Muramasa Senji was a famous swordsmith who founded the Muramasa school and
lived during the Muromachi period in Japan. Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook
said that Muramasa "was a most skillful smith but a violent and ill-balanced
mind verging on madness, that was supposed to have passed into his blades.
They were popularly believed to hunger for blood and to impel their warrior to
commit murder or suicide." The school of sword-making at Ise
province was famous for the extraordinary sharpness of their blades.
The earliest known work of the school is dated at 1501; the Muramasa school
continued into the late 16th century. It is believed that Sengo Muramasa was a
student of Heianjo Nagayoshi, a prominent Kyoto swordsmith known for
spears and engravings. Other legends hold that he was a student of Masamune,
which is impossible, as Muramasa lived much later than Masamune.
The dates of Muramasa being active post 1500 are supported by the first dated
work in 1501. It was not unheard of for some Nihonto smiths to live 100 years
and a smith could feasibly have had an active period of 80 years, working with
assistants towards the end of their life. Swords attributed to the name
Muramasa may not belong to a single individual. There may have been three
generations working before the one who signed the 1501 blade. Muramasa blades
were recorded to be in the hands of famous Generals and Daimyo by 1535.
Muramasa's swords fell out of favor with the Japanese government when Tokugawa
Ieyasu became shogun, establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate, in 1603. It is said
that Ieyasu had lost many friends and relatives to Muramasa blades and had cut
himself badly with one, so he forbade his samurai to wield blades made by
Muramasa. This contributed even more to the Muramasa legend and led to many
plays and dramas in Japanese literature featuring the blades. Due to the stigma
attached to them, many Muramasa blades had their signature changed or removed.
Since opponents of the Tokugawa Shoguns would often wish to acquire Muramasa
blades, forgeries of Muramasa blades were also often made.
The swords of Muramasa are often contrasted in Japanese media with those
of Masamune, another Japanese swordsmith who lived some 300 years earlier, around
1264–1343 AD. Much like his unique reputation,
Muramasa is known for some fairly unique features in his work. The first
particular characteristic of his is the frequent use of a mirror image hamon.
The hamon of Muramasa is usually midareba with very shallow valleys
between a cluster of gunome shapes. The other easily identifiable feature one
will see on Muramasa blades is the fish-belly shape of the nakago.
"A story is told of an incident in Edo Castle. On Bunsei 6th, Matsudaira Geki
is said to have killed three men against whom he long held a grudge and the sword
Geki used was a Muramasa. Geki was working with 5 others in the library of
Nishimaru, he suddenly got up and without a word swung his sword, at which
the head of Honda Iori is supposed to have flown off at the shoulders. Toda
Hikonoshin got up to run but Geki cut him down diagonally in one strike across
the shoulder. Numata Sakyo was slashed across the waist and the second stroke
down at the shoulders. The three were cut down in 4 strokes. The others, Kami
Goro and Mabe Genjuro tried to run but also were cut down the back and across
the buttons, though the last two did not lose their lives. This will indicate the
capabilities of the Muramasa blade in the hand of a fairly good swordsman."
-Excerpt from Albert Yamanaka - JSS-US article
It has also been told that once drawn, a Muramasa blade has to draw blood before
it can be returned to its scabbard, even to the point of forcing its wielder to
wound himself or commit suicide. Thus, it is thought of as a demonic cursed
blade that creates bloodlust in those who wield it.
Cultural appearances The video game Terraria, there is a blue
blade that can only be found in a Dungeon Chest, which is called Muramasa
and was for a while the fastest sword in the game. It is stated in the wiki of
the game that it was included as a reference to Muramasas swords.
See also Masamune
http:www.muramasa.us/home.html References