The story of the cursed sword

Masamune Ozaki, also known as Goro Nyudo Masamune, was a historical figure who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries, during the Kamakura Period. Student of Aka Shintogo Kunimitsu, Masamune was a blacksmith whose skill to forge katanas, wakizashis and so many was not equal in all Japan. Their swords, of great solidity, could reach up to two meters in length. Masamune achieved great fame for forging swords of up to 2 meters in length through a technique that consisted in the lamination of an iron sheet in a single block with braided steel, which made them more resistant than the rest of the katanas of that time. He performed a purification ritual to prepare the materials he used and thus eliminate all his impurities. Such was the fame that Masamune's leaves reached, that it is believed that Miyamoto Musashi and several of the 47 Ronin used swords forged by him.

Even today some of their swords are preserved and are considered national treasures of Japan. A student of his called Muramasa Shinjii (presumably, since they lived different times), also manufactured high quality weapons, being his personal distinctive that the leaves were somewhat shorter but more curved and sharp than normal, which made them perfect to be used to behead the enemy.

The relationship between the Tokugawa house and the Muramasas, was quite tragic since Muramasa had killed his grandfather and another almost killed his father, the same Leyasu almost cut his arm with another Muramasa and, to finish the story in tragicomedy, his own son and his wife, conspiring with the Takeda clan, died by sepukku (there is evidence of Nobayasu who was the son of the Shogun, who took his own life with Muramasa at the age of 20).

Today there is a lot of controversy about the quality of both swords and which was the best forged, reaching the point of considering them as swords of good (Masamune) and evil (Muramasa). What is known is that many Muramasa swords were made to erase the name of the author or in their case they were donated to monasteries and temples in order not to unleash the wrath of the Shogun and his stormy relationship with them.