The legend of the kusanagi sword [Archive]

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GhostKaGe

Tue, 04-27-2004, 11:04 AM

this is the legend of oro's sword the sword of kusanagi from japanese mythology
dont know how accurate it is but its just some things i found wile serching random stuff

THE LEGEND
According to Japanese mythology the Kusanagi Sword was one of the treasures possessed by the imperial family of Japan. It is said that the warrior who brandished it could beat a whole army.
The young Emperor Antoku Tenno, who is said to have worn it in a naval battle, for some unknown reason did not make proper use of it and the enemy beat him.
Many years later Emperor Shirakawa called for the Kusanagi sword when his enemies came to fight him. A search was made for it in the Shrine of Kamo, where it was supposed to be in safe keeping. However, the Emperor was told that it had been lost, and he commanded that it be found and restored. One night the Emperor dreamed that a royal lady, who had been dead for centuries, appeared and told him that the Dragon King kept the Kusanagi Sword in a palace at the bottom of the sea. Two women divers used a powerful spell to get the sword from the Dragon King and they returned and gave it to the Emperor. He later used it against his enemies and was victorious.

This is another similer version bit more detaled

Kusanagi - Legendary Japanese Sword

Kusanagi (Grasscutter) is a legendary Japanese sword, as important to Japan's history as Excalibur is of Britain's. It is a powerful sword like the Katana.

The history of this sword extends into legend when the Japanese god, Susano-O-No-Mikoto encountered a grieving family headed by Ashi-Na-Zuchi. Upon inquiry, the elder told that his family was ravaged by the fearsome 8-headed serpent of Koshi who consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushi-Nada-Hime. Susano proceeded forward to investigate tne creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushi-Nada-Hime's hand in marriage which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb to have her company during the battle, he detailed his plan.

He instructed the preparation of 8 vats of rice-beer to be put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with 8 gates. The monster took the bait and put each of its heads through each of the gates. With the necessary distraction provided, Susano attacked and slew the beast. He decapitated each of the heads and then proceeded to the tails. In the fourth tails, he discovered a great sword inside the body with Susan-o which he called Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi (Sword-of-the-village-of-the-clustering-clouds) which he presented to the god, Amaterasu to settle an old grievance.

Generations later in the reign of the 12th emperor, Keiko, the sword was given to the great warrior, Yamato-Dake as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamato-Hime, to protect his nephew in peril.

These gifts came in handy when Yamato-Dake was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous Daimyo. The lord, had fiery arrows fired to ignite the grass to trap Yamato-Dake in the field and have him burn to death and killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato-Dake used Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi to cut back the grass to remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind around to make it move in the direction he swung. Taking advantage of the magic, Yamato-Dake used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men and used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them to kill them. In triumph, Yamato-Dake renamed Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi as Kusanagi (Grasscutter) to commemorate his narrow escape and victory.

Eventually, Yamato-Dake married and fell in battle with a monster after ignoring his wife's advice to take Kusanagi with him.

Eventually, the sword came into the possession of the emperor until the Battle of Dannoura, a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the forces of the child Emperor, Antoku at the hands of Minomoto Yoshitsune. Upon hearing of the defeat, the emperor's grandmother led the Emporer and his entourage to commit suicide in the waters of the strait along with three important artifacts which included Kusanagi. Although the enemy managed to stop a handful of them and recovered two of the three items of the Emperor, Kusanagi was never found.

The 10th Emporer, Sujin, ordered the fashioning of a replica of Kusanagi and was placed at the Temple of Atsuta.

extract from: wikipedia the free encyclopidia

Shadow-wolf

Wed, 04-28-2004, 02:11 PM

Very impressive.

Wed, 04-28-2004, 03:25 PM

pretty cool, im starting to get very interested in japanese mythology.

GhostKaGe

Wed, 04-28-2004, 03:50 PM

i always been interested in mythology in general not just eastern or western i got a dozen shelves full of books on the subject this is where i found out about the sword theres other interesting stuff (http://www.japan-101.com/)

Knives122

Wed, 04-28-2004, 04:03 PM

Pretty cool

Kakafosha

Wed, 04-28-2004, 04:05 PM

nice work, thanks for sharing, i was also interested in the kusanagi sword when i saw it in one of the eps and now i know a little bit more about it, i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

lasaire

Wed, 04-28-2004, 08:03 PM

One thing I am curious about is if the sword Orochimaru is shown with in the episode has any visual resemblance to the sword of Kusanagi in myth.

Orochimaru's sword appears more like a Chinese gim in form, yet with a rigid blade. Granted, the legend of Kusanagi predates the true katana form as we know it today, but still I think it would be more 'japanese' in form, if I can say that.

By that, I mean a single edged blade rather than a double-edged, a bit longer than a Chinese gim, (actually I believe the early forms of the nihonto were even longer than modern era katana), with a curved tip rather than a triangular one.

DarkBahamut

Wed, 04-28-2004, 08:16 PM

Originally posted by: The Next Hokage
this is the legend of oro's sword the sword of kusanagi from japanese mythology
dont know how accurate it is but its just some things i found wile serching random stuff

THE LEGEND
According to Japanese mythology the Kusanagi Sword was one of the treasures possessed by the imperial family of Japan. It is said that the warrior who brandished it could beat a whole army.
The young Emperor Antoku Tenno, who is said to have worn it in a naval battle, for some unknown reason did not make proper use of it and the enemy beat him.
Many years later Emperor Shirakawa called for the Kusanagi sword when his enemies came to fight him. A search was made for it in the Shrine of Kamo, where it was supposed to be in safe keeping. However, the Emperor was told that it had been lost, and he commanded that it be found and restored. One night the Emperor dreamed that a royal lady, who had been dead for centuries, appeared and told him that the Dragon King kept the Kusanagi Sword in a palace at the bottom of the sea. Two women divers used a powerful spell to get the sword from the Dragon King and they returned and gave it to the Emperor. He later used it against his enemies and was victorious.

This is another similer version bit more detaled

Kusanagi - Legendary Japanese Sword

Kusanagi (Grasscutter) is a legendary Japanese sword, as important to Japan's history as Excalibur is of Britain's. It is a powerful sword like the Katana.

The history of this sword extends into legend when the Japanese god, Susano-O-No-Mikoto encountered a grieving family headed by Ashi-Na-Zuchi. Upon inquiry, the elder told that his family was ravaged by the fearsome 8-headed serpent of Koshi who consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushi-Nada-Hime. Susano proceeded forward to investigate tne creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushi-Nada-Hime's hand in marriage which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb to have her company during the battle, he detailed his plan.

He instructed the preparation of 8 vats of rice-beer to be put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with 8 gates. The monster took the bait and put each of its heads through each of the gates. With the necessary distraction provided, Susano attacked and slew the beast. He decapitated each of the heads and then proceeded to the tails. In the fourth tails, he discovered a great sword inside the body with Susan-o which he called Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi (Sword-of-the-village-of-the-clustering-clouds) which he presented to the god, Amaterasu to settle an old grievance.

Generations later in the reign of the 12th emperor, Keiko, the sword was given to the great warrior, Yamato-Dake as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamato-Hime, to protect his nephew in peril.

These gifts came in handy when Yamato-Dake was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous Daimyo. The lord, had fiery arrows fired to ignite the grass to trap Yamato-Dake in the field and have him burn to death and killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato-Dake used Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi to cut back the grass to remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind around to make it move in the direction he swung. Taking advantage of the magic, Yamato-Dake used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men and used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them to kill them. In triumph, Yamato-Dake renamed Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi as Kusanagi (Grasscutter) to commemorate his narrow escape and victory.

Eventually, Yamato-Dake married and fell in battle with a monster after ignoring his wife's advice to take Kusanagi with him.

Eventually, the sword came into the possession of the emperor until the Battle of Dannoura, a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the forces of the child Emperor, Antoku at the hands of Minomoto Yoshitsune. Upon hearing of the defeat, the emperor's grandmother led the Emporer and his entourage to commit suicide in the waters of the strait along with three important artifacts which included Kusanagi. Although the enemy managed to stop a handful of them and recovered two of the three items of the Emperor, Kusanagi was never found.

The 10th Emporer, Sujin, ordered the fashioning of a replica of Kusanagi and was placed at the Temple of Atsuta.

extract from: wikipedia the free encyclopidia

yeah i do see the similarity in the legend he found it inside the snake tail
while in Naruto the sword came from inside orochimaru .

GhostKaGe

Wed, 04-28-2004, 09:33 PM

Gods_Son

Wed, 04-28-2004, 09:46 PM

It may come from mythology, but the legendary sword really didn't impress me much in the anime.

Weshy

Wed, 04-28-2004, 10:44 PM

I agree the sword wasn't all that, but maybe it was meant to look that way? it said that there was one person who used the sword incorrectly and lost the battle. looking at the events afterwards and who took the sword with them, maybe somebody will need to summon the wsword again, but this time use it properly?

Or maybe not, but hey it would be cool if it were the case.

Weshy.

AkimichiChouji

Thu, 04-29-2004, 12:34 AM

Don't forget about the staff that the 4th used...now that has some legendary backgrounds as well i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif...i can't remember the exact name of the pole...but it goes to japanese/chinese legend of the person who holds it can be empowered with the abilities of a monkey/ape etc....(the ape he summons in ep ??) also the same staff was used in DB,Z the one goku uses...

I am missing pieces obviously but if anyone esle can clarify thanks!

Duce

Thu, 04-29-2004, 04:41 AM

Mongoose

Thu, 04-29-2004, 03:04 PM

Originally posted by: AkimichiChouji
Don't forget about the staff that the 4th used...now that has some legendary backgrounds as well i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif...i can't remember the exact name of the pole...but it goes to japanese/chinese legend of the person who holds it can be empowered with the abilities of a monkey/ape etc....(the ape he summons in ep ??) also the same staff was used in DB,Z the one goku uses...

I am missing pieces obviously but if anyone esle can clarify thanks!

From what I recall, the monkey summoning and staff is reference to Journey to the West, one of the most famous Chinese stories, about the Monkey King (Sun Wukong in Mandarin, Goku in Japanese). He's an immortal monkey born of a rock with a huge rebellious streak. The staff is an iron rod he took from the dragon king of the oceans, which was used to beat down river and ocean beds. The staff can change to any size, and the monkey typically stores it in his ear in miniature form when he's not swinging it around. Goku in the original story had a lot of other powers, like making clones out of his hair, flying around on clouds, breathing fire, that sort of thing.

Eventually, after pulling around the gods in heaven for a while, Goku ticks off Buddha, who imprisons him under a mountain for a couple hundred years. He gets pulled out by a Buddhist monk, who puts a sort of limiter on Goku's head, which tightens if he tries to goof off. The monk sets off with Goku in tow to India to retrieve some sacred scrolls, and Goku acts as his protector, along with some motley companions they pick up on the way, thus the "journey to the west".

In case you're wondering, the original Dragonball is very, very loosely based on Journey to the West, mostly the characters. Dragonball Z has no relation. The recent manga and anime Saiyuki is much closer in characters, although they take a lot of liberties (I doubt the Buddhist monk originally carried a gun and chain smoked).

Everon

Mon, 05-03-2004, 04:47 PM

i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif
http://www.kajidai.com/kasima-tyokutou.htm
i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

just an interesting site, not the grass mower

Pyron

Mon, 05-03-2004, 05:42 PM

too much to read, but from what i did read it sounds pretty good. if the sword in the anime is the same one as the one your talking about i wish they would make it look better

Uzumaki Naruto

Tue, 05-04-2004, 09:41 PM

Originally posted by: The Next Hokage
this is the legend of oro's sword the sword of kusanagi from japanese mythology
dont know how accurate it is but its just some things i found wile serching random stuff

THE LEGEND
According to Japanese mythology the Kusanagi Sword was one of the treasures possessed by the imperial family of Japan. It is said that the warrior who brandished it could beat a whole army.
The young Emperor Antoku Tenno, who is said to have worn it in a naval battle, for some unknown reason did not make proper use of it and the enemy beat him.
Many years later Emperor Shirakawa called for the Kusanagi sword when his enemies came to fight him. A search was made for it in the Shrine of Kamo, where it was supposed to be in safe keeping. However, the Emperor was told that it had been lost, and he commanded that it be found and restored. One night the Emperor dreamed that a royal lady, who had been dead for centuries, appeared and told him that the Dragon King kept the Kusanagi Sword in a palace at the bottom of the sea. Two women divers used a powerful spell to get the sword from the Dragon King and they returned and gave it to the Emperor. He later used it against his enemies and was victorious.

This is another similer version bit more detaled

Kusanagi - Legendary Japanese Sword

Kusanagi (Grasscutter) is a legendary Japanese sword, as important to Japan's history as Excalibur is of Britain's. It is a powerful sword like the Katana.

The history of this sword extends into legend when the Japanese god, Susano-O-No-Mikoto encountered a grieving family headed by Ashi-Na-Zuchi. Upon inquiry, the elder told that his family was ravaged by the fearsome 8-headed serpent of Koshi who consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushi-Nada-Hime. Susano proceeded forward to investigate tne creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushi-Nada-Hime's hand in marriage which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb to have her company during the battle, he detailed his plan.

He instructed the preparation of 8 vats of rice-beer to be put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with 8 gates. The monster took the bait and put each of its heads through each of the gates. With the necessary distraction provided, Susano attacked and slew the beast. He decapitated each of the heads and then proceeded to the tails. In the fourth tails, he discovered a great sword inside the body with Susan-o which he called Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi (Sword-of-the-village-of-the-clustering-clouds) which he presented to the god, Amaterasu to settle an old grievance.

Generations later in the reign of the 12th emperor, Keiko, the sword was given to the great warrior, Yamato-Dake as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamato-Hime, to protect his nephew in peril.

These gifts came in handy when Yamato-Dake was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous Daimyo. The lord, had fiery arrows fired to ignite the grass to trap Yamato-Dake in the field and have him burn to death and killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato-Dake used Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi to cut back the grass to remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind around to make it move in the direction he swung. Taking advantage of the magic, Yamato-Dake used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men and used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them to kill them. In triumph, Yamato-Dake renamed Murakakumo-No-Tsurugi as Kusanagi (Grasscutter) to commemorate his narrow escape and victory.

Eventually, Yamato-Dake married and fell in battle with a monster after ignoring his wife's advice to take Kusanagi with him.

Eventually, the sword came into the possession of the emperor until the Battle of Dannoura, a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the forces of the child Emperor, Antoku at the hands of Minomoto Yoshitsune. Upon hearing of the defeat, the emperor's grandmother led the Emporer and his entourage to commit suicide in the waters of the strait along with three important artifacts which included Kusanagi. Although the enemy managed to stop a handful of them and recovered two of the three items of the Emperor, Kusanagi was never found.

The 10th Emporer, Sujin, ordered the fashioning of a replica of Kusanagi and was placed at the Temple of Atsuta.

extract from: wikipedia the free encyclopidia

hey ive heard that also in a anime i saw awhile back , i think it was blue see or something like that, they mention the part in where the guy slays the dragon but ive got to say i am very impressed by japanese history, wish they would teach us more japanese history in my history class

GhostKaGe

Sat, 07-17-2004, 12:26 PM

http://www.munitions.com/~fianna/lion/images/ameratsu.gif finaly found a picture

Einzelgänger

Sat, 07-17-2004, 01:21 PM

"hey ive heard that also in a anime i saw awhile back , i think it was blue see or something like that, they mention the part in where the guy slays the dragon but ive got to say i am very impressed by japanese history, wish they would teach us more japanese history in my history class"

I've herd it too, well some of it, in an anime, But it was 3x3 Eyes. Blue Seed was based on a plant thing.

Draken

Sat, 07-17-2004, 01:40 PM

I think Gensou Maden Saiyuuki (http://anidb.ath.cx/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=488) has some parts of it as well.

rickytan

Sat, 07-17-2004, 08:44 PM

That's one screwed up weird looking sword XD
Or as I would say "That is whack." Or the picture of the replica is just bad. Or the replica is bad, either or. >_> <_<

*pinky to mouth* 1 HANDRAD BILLION DALLERS! (hundred billion dollars)

Deblas

Sat, 07-17-2004, 11:14 PM

Really interesting, well japanese mythology and history has always been interesting

Eurasian

Sun, 07-18-2004, 12:03 AM

this is a very imformative thread.
i love the picture, that's a beautiful sword.
the story of Enma (aka Goku), just watch saiyuki. it's much more interesting than the real story. or reading the real story.

Uzumaki Naruto

Sun, 07-18-2004, 12:28 AM

all i have to say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo!!!!!!!!!!

KameronFrye

Sun, 07-18-2004, 12:58 AM

Yeah, Saiyuki is a commonly shared story in Asian literature. It's been retold many times, with different themes each time. The animated one is silly but nice.

Halo2298

Sun, 07-18-2004, 01:52 AM

Yeah, I've noticed that a lot of things come out of Japanese mythology in this show, and this thing about the sword is pretty neat. What with "orochi" being a mythical 8-headed serpent. So the sword being pulled out of Orochimaru... Pretty darn neat. ^___^ I wonder, though, since you mention Amaterasu in relation to the sword, if that means Itachi learned that technique "Amaterasu" from him.

Mut

Sun, 07-18-2004, 02:33 AM

Originally posted by: Halo2298
I wonder, though, since you mention Amaterasu in relation to the sword, if that means Itachi learned that technique "Amaterasu" from him.

highly unlikely. before itachi used amaterasu in the hall ways, the animators purposely zoomed in his eyes closing just like how he performed tsukuyomi. that suggests that it's one of the jutsus performed via mangekyou sharingan.

ZakuHan

Sun, 07-18-2004, 03:12 AM

Just another reference for the Goku thing, if you watch one of the original 3 Read or Die OVA's (I think it's in the 2nd one?) they encounter a "Rebirth" of a fallen buddhist monk that uses the staff of Goku, as well as riding around on a cloud and breathing fire. While the character himself is not Goku they do fill in the story about the staff and its origin.

As to the sword, pretty cool stuff. I've always found foreign history much more interesting than US history.

Myuki

Sun, 07-18-2004, 10:04 AM

http://www.uwec.edu/philrel/shimbutsudo/images/kusanagi.jpg

That is the Kusanagi.

JFDrummer430

Sun, 07-18-2004, 11:10 AM

Is this the sword that Jet Li's character uses in the movie Hero?

GhostKaGe

Sun, 07-18-2004, 11:42 AM

Originally posted by: Myuki
http://www.uwec.edu/philrel/shimbutsudo/images/kusanagi.jpg

That is the Kusanagi.

the real sword was lost at see and never found so know one really knows what it looks like but the picture i posted was a suposed replica of Kusanagi that was placed at the Temple of Atsuta but there are others

insidentally that pic appears to be some form of bayonet

the story of Enma (aka Goku), just watch saiyuki. it's much more interesting than the real story. or reading the real story. i read the story journey to the west a few years ago never acttually finished it might go read it again

viza

Mon, 07-19-2004, 01:54 AM

Interesting... nice info on the mythology of the sword.

jonic

Tue, 07-20-2004, 02:23 PM

OHH MAN I CAN't wait to watch HERO by Jetli!!! damn canada wont show it yet!!! i'm a jet li fan!! and ohh yeah those swords are cool! i think the kusanagi is the coolest sword ever made in asian mythology because i cant think of any swords... hmm probably the sword of kenshi hehehe

viciousHyuuga

Tue, 07-20-2004, 06:25 PM

those who live by the sword die by someone with a gun .. hahaha

nice info there, i wonder if some rich collector has already claimed it.

P.S the strongest sword in the world is the dragon saber or the heavens sword, =) jk its just a cool chinese show about swords an shit.

Eurasian

Tue, 07-20-2004, 09:27 PM

How did Jet Li get into the conversation? I only like Jet Li in modern movies (KOD, Cradle 2 the Grave, Romeo Must Die). He looks weird w/ long hair.

Which of the two sword is actually how the kusanagi look like? I mean, they are totally different.

ANTicz

Wed, 07-21-2004, 12:52 AM

Amaterasu is the Goddess of the Sun in Jap. myth... I belive if you look up the "kojiki and nihonshoki" you might find more info on her...
Tsuki-Yomi is the moon god and Susano-o is the storm god...
If you watched blue seed, you'd find something interesting in the Kusanagi sword in Naruto... and it's that blue beadlike thing that Orochimaru wears on his ear and that's embedded in his sword, it looks the same as the "blue seed" in blue seed heh... might be related to the magatama beads that belong to Amaterasu...
My memory is a little hazy on Jap. myth/history so I'm not sure exactly how all these relate, but they do...
As for the goku and monkey king business (Journey to the West), that's like ancient Chinese myth, and is told in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cultures.... It's a very common story that's reused over and over (kinda like the Authur legends, or the Odessey in western culture)

and Hero is a pretty damn good movie

Pyron

Wed, 07-21-2004, 02:13 PM

hype looking sword...
nice history on it too

Deblas

Wed, 07-21-2004, 09:15 PM

Originally posted by: Eurasian
How did Jet Li get into the conversation? I only like Jet Li in modern <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=movies&v=56">movies</a> (http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=movies&v=56) (KOD, Cradle 2 the Grave, Romeo Must Die). He looks weird w/ long <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=hair&v=56">hair</a>. (http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=hair&v=56)

Which of the two sword is actually how the kusanagi look like? I mean, they are totally different.

its a legend so nobody knows if the sword existed or not so they interpret the sword in different ways

0_o

Sat, 07-24-2004, 02:25 PM

Originally posted by: lasaire
One thing I am curious about is if the sword Orochimaru is shown with in the episode has any visual resemblance to the sword of Kusanagi in myth.

Orochimaru's sword appears more like a Chinese gim in form, yet with a rigid blade. Granted, the legend of Kusanagi predates the true katana form as we know it today, but still I think it would be more 'japanese' in form, if I can say that.

By that, I mean a single edged blade rather than a double-edged, a bit longer than a Chinese gim, (actually I believe the early forms of the nihonto were even longer than modern era katana), with a curved tip rather than a triangular one.

That would make sense, because you read anything about the origins of Japanese sword making you will know that it was imported from china. During the Tan dynasty of China, one of the golden ages of Chinse sword making the Japanese actively hire hundreds of Sword smiths from China to go over to Japan to pass on the Art of sword making. The technique of hammering the edges of the swords into thousands of microscopic folds is also originally from china. Originally before katana style swords were made Japanese royalties carried double edged straight swords imported from China. Also katana style swords were also found on various arch digs in China and are to be made in China. Later on in Histrory during the Chin dynasty (last dynasty in china) Swords were outlawed to be carry by non goverment official which caused a declined in sword smithing, therefore most of the famous sword makers losted their Craft. Inresult most people think only the japanese katanas are well know around the world. Most sword specialists know that Ancient Chinese Sword are often just as good if not even better made than Japanese katanas.

interesting note: Swords discovered in tomb digs from the Tan dyansty have a few incredible properties. They used a form of Chromium alloy plating for anti-rusting which was a technique losted after that period in history and not rediscovered till late 1800's in germany. Another thing is they discoverd sword that had memory metal properties. The swords were found crushed under rocks and bend out of shape, however when pull out they returned to their original form. This is something scientists now have been trying to create but havent succeed ^^