A Muramasa Blade

A Muramasa Blade by Louis Wertheimber

In the fourth year of Go Dai Go Tenno's reign, Japan enjoys a century-long peace that is visibly fraying as rival courts quietly arm themselves. Kuwana, capital of Ise, is ruled by the proud, mercurial Duke Ono ga Sawa, who once nearly killed an ambassador over a joke about his humble ancestry. Into this court comes a grim ronin, Mutto Nobuyuki, with his young son Sennoske and retainer Yamagawa; Mutto hires on as chamberlain, refusing to reveal his true identity. Also resident in Kuwana is Muramasa, the peerless sword-smith, whose blades are rumored to require fresh human blood in their forging. Muramasa's beautiful daughter O Tetsu, rumored to be the child of an Eta mother, grows up alongside her dull but devoted half-brother; Sennoske, trained relentlessly by his father in arms and taught swordcraft by Muramasa, falls in love with her as she matures, while sensing his father carries some unspoken grief tied to a duty of vendetta he is being raised to fulfill. When Nitta Yoshisada raises the imperial standard against the Hōjō regents, Ono ga Sawa sends troops, and Sennoske joins the campaign. Before leaving, Muramasa gives him a magnificent sword with a solemn warning: once drawn, it must taste blood before being sheathed again, or it will turn on its owner. Sennoske distinguishes himself in battle, aids Nitta's crossing at Enoshima, and is given command of pacification duties in Idzu. Returning home through Mishima, Yamagawa drunkenly stumbles into the wrong inn room and loses Sennoske's sword to a party of samurai led by Nagasaki no Taka Suke, a notorious Hōjō partisan. Taka Suke demands Yamagawa's head in exchange for the sword's return; rather than let Sennoske be dishonored by refusing, Yamagawa commits seppuku, leaving a written testament. That testament reveals Mutto's true identity as Numa, former karo to the Duke Ando Goro of Mutsu, destroyed years earlier through Taka Suke's extortion and intrigue. Taka Suke had spared Numa's life only by threatening the hidden young sons of Ando Goro, forcing Numa into exile and silence, and the boys were later killed anyway. Learning this, Sennoske confronts Taka Suke's party, slaughters the retainers, and kills Taka Suke himself despite the man's desperate plea to die by seppuku, denying him that honor given his treachery. Word of the victory reaches Kuwana and Mutto, overwhelmed, learns his vendetta is at last fulfilled, transforming him from a haunted, joyless man into one at peace. Sennoske returns home, is reunited with his father, and marries O Tetsu with Muramasa's blessing, going on to succeed his father as karo and live out a prosperous, contented life, while Muramasa's reputation as the supreme sword-smith is vindicated through his son-in-law's feats. The narrative then widens to trace the aftermath across centuries: Nitta's victory restores imperial power but does not bring lasting peace, and Numa's descendants hold the karo office for generations. Muramasa blades remain prized yet increasingly feared for their association with violence and fatal mishaps, eventually banned outright by the Tokugawa government, while swords forged by Muramasa's less gifted son are recognized as inferior copies lacking the master's subtle excellence. An unrelated later tragedy forces a descendant of Sennoske into exile and reduced status in service to the Duke of Todo. With the arrival of foreign treaties in 1855 and the abolition of feudalism in 1870, the family's fortunes collapse entirely, and the last descendant of Sennoske, stripped of rank and pension, ends as an impoverished jinrikisha-puller, his only remaining possession the ancestral Muramasa blade hanging on his hut wall.

By Louis Wertheimber · First published 1887 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Martial Arts, Mystery · 13 chapters · 38,639 words

First lines

It was in the year of our Lord 1322, according to the Japanese calendar the fourth year of the reign of Go Dai Go Tenno, the ninety-fifth descendant of Jimmu Tenno, and nineteen hundred and eighty-two years from the time when the latter had assumed the title of the "First Emperor of Japan."

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feudal Japan · samurai · vendetta · honor · duty · sword-smithing · ronin · hidden identity · legendary weapons · loyalty · Muramasa blades · warrior training

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A Muramasa Blade is listed on Textopian as a novella by Louis Wertheimber, dated 1887 CE.

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