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Warriors ・ Beginner
Ten questions on the bonds between Sengoku–Edo warlords and their famous swords and spears — from Tonbokiri and Nihongo to Heshikiri Hasebe and Raikiri — all based on verified historical sources and cultural property records.
Tonbokiri (Dragonfly Cutter) was the beloved spear of Honda Tadakatsu (1548–1610), one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings. Its name comes from the legend that a dragonfly landed on the blade and was sliced in two. Forged by Fujiwara Masazane, it is one of the Three Greatest Spears alongside Nihongo and Otegine. Tadakatsu reportedly fought in 57 battles without ever suffering a wound.
Mori Tahei (Tomanobu), a retainer of Kuroda Nagamasa, visited Fukushima Masanori as an envoy. He drained a huge cup of sake in one breath and won the spear Nihongo in a drinking contest — a legend later immortalized in the folk song 'Kuroda-bushi.' Nihongo is now held at the Fukuoka City Museum.
Heshikiri Hasebe (by smith Hasebe Kunishige) got its name — 'pressed cutter' — from the legend of Oda Nobunaga slicing through a shelf to kill an insolent tea attendant who was hiding beneath it. Nobunaga awarded it to Kuroda Kanbei (Yoshitaka) as recognition of his services. It has been passed down through the Kuroda clan and is now a National Treasure at the Fukuoka City Museum.
Odenta Mitsuyo (National Treasure) was forged by Tenta Mitsuyo in the late Heian period. The Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō records that when Hideyoshi's adoptive daughter Gō (Maeda Toshiie's fourth daughter) fell ill, Toshiie borrowed the sword and placed it near her; she recovered, and Hideyoshi bestowed the sword on him. It is now held by the Maeda Ikutokukai Foundation and on deposit at Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art.
Yamatorige is a National Treasure tachi by the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, celebrated as the beloved sword of Uesugi Kenshin. It is said to have been gifted to Kenshin by Uesugi Norizane. The blade's spectacular jūka-chōji hamon resembles the tail feathers of a mountain bird (yamatori). In 2021, a crowdfunding campaign allowed Setouchi City, Okayama (the former Bizen province) to reacquire it.
Kasen Kanesada was forged by the second-generation Kanesada (Nosada) of Mino Province and was treasured by Hosokawa Tadaoki. The name is traditionally said to derive from a legend that Tadaoki killed thirty-six retainers with it, naming the sword after the Thirty-Six Poetry Sages (Kasen). Sword scholar Fukunaga Suiken has noted this story does not appear in surviving Hosokawa records and remains a legend. The sword is now held at Eisei Bunko in Bunkyō, Tokyo.
Sohaya no Tsurugi is an ancient straight-bladed sword (chokutō) said to have been made by Miike Mitsuyoshi. Tokugawa Ieyasu's dying wish was to have his body interred at Kunozan and this sword enshrined there facing west — understood as a symbolic watch over the western domains where Toyotomi loyalists remained. It is still held at Kunozan Tōshōgū's treasury.
Tachibana Dōsetsu (1513–1585), a senior retainer of Ōtomo Sōrin nicknamed 'Demon Dōsetsu,' is famous for the legend that when lightning struck near him as he slept under a tree, he drew his sword 'Chidori' and slashed the lightning, renaming the blade 'Raikiri' (lightning cutter). The strike left him paralyzed in his left leg, but he continued to command from a palanquin.
Sanada Yukimura (Nobushige) led a scarlet-armored (akabisoi) unit in a daring charge on Tokugawa Ieyasu's headquarters at the Summer Siege of Osaka, reportedly forcing Ieyasu to the brink of suicide. The Shimazu clan's records (Sassan Kyūki Zakuroku) praised him as 'the greatest fighter in Japan — unseen even in the old tales,' cementing his legendary status.
Date Masamune (1567–1636) lost the sight in his right eye from smallpox contracted in childhood, leaving him one-eyed for life. The nickname 'Dokuganryū' (One-Eyed Dragon) became associated with him through a poem by Edo-period historian Rai Sanyō and was not widely used during Masamune's own lifetime. The iconic eye-patch image is a modern creative invention, absent from contemporary records.