The Legendary Sword Tsurugi

1. The The Legendary Sword Legendary Sword Tsurugi Before going into how swordsman uses their sword, knowing more about what Tsurugi is the first order of the day. Tsurugi is a Japanese sword that resembles the Jian Chinese sword. This sword is considered to be one of the Three Imperial Regalia of Japan. This legendary sword was originally known as Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi or when simply translated it means Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven. Later on its name was reduce to Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi which means grass cutting sword. In Ancient Japanese folklore this sword once represented virtue of valor. Tsurugi Legend has it that the god Susanoo met a grieving family of kunitsukami or gods of the land in the Izumo province. The family was ravaged by an eight headed serpent that all of his eight daughters are gone and the last one remains. Susanoo asked for the daughter’s hand in marriage in exchange for him fighting over this serpent. Susanoo created a plan to bait the monster. He use Sake or rice wine place in the eight gates to lure the monster. As the monster dip his head, Susanoo cut its head off until he finally cut off its tail. In the fourth tail he discovered a great sword which now known simply as Tsurugi. Later on the sword was given as a gift to one of Japan’s great warrior Yamato Takeru by his aunt. This gift is what saved his life. One day, he was lured into an open grassland by a treacherous warlord. Desperately he use his Tsurugi to cut the grass and to remove the fire started by this warlord to trap him to die. While cutting the grass he discovered that the sword can help him control the wind. With each swing that he made he was able to redirect the fire towards his enemy and his men. To commemorate his narrow escape he called his sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi or Grasscutter sword. In modern times, some existing Tsurugi sword were kept in the care of Shinto priests. When requested to see the sword these priests refused to do so. The last time that this sword was seen was in the late 1980s or early 1990s when Emperor Akihito ascended the throne. However, this was kept in shrouded packages together with the jewel and Emperor’s privy seal. For those who are interested to learn how to use a modern version of this sword they can always enrol in classes that offers Tsurugi instructional class. It was Samurai movies who is responsible for the growing interest in how to use ancient swords. The first part of the class starts with learning how to move in a beautiful poetry like manner. Don’t be deceive by these movements because some of the martial arts seen on movies shows that such movements are powerful enough when use against the enemy. The art of Japanese fencing or Kendo is inspired by tsurugi or Ken. Kendo when translated means the way of the sword. This is a path of life followed by those who train in Kendo. This is rooted in the traditions of Budo, the martial way.