Japanese sword story #1

Three sacred treasures

The Japanese sword is one of the three sacred treasures in Japan. It is said to represent the spirituality of the Japanese people rather than just a weapon. Since ancient times, Japanese swords have been considered to exterminate evil spirits and possess strong vitality and spiritual power. At the shrines all over Japan, it has been common practice to dedicate swords for prayers. Japanese swords account for more than 10% of the many arts and crafts designated as the Japanese national treasures.

Nitobe Inazo（新渡戸稲造） might be familiar with you with a 5,000 yen Japanese bill. He must be more famous overseas with his English book “Bushido（武士道）.”  He admonishes about using a sword as the most stupid behaviour as a bushi in his book. The Satsuma bushi tied up the brim of the sword with a paper string and he could not draw out his sword thoughtlessly. Once he drew his sword, he had to face with killing each other.

There is a game in your scabbard; e.g. you should not fight with your sword drawing out from the scabbard. They warned against drawing out their swords for battle. In other words, the Japanese swords have the wish to control the conflict and create a peaceful world. You cannot find blade spills on the Japanese swords which have been lasting more than 500 years old. It is the proof that it was not used symply as a weapon after all.