[Series] 'Swords of Heaven' that Color Japanese Mythology [Episode 11] What is 'Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi'? [Extra Edition] from Romantic Historical Theory

Now then,

in the trilogy up to the previous episodeI told the story of the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi,
also known as the Kusanagi no Tsurugi,
from the tale of the hero Yamato Takeru

until it became the sacred object of Atsuta Jingu Shrine.
With this,

the story of the sword as a myth
is concluded for now.
However,


the Kusanagi no Tsurugi


is a sacred treasure that still exists today.
Even after the age of mythology ended,

this sword has been
many times

involved in incidents on the stage of history.
It has been stolen,


cursed,
sunk,
and all sorts of things have happened.


This is it.
This time,


as an extra edition,
I will present a case file of incidents surrounding the divine sword

in an omnibus format.
From mythology

into the vortex of real history,
a collection of episodes of the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi.

I hope you enjoy it

until the very end.😎
▼ Summary of this article in one sheet

✦ ✦ ✦
Chapter 1:
The Stolen Sword

The time is
the 7th year of Emperor Tenji (668 AD).

A long time has passed
since the age of mythology,

and a major incident occurs
at Atsuta Jingu Shrine.

A monk from Silla
named Dogyo caused it.


Coming from the Korean Peninsula,
this monk

actually
stole the Kusanagi no Tsurugi!😱


Dogyo
wrapped the sword in his kasaya (monk's robe) to hide it,

passed through the north gate of Atsuta Jingu Shrine,
the Seisetsumon Gate,

and tried to escape
to his home country of Silla.


(Seriously, the security was too lax😅)


However,


this is where
the story gets romantic.

Owari no Kuni Atsuta Daijingu EngiAccording to the legend remaining in
when Dogyo escaped to Ise Province,

the sword
on its own

slipped out of Dogyo's hands
and returned
to Atsuta Jingu Shrine.

Dogyo, who had the sword escape from him😝
Even so,


the relentless Dogyo
attempted a second theft.


(Seriously, a second time?😅)
This time,


Dogyo tried to cross the sea by boat from Osaka.


However,


as soon as the boat set sail,
the sea raged violently,

and the boat was blown back

to the port of Naniwa.
At this point,

Dogyo must have thought,

Terrified, Dogyo
tried to throw the sword away and run.


However,


the sword
stuck to Dogyo's body and wouldn't let go!😱


(Wait, the other way around?)


By now,
this was clearly the sword's own will.


In the end,
Dogyo turned himself in and was sentenced to death.


By the way,


the place in Osaka where Dogyo
is said to have thrown away the sword,

that place still remains today
as the place name Hanaten.It means he 'threw out' the sword.

It is a representative example of
a difficult-to-read place name in Osaka.😄

And,
the Seisetsumon Gate of Atsuta Jingu Shrine,


the gate that Dogyo
passed through while carrying the sword,

so that the sword would never
be taken outside again,

has remained closed
ever since.

A lot happened, but
it means that even if you try to steal the divine sword,


you cannot.😎


But,
please keep the security tight.🙇‍♂️

✦ ✦ ✦
Chapter 2:
The Sword That Wanted to Go Home

After Dogyo's theft incident,

the Kusanagi no Tsurugi
was not immediately returned to Atsuta,

but was temporarily
kept in the Imperial Court.


(I suppose so😅)


And then,
in the reign of Emperor Tenmu,

in the first year of Shucho (686 AD),

the Emperor
fell ill.

He didn't get better,
and when they performed divination, a shocking result appeared.

The Imperial Court acted immediately on this.
Incredibly,

that very day,

they sent the Kusanagi no Tsurugi back to Atsuta Jingu Shrine.
(Amazing decision-making speed)


They must have been really scared.😅


Here,


I'd like to think about it,

I want you to remember
the wish Yamato Takeru entrusted to the sword.

That was
from Takeru to the sword,

That must have been
the wish.


The Kusanagi no Tsurugi
had not forgotten that wish even after hundreds of years.

In fact,
near Atsuta Jingu Shrine,

there is the
Danpusan Kofun (burial mound)where Miyazuhime sleeps.

Just
a 15-minute walk away.

Furthermore,
nearby,

there is also the
Shiratori Kofun (burial mound)


which is said to be the grave of Yamato Takeru, who became a white bird.


In other words,

the sword, Miyazuhime, and Takeru,
these three are


resting close together in the land of Atsuta.
In the Imperial Court,


the sword would be separated from the two.
That is why


the Kusanagi no Tsurugi tried to return to Atsuta.
When you think about it that way,




it's not a curse, but pure love, isn't it?😢
Well,


I wrapped it up like a nice story, but
if you think about it calmly,
Emperor Tenmu, who was pushed around by the sword's convenience,


really had a hard time.😅
Perhaps even an Emperor



is helpless against the divine sword's pace.

✦ ✦ ✦
Chapter 3:
The Sinking Sword

The time is
the end of the Heian period,

more than 500 years
after Dogyo's theft.

The world is
in the middle of what is commonly called the Genpei War.

The Minamoto clan and the Taira clan
were fighting for control of the country.


And,
in the 4th year of Juei (1185 AD),


the Battle of Dan-no-ura.


The cornered Taira clan
faced their final battle at the Kanmon Straits.


At this time,
the Taira clan

was serving the
Emperor Antoku,who was only 8 years old.
Moreover,


when the Taira clan fled the capital,


they took the Three Sacred Treasures with them.
In other words,


the Three Sacred Treasures, including the Kusanagi no Tsurugi,


were in the sea of Dan-no-ura.
And,


the battle


tilted toward the defeat of the Taira clan.
Realizing that


it was the end,


Nii no Ama (the Nun of the Second Rank),
the wife of the late Taira no Kiyomori
and the grandmother of Emperor Antoku,
held the young Emperor


in her arms and made up her mind.
The young Emperor


is said to have asked,

The Second Rank Nun
held back her tears and replied like this

And then,
clutching the Kusanagi sword and the magatama,

along with the young Emperor,
she threw herself into the sea.


Emperor Antoku, age 8 at death.

It was
a truly heartbreaking end.😢

After the battle,


the Minamoto clan
desperately searched for the Three Sacred Treasures.


The mirror
was found floating in its box
and was recovered.

The magatama
was also safely retrieved.


However,


the sword alone
no matter how much they searched,

was never
found again.


The subsequently enthroned
Emperor Go-Toba

had to ascend the throne
without the full set of Three Sacred Treasures.


An Emperor without a sword,


Emperor Go-Toba
is said to have worried about this his entire life.


The Imperial Court
for years and years

mobilized divers
to continue searching the seabed.


But,
the sword never returned.


Could the strongest divine sword


have vanished
into the bottom of the Kanmon Straits?

✦ ✦ ✦
Chapter 4:
Theories surrounding the sunken sword

The Kusanagi sword
that sank at Dan-no-ura.

Actually,
there are many mysteries surrounding this incident.


As a romantic historical theory,
I would like to offer two observations on it.

▼Observation 1: The sword returned to the Dragon Palace

In the Buddhist world of that time,
there was a high priest named Jien.He wrote this

in the history book Gukansho.

Wow,
there's that romantic theory!😁


Even though he was a great man from 800 years ago,
I feel a sense of closeness.



It is true that the Kusanagi sword
came from the tail of Yamata no Orochi.


That sword
returned to Orochi across time.


Jien interpreted this tragedy
as a cyclical story.🐉


Furthermore,
Jien says something else quite sharp.

After Dan-no-ura,
the era shifted from the nobility to the age of the samurai.


It's just like
a romantic historical theory.😎

▼Observation 2: What actually sank in the first place?

Here,
let me review the common theory.


What sank at Dan-no-ura was
a katashiro = a replica.

The real one
was safe because it is at Atsuta Jingu.


This is
the general explanation.


However,

among history buffs,
this kind of voice is also whispered.

The Imperial Court mobilized divers for years to dredge the seabed for a replica?
That feels a bit

like overkill, doesn't it?😅
……However,


what if the very way of looking at things as


“real” or “replica”
is wrong?

(Huh!? What do you mean?🤔)
In this series,


I defined a divine sword as originally being an ordinary, nameless sword,


which became divine by having divine spirit or power dwell within it.
In other words,

the 'main body' of a divine sword
is not the sword itself made of iron or copper.


It is the


divine power dwelling within it.
Thinking of it that way,

any divine sword with a physical form
is just





a vessel for housing divine power.


Here,the key is the definition of a katashiro.
As I mentioned in Episode 9,a katashiro possesses the same divine power as the true body.


In other words,
from the perspective that divine power is the main body,


both the katashiro and the true body
are just 'vessels' housing the same divine power.


There is no superiority or inferiority,


and distinguishing which is the real one is beside the point.
Thinking of it that way,

regarding the sword lost
at Dan-no-ura,

arguing about “didn't the real one sink?”
or “no, the replica sank!”


is pointless because either way, it is just one of the sword's 'vessels'.


The divine power, which is the true main body
of the divine sword,


does not disappear,
and resides in both Atsuta Jingu and the Imperial Palace.


Divine swords are immortal.
Or so they say.😏

✦ ✦ ✦
Finally

Up to this point,
I have told the worldly case files surrounding the Kusanagi sword.

Actually,

there are still
many

spillover stories
that I couldn't introduce.

Finally,
let me quickly introduce just three.😏

▼Spillover Story 1: The Curse Part II

In the era of Emperor Kanmu,
who moved the capital to Heian-kyo,

when they tried to move the sword
by force,

there is a story that the Emperor fell ill due to a curse.
(Did no one remember that?😅)

▼Spillover Story 2: Must not look

In the Edo period,

the priests of Atsuta Jingu
secretly peeked at the sacred object.


(There it is! The promise of mythology)


Then,

a white mist filled the hall where the sword was kept,
blocking their path.

After that,
it is said that those who peeked fell ill one after another.

(As expected, you really shouldn't look!😱)

▼Spillover Story 3: Evacuation of the sword


In 1945,
at the end of the Pacific War,

to protect the true body at Atsuta Jingu
from air raids,

the sword
was temporarily evacuated

to Minashi Shrine in Gifu,
deep in the mountains of Hida.


(I guess it doesn't curse you if it's an evacuation!😁)

So,
from the age of mythology to the present day,

there are many stories about the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi.
It is like

a living witness to history.
However,


with this,


the Ame no Murakumo storycomes to a temporary close.
Starting with Susanoo,


passing through Yamato Takeru, and up to modern-day incidents,
thank you so much for accompanying me

on this long, long journey of the sword.🙏
Next time,


it will be the summary edition of the Heavenly Sword series!
That's what I thought,


but before that,
there is a clan


I want to focus on.
A clan that has shown its face many times


up to this point.
They enshrined the Habakiri


at Isonokami Jingu,
connected with Futsunushi

at Katori Jingu,
and are the ancestors of Oto-tachibana-hime,

who saved Takeru's life.



The Mononobe clan.
Next time,

Heavenly Sword series

special edition



“The clan that was with the Heavenly Sword”
We will approach the Mononobe clan,

who continued to support the Heavenly Sword from the shadows!
Look forward to it!

Author: Khaosan
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A college dropout and band member who, after a late start in his professional career, struggled in Manila, rebuilt himself, and arrived at the 'Japanese Spirit' through over 20 years of intense business development experiences.

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📝 About this article
This article contains many points that differ from academic consensus. I would be happy if you could enjoy it simply as a piece of 'delusion'.

This article was written based on a dialogue with the AI strategy assistant 'Koma-chan'.

Khaosan / July 2026