* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Muramasa School
村正一派
A swordsmith lineage based in Kuwana, Ise Province (present-day Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture), active for several generations from the late Muromachi period to the early Edo period. Known as the "cursed Muramasa" due to a tradition that its blades were used in a number of misfortunes involving the Tokugawa family, though a view that is also influential holds that, in reality, Muramasa blades were widely used among Mikawa samurai, and that they were involved in Tokugawa misfortunes merely as a result.
Description
Overview and Base of Activity
Muramasa was a swordsmith lineage that was active for several generations from the late Muromachi period to the early Edo period, based in Kuwana District, Ise Province (present-day Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture).
Generational Chronology
Accounts vary depending on the source, but the first-generation Muramasa is said to have been active around the first year of Bunki (1501), the second-generation Muramasa around the first year of Tenbun (1532), the third-generation Muramasa around the first year of Tenshō (1573), and the lineage continued into the Edo period.
The "Cursed Sword" Legend and the Tokugawa Family
Based on the tradition that the blades used in these several misfortunes involving the Tokugawa family were all Muramasa (the incident in which Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, grandfather of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was slain by a retainer; the incident in which Ieyasu's father Hirotada was stabbed by a retainer; the matter in which Ieyasu himself was said to have been wounded by a Muramasa blade in childhood; and the incident in which Ieyasu's eldest son Nobuyasu was driven to commit seppuku), Muramasa came to be feared as the "cursed Muramasa" from the Edo period onward.
Later Assessment
That said, a view that is also influential holds that Muramasa was a practical battle blade widely used among Mikawa samurai, and that among the many Muramasa blades in circulation at the time, only a few that happened to be involved in Tokugawa family misfortunes were later transformed into tradition. Blades said to be by Muramasa survive today at the Tokugawa Art Museum and other locations, and apart from the legend of the cursed blade, the lineage is valued as a representative swordsmith lineage of Kuwana.
Characteristics of This Era
- A swordsmith lineage based in Kuwana District, Ise Province (present-day Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture), which continued for several generations from the late Muromachi period to the early Edo period
- The first-generation Muramasa is said to have been active around the first year of Bunki (1501), the second generation around the first year of Tenbun (1532), and the third generation around the first year of Tenshō (1573), and the lineage continued into the Edo period (accounts vary depending on the source)
- It is said that the blade used in the incident in which Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, grandfather of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was slain by a retainer was a Muramasa
- There is a tradition that the blades used in the incident in which Ieyasu's father Hirotada was stabbed by a retainer, Ieyasu's own wounding in childhood, and the seppuku of his eldest son Nobuyasu were all Muramasa
- Based on these traditions, from the Edo period onward Muramasa came to be feared as the "cursed Muramasa"
- On the other hand, a view that is also influential holds that Muramasa was a practical battle blade widely used among Mikawa samurai, and that only a very small portion of the Muramasa blades in circulation at the time happened to be involved in Tokugawa family misfortunes