Yamatorige
{{Short description|Japanese sword}}
{{Nihongo|Yamatorige|山鳥毛||"feather of a copper pheasant"}}, equally known as Sanchōmō by its Sino-Japanese reading, is a tachi (Japanese greatsword) forged during the middle Kamakura period (13th century). The set of the blade and its koshirae (mountings) is a National Treasure of Japan. It was wielded by Uesugi Kagekatsu (1556–1623), a powerful warlord in the Sengoku period, and had been inherited by his clan.{{Citation|title=太刀 無銘一文字（山鳥毛）|journal=おかやまの文化財|publisher=岡山県|url=http://www.pref.okayama.jp/cgi-bin/bunka/culture/controller/client/resultDetail.cgi?id=568|access-date=2018-12-27|archive-date=2018-12-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227151510/http://www.pref.okayama.jp/cgi-bin/bunka/culture/controller/client/resultDetail.cgi?id=568}}
History
Yamatorige was forged during the middle Kamakura period (13th century).{{sfn|文化庁|1984|p=169}}
According to Kanzan Sato, a nihontō (Japanese sword) appraiser and researcher, it was named so in order to honor the beauty of the tachi by likening it to the feather of a copper pheasant or the landscape of sunset mountains.{{sfn|佐藤|1964|pp=169-170}} In addition, Suiken Fukunaga, another nihontō appraiser/researcher, cites a theory written in {{Nihongo|Sourinji Denki|『双林寺伝記』}} that the name came from the landscape of a wildfire.{{Sfn|福永|1969|p=140}} Fukunaga himself, however, remarks the wildfire theory is utterly dubious.{{Sfn|福永|1969|p=140}}
The tachi is one of the 35 swords favored by the warlord Uesugi Kagekatsu (1556–1623),{{sfn|文化庁|1984|p=169}} an adopted son and the successor of the "God of War" Uesugi Kenshin. Later it had been inherited as one of the greatest heirlooms of the Yonezawa-Uesugi clan, the head of the Uesugi clans.{{sfn|文化庁|1984|p=169}}
On March 29, 1952, the tachi was designated a National Treasure of Japan.日本国、昭和27年10月16日文化財保護委員会告示第21号。Date accepted is March 29. Its koshirae (mountings) are a part of the designation as accessories to the blade.{{R|kanpo1952}}{{Citation|last=上越市|title=謙信公の愛刀を、 故郷 「上越市」へ|publisher=上越市|date=2016-11-01|url=https://www.city.joetsu.niigata.jp/uploaded/attachment/122141.pdf|archive-date=2019-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615085807/https://www.city.joetsu.niigata.jp/uploaded/attachment/122141.pdf|page=2}}
In 2020, Setouchi City purchased yamatorige from an individual, which was then housed in the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum. The purchase cost was about 500 million yen (About $5 million).{{Citation|newspaper=The Nikkei|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO55729560X10C20A2LC0000/|date=2020-02-17|access-date=2020-03-18|archive-date=2020-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318152304/https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO55729560X10C20A2LC0000/|title=国宝備前刀の保管・PR、瀬戸内市が市長直轄部署}}
List of name variations
The official full name for the blade and its mountings designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs is {{Nihongo|Tachi Mumei-Ichimonji (Yamatorige) Hitokuchi tsuketari Uchigatana-Goshirae|太刀 無銘一文字（山鳥毛） 一口 附 打刀拵||"An Unsigned Tachi by the Ichimonji School (Yamatorige) with Mountings for a Katana-Type Sword"}}.
Markus Sesko, a researcher on Japanese swords, calls the sword {{Nihongo|Yamatorige-Ichimonji|山鳥毛一文字}}.{{Citation|last1=Sesko|first1=Markus|title=Legends and Stories around the Japanese Sword|publisher=Books on Demand|year=2011|page=88|isbn=978-3842366039|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFTNe-WjyBcC&q=%E5%B1%B1%E9%B3%A5%E6%AF%9B%E3%80%80sword&pg=PA88}}
Due to both its ambiguous origin and the highly complex reading system for kanji characters, the sword has a wide variety of associated names.
- Yamatorige - kun'yomi (native reading) for the kanji characters {{lang|ja|山鳥毛}}
- Yamadorige{{sfn|福永|1993|p=235}} - a variant of native reading
- Sanchōmō{{Citation|last1=佐藤|first1=寛介|last2=植野|first2=哲也|title=備前刀: 日本刀の王者|publisher=日本文教出版|series=岡山文庫|volume=282|year=2013|page=74|isbn=9784821252824}} - on'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) for the same characters
- Sanshōmō{{sfn|岡野|1958|p=32}}{{sfn|佐藤|1964|p=169}} - by characters written on a wooden plate co-inherited with this tachi{{sfn|岡野|1958|p=32}}
- Yamashōmō{{sfn|福永|1993|p=231}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|1}}
Bibliography
- {{Citation|last=岡野|first=多郎松|editor=佐藤貫一|title=備山愛刀図譜|publisher=岡野多郎松|year=1958|url={{NDLDC|8799599}}|language=ja}}
- {{Citation|last=佐藤|first=寒山|title=上杉景勝御手選三十五腰|journal=武将と名刀|publisher=人物往来社|date=1964|url={{NDLDC|2503474}}|language=ja}}
- {{Citation|last=福永|first=酔剣|title=日本刀大百科事典|volume=5|publisher=雄山閣出版|date=1993-11-20|isbn=4639012020|language=ja}}
- {{Citation|last=福永|first=酔剣|title=日本刀物語 続|publisher=雄山閣出版|date=1969|url={{NDLDC|2526226}}|language=ja}}
- {{Citation|last=文化庁|title=工芸品 III|publisher=毎日新聞社|series=国宝|volume=8|date=1984-12-16|language=ja}}
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Category:Individual Japanese swords