* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi
草薙剣
Also known as: Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven; one of the Three Imperial Regalia
Description
Overview of the Kusanagi Sword—The Sword of the Three Imperial Regalia
The Kusanagi no Tsurugi, together with the Yata no Kagami and the Yasaka ni no Magatama, constitutes one of Japan's "Three Imperial Regalia" (Sanshū no Jingi), and has continued to occupy the core of Japan's history, culture, and religion as a symbol of the emperor's legitimate sovereign authority. Its original name is the "Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi," and it is said to be a divine sword that Susanoo no Mikoto drew from the tail of the Yamata no Orochi (Eight-Headed Serpent) of Izumo when he defeated it. It later acquired the name "Kusanagi Sword" based on the myth that Yamato Takeru no Mikoto, during his expedition to the eastern provinces, was attacked by rebellious forces with fire, but using this sword cut down the grass to escape the danger. The name "Grass-Cutting Sword" eternally binds together the sword's practical power and the hero's legend.
The Myth of the Yamata no Orochi and the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi
According to the Kiki mythology (the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki), Susanoo no Mikoto was driven from Takamagahara and descended to earth, arriving at the upper reaches of the Hii River in Izumo Province. There he learned that Kushinada-hime, the daughter of an elderly couple, was about to be sacrificed to an eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent called the Yamata no Orochi, and Susanoo resolved to slay the serpent. He caused the serpent to become intoxicated by giving it strong sake (eight-fold sake), and as he cut off the eight heads with his sword, the blade became damaged when he cut the tail. Puzzled, he split open the tail, and from within a single sword emerged—it was the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi. Susanoo is said to have presented this sword to Amaterasu Ōmikami as "a noble sword." This origin myth of a "divine sword born from within the serpent's body" remains one of the most dramatic scenes in Japanese mythology, and is deeply impressed upon Japanese cultural memory to this day.
Yamato Takeru and the Kusanagi Sword—The Hero's Journey
The story of how the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi came to be called the "Kusanagi Sword" is connected to one of Japan's greatest heroic myths. The divine sword granted by Amaterasu Ōmikami was enshrined at Ise Shrine, and later when Yamato Takeru no Mikoto visited Ise Shrine in preparation for his expedition to the eastern provinces, he received the sword from his aunt, Yamato-hime no Mikoto. When rebels in the eastern provinces set fire to the grassland to burn Yamato Takeru to death, Yamato Takeru cut down the surrounding grass with his sword and, further, lit a counter-fire with a fire-striker to escape the peril. The name "Kusanagi Sword" is said to have originated from this event. This story of a hero escaping from the jaws of death through the power of a divine sword embodies the fundamental theme of Japanese mythology that "divine power works through human hands," and the Kusanagi Sword has continued to hold a central place in Japan's epic tradition as the "hero's sword."
Enshrinement at Atsuta Shrine and Historical Changes
The Kusanagi Sword is currently enshrined as the sacred object at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. The shrine is said to have been founded in the 43rd year of Emperor Keiko's reign (according to the records, 113 CE), and tradition holds that it began when Miyazu-hime, the consort of Yamato Takeru no Mikoto, enshrined the sword after his death. Since then, the Kusanagi Sword has undergone numerous historical trials. In the 7th year of Emperor Tenji's reign (668 CE), the Silla monk Dōgyō is said to have stolen the Kusanagi Sword and attempted to carry it to the Korean peninsula by sea, but encountered a storm, was unable to succeed, and returned it to Atsuta Shrine (according to the Nihon Shoki). At the Battle of Dan-no-ura in the late Heian period (1185), it is said that all three imperial regalia were carried to western Japan by the Taira clan, and after passing through the battles of Yashima and Dan-no-ura, sank into the sea. While the Yata no Kagami and Yasaka ni no Magatama were recovered, two theories have long coexisted regarding the Kusanagi Sword: one that it sank into the sea and was lost, and another that what is at Atsuta Shrine is a copy (substitute) while the authentic sword sank at Dan-no-ura.
Political Significance as One of the Three Imperial Regalia
The political significance that the Kusanagi Sword has held as one of the Three Imperial Regalia is immeasurable. At the time of an emperor's enthronement, the succession of the Three Imperial Regalia forms the core of the ceremony, and the principle that "he who possesses the sacred regalia is the true emperor" functioned as a consistent political principle even during the upheaval of the Nanbokuchō period. During the Nanbokuchō period (1336–1392), when Emperor Godaigo carried away the Three Imperial Regalia to the Southern Court, the location of the regalia became directly tied to the question of "which is the legitimate emperor," and possession of the regalia became literally the proof of the legitimacy of political power. In modern times as well, the succession of the Three Imperial Regalia is regarded as the most important ritual act at an emperor's enthronement ceremony, and the Kusanagi Sword continues to be a presence at the very foundation of the Japanese state as "the oldest symbol of imperial legitimacy extending from myth to the present day."
The Mystery of Non-disclosure—The Kusanagi Sword Today
The Kusanagi Sword lies outside the framework of the ordinary cultural property designation system and has not been designated a National Treasure, but this does not mean it is "not under state control." As the sacred object of Atsuta Shrine, it is strictly protected, and it is extremely difficult for anyone other than the emperor and Shinto priests—including researchers—to view the actual object. While ancient documents contain fragmentary descriptions of what the Kusanagi Sword actually looks like, no modern scientific investigation has been conducted, and its true form remains shrouded in mystery. This characteristic of the Kusanagi Sword as an "unseen divine sword" embodies in its most extreme form the essence of the sacred in Japanese culture—the aesthetic principle of "hisureba hana" (secrecy enhances beauty), the sensibility that "hiddenness elevates sanctity"—and the existence of the Kusanagi Sword continues to function culturally as the ultimate example of Japanese mysticism, the idea that "invisibility confers supreme power."
Legends & Stories
The myths surrounding Kusanagi span the entire arc of Japanese legendary history. Susanoo's slaying of the eight-headed Yamato-no-Orochi and the discovery of the heavenly sword within the serpent's tail is one of the oldest and most powerful dragon-slaying narratives in the world — one of the great creation myths in which order (the god, the blade, the gift) emerges from chaos (the monster, death, darkness). Yamato Takeru's story — the greatest hero of early Japanese legend, sent on impossible missions by his father, ultimately dying far from home in a foreign land — turns on the sword at its crucial moment: surrounded by burning grassland set alight by treacherous enemies, the hero cuts the grass with the divine blade and fires a counter-blaze, surviving by the sword's power and his own ingenuity. The sword's later history is equally dramatic: the theft attempt by the Korean monk Dōgyō in 668, who was turned back by divine storms; the catastrophe of Dan-no-Ura in 1185, when the eight-year-old Emperor Antoku and the Three Regalia plunged into the sea together — the mirror and jewel recovered, but the sword possibly lost forever to the waves of the Inland Sea, leaving only a replica at Atsuta (or perhaps the original did survive). In 2019, during the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito, the sword (or its sacred replica) was formally transferred in the ancient ceremony of Kenji-tō Shōkei no Gi, the Inheritance of the Sword and Jewel — as it has been at every imperial succession for at least fourteen hundred years. The sword that cannot be seen remains the most powerful object in Japan.