岡 崎 正宗 . In: デ ジ タ ル 大 辞 泉 の 解説 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved December 13, 2013 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ a b Hachiwara with the enscription "Priest Goro Masamune made this"
  3. ↑ a b c d Archive link ( Memento from April 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) History of Masamune by Jim Kurrasch
  4. ↑ Myths of History: The Lost Sword of the Samurai. In: Fernsehserien.de. Retrieved March 8, 2020 .
  5. ↑ http://www.tokugawa-art-museum.jp/english/parmanent/room1/tachi2.html
  6. ↑ Kote giri ( Memento of October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Okazaki is the family name, Masamune the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Masamune
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Okazaki, Masamune (full name); 岡 崎 正宗 (Japanese); 岡 崎 五郎 (Japanese); Okazaki Gorō; 五郎 入道 正宗 (Japanese); Gorō Nyūdō Masamune
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese swordsmith
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH 14th Century