Hi there,
I hope you are doing well.
A few weeks ago, Bizen came out on top of our ranking of Japan’s five great sword schools. This time we follow seven of its swords through the hands of the warlords who owned them, and almost none of them stayed put.
One paid for a surrender. In 1590, with Hideyoshi’s army around Odawara Castle, Kuroda Kanbei went inside the walls unarmed, sent two barrels of sake ahead of him, and talked the Hojo into opening the gates. Hojo Ujinao thanked him with the family sword.
One was burned black. When the Great Kanto Earthquake set Tokyo on fire in 1923, about 160 swords burned in the Mito Tokugawa storehouse. A blade tied by legend to Date Masamune came out scorched, its gold collar melted onto the steel, and for decades many believed it was gone. It went on show again in 2015.
One went to the retainer instead of the lord. When Hideyoshi’s keepsakes were handed out in 1598, the great lord Uesugi Kagekatsu received a painting of a goose, while his senior retainer, Naoe Kanetsugu, received a prized Kanemitsu sword.
And the top two passed through the hands of Oda Nobunaga himself, one of them given away as loot by the general who betrayed him.
Watch it here: https://jpn.la/BizenWarlords7NL
Until next time, keep your edge.
Kind Regards,
Kei, Matt & Team from the History of Katana
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