Juzumaru Tsunetsugu

Overview of the Sword

One of the Five Greatest Swords, this renowned great blade is known as the sword worn by Nichiren the Great Monk, founder of the Nichiren sect, bearing a unique religious significance unlike any other. With a blade length of approximately 83.9 cm and a curve of approximately 3.0 cm, it displays a magnificent great-sword form that fully conveys the elegance of great swords from the early Kamakura period.

The Sword's Maker

The sword's creator, Aoe Tsunetsugu, was a sword smith of Bitchū Province (present-day western Okayama Prefecture) and is regarded as the founder or early leading master of the Aoe school.

Forging Method and Characteristics

The Aoe school was a group of sword smiths based at Aoe in Bitchū Province (present-day Kurashiki City), who possessed a distinctive style distinct from the Bizen tradition, particularly renowned for the beauty of their jigane. Tsunetsugu's swords are characterized by the Aoe school's signature crystalline-clear jigane, with tightly forged kobamame grain and finely spaced jigane surface details that exhibit a pure iron hue. The hamon is based on a straight suguha style with subtle small undulations worked throughout, displaying refined execution—unpretentious yet imbued with deep elegance and tranquility.

The name "Juzumaru" (Rosary Blade) derives from prayer beads wound around its hilt. When the monk Nichiren wore this great sword, the prayer beads were wound around it to demonstrate that he carried it not as a weapon, but as an extension of Buddhist religious implements.

Nichiren the Great Monk (1222–1282) was a monk of the Kamakura period who established the Nichiren sect through his advocacy of faith in the Lotus Sutra. His proselytizing activities faced fierce persecution by those in power, including exile to Izu and Sado and a failed execution attempt at Ryugu (the Ryugu Persecution), exposing him repeatedly to mortal danger. Even in his later years at Mount Minobu (present-day Minobu Town, Yamanashi Prefecture), mountain bandits and robbers frequented the area, and monks could not survive without provisions for self-defense.

The fact that Nichiren wore this great sword speaks to the severity of public order in the Kamakura period and Nichiren's pragmatic stance that to protect the dharma, one must first protect one's body.

After Nichiren's death, the Juzumaru was enshrined at Kuon-ji Temple on Mount Minobu, but at some point it left the temple and remained missing for a long time. Its dramatic rediscovery occurred at Honkō-ji Temple in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, around 1920 (Taishō era), and it remains housed there today. It was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1950 (Showa 25).

It is the only one of the Five Greatest Swords housed in a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple, imbued with a religious grandeur distinct from the treasured swords of the warrior class.