Muramasa

Date of birth and death unknown. A swordsmith from Ise (Mie Prefecture) in the late Muromachi period. Known as the Sengo school because he lived in Sengo Village, Kuwana County, he is famous for his sharp blades. His style is characterized by a box-shaped, angular blade with a consistent blade pattern on both sides. One theory is that he was a disciple of Masamune of Sagami, but this does not match the era. The oldest Muramasa sword is inscribed with the date "Bunki Gannen Togatsu Nichi" (1501), and it is believed that there have been three generations of swordsmiths with the same name since then. After a scandal involving a Muramasa sword occurred in the Tokugawa family, it was banned by the shogunate, and the theory that it was an evil sword was born, and as a result, some people have erased the inscription, or have erased the character "mura" and added "mune" under the character "masa" to make it Masamune. On the contrary, he was highly praised at the end of the Edo period when the momentum for overthrowing the shogunate was growing. He is thought to have had contact with his disciple, Masazane, who was popularly known as Mikawa Monju, Izuminokami Kanesada of Seki in Noshu (Gifu Prefecture), and Heianjo Nagayoshi, as their regions, styles, and eras overlapped.

[Nobuo Ogasawara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

生没年未詳。室町後期の伊勢(いせ)（三重県）の刀工。桑名郡千子(せんご)村に住したところから千子派ともよばれ、利刃をもって名高い。作風は湾(のた)れ刃が箱形に角張って、表裏の刃文(はもん)がそろう特色をもつ。一説に相州(そうしゅう)正宗(まさむね)の弟子ともいわれるが、時代的に一致しない。村正のもっとも古い作は「文亀(ぶんき)元年十月日」（1501）銘のもので、以後同名が3代あるとみられている。徳川家で村正の刀による不祥事が起きたことから幕府の禁忌にあい、村正妖刀(ようとう)説が生まれ、そのため銘を消したり、村の字を消して正の字の下に「宗」を加えて正宗に改竄(かいざん)したものがある。逆に、倒幕の気運の高まった幕末には大いにもてはやされた。弟子ともいわれて三河文殊(みかわもんじゅ)の俗称をもつ正真や、濃州（岐阜県）関(せき)の和泉守(いずみのかみ)兼定(かねさだ)、平安城長吉とは、地域、作風、年代が重なり合うところから、交流があったとみられる。

［小笠原信夫］

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