* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Ningen Mukotsu
人間無骨
Also known as: Ningen Mukotsu; the cross-bladed spear of Mori Nagayoshi
Description
The Spear of the Demon Musashi
Ningen Mukotsu is a cross-bladed spear made in the Muromachi period, known as the favoured weapon of Mori Nagayoshi, a commander who served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nagayoshi was the elder brother of Mori Ranmaru and was feared under the sobriquet "Oni Musashi," the Demon Musashi, for the ferocity of his fighting. The spear is today in a private collection.
Signature and Carving
The characters for "ningen" are carved on the front of the blade and "mukotsu" on the reverse, and it is from these that the spear takes its name. The sense is that it cuts through a person as though the body had no bones at all, a fearsome name boasting of the weapon's edge. The tang bears the signature of Izumi no Kami Kanesada, and the work is attributed to the second generation of that name, commonly called Nosada, regarded as the finest master among the successive Kanesada smiths.
Construction
The blade measures roughly 37.5 cm in length, with a width of about 35.7 cm including the side blades. It is exceptionally large and heavy for a cross-bladed spear, and wielding it freely in battle would have demanded considerable physical strength. The long side blades served not only for thrusting but for sweeping strokes and cuts delivered from horseback.
Mori Nagayoshi and the Spear
Nagayoshi is said to have taken up this spear at the age of seventeen and to have claimed twenty-seven heads in the engagement, a feat for which his lord Oda Nobunaga praised him highly. He wielded Ningen Mukotsu on many battlefields thereafter, and his valour and ferocity were recounted together with the name Demon Musashi. Nagayoshi fell in battle at Komaki and Nagakute in 1584.
Legends & Stories
The name Ningen Mukotsu comes from the characters carved on the two faces of the blade, meaning that against this spear a human body might as well have no bones. Mori Nagayoshi is said to have wielded it at seventeen and taken twenty-seven heads, winning high praise from Oda Nobunaga. Ever after it has been spoken of as the weapon that symbolised the ferocity of the man feared as the Demon Musashi.