Muramasa

Muramasa refers both to a school of swordsmiths active from the late Muromachi through the early Edo period, based in Kuwana in Ise Province (present-day Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture), and to their swords. The oldest extant signed work dates to the Bunki through Eisho era (early sixteenth century), and the founder Muramasa is believed to have flourished approximately during the Bunki–Tenbun years (ca. 1501–1555). Muramasa was not a single master but a collective of smiths bearing the same name; it is transmitted that the school continued through six or more generations, including second and third generations, and is said to have survived until around the Kanban era of the Edo period. The school was also known as Senko Muramasa and the Senko tradition, with "Senko" prefixed to the name. The founder is traditionally said to have been of Mino origin, and because his work style shows affinity with Seki-mono, it is believed that a smith closely connected with the Mino tradition relocated to Kuwana and established the line.

The school's work style was characterized by its foundation in the Mino tradition, which flourished in the late Muromachi period, combined with strong influence from the neighboring Sōshū tradition. The jigane typically exhibits itame jihada, with many examples showing a whitish core. The hamon features hako-midare, gunome, and notare patterns; the most striking characteristic is that the hamon on the obverse and reverse are well-aligned and appear at the same position, popularly called the "Muramasa hamon" (or "Senko hamon"). The nakago has a distinctive shape that tapers sharply toward the base; this is called "tanago-belly form," named after the belly of the tanago freshwater fish. Beyond the signature "Muramasa," examples with signatures including the place of residence, such as "Sōshū Kuwana-jū Muramasa," are known; a tachi in the collection of Kuwana Sōsha (Kasuga Shrine) bears one of the longest extant Muramasa signatures: "Sōshū Kuwana-gun Masuda-shō Fujiwara Asomi Muramasa-saku." The prevalence of wakizashi and tantō examples over tachi reflects the school's orientation toward practical use during the Sengoku period.

Among well-known transmitted examples is a tachi by Muramasa and Masashige transmitted by Kuwana Sōsha (Kasuga Shrine). Dated to Tenbun 12 (1543), dedicated respectively to Kuwana Shrine and Nakatomi Shrine, these blades were designated as Tangible Cultural Properties of Mie Prefecture in Heisei 28 (2016). The "Katana, Signature Muramasa" in the Tokugawa Art Museum was passed from Tokugawa Ieyasu's estate as a Sunpu Owake treasure to his ninth son Tokugawa Yoshinao and transmitted to the Owari Tokugawa house. Unusually for Muramasa, it displays a hitatsura hamon. Among the "demon sword" legends surrounding the Tokugawa house, the incidents closest to historical fact are the incident in which Ieyasu's grandfather Matsudaira Kiyoyasu was killed by a retainer of the Abe clan wielding a Muramasa blade, and the account that his father Hirotada was wounded by a Muramasa blade, as recorded in works such as the *Mikawa Monogatari* (compiled in Kanei 3). In contrast, the account that Ieyasu himself despised Muramasa and ordered the destruction of such blades is found only in later transmissions after the *Ochibo-shū* (compiled in Kyōho 13) and lacks definitive evidence; it contradicts the fact that Ieyasu himself retained Muramasa blades and transmitted them to the Owari Tokugawa house. The widespread circulation of the "demon sword" legends among the general public dates from the late Edo period onward, after the theme was taken up by Kabuki during the late Edo and Meiji periods.

Looking at later evaluations, Muramasa lacks works designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties in terms of artistic ranking, with the highest designation being Important Art Objects. This reflects the fact that the school's blades were wazamono—swords designed for practical combat rather than aesthetic appreciation. Their reputation for cutting ability, however, was high, and they were treasured by Sengoku warlords as practical blades; however, in the wazamono rankings of works such as the *Kaiho Kenshaku* and *Kokon Kajigikō*, compiled from test-cutting results by the Yamada family in the late Edo period, Muramasa is said to have been omitted, presumably out of deference to the Tokugawa house. The negative fame as a "demon sword" paradoxically raised its renown; from the late Edo period onward, Muramasa blades became popular and copies were actively produced, and the name Muramasa remains to this day a byword for practical swords.