Posted on Thursday 19 October 2006 to unknown

Susanowo and the Dragon story

Susanowo [the mythical progenitor of the Japanese Imperial Family] then descended from Heaven and proceeded to the headwaters of the River Hi in the province of Izumo. There he heard the sound of weeping and went in search of it. He found an old man and an old woman. Between them was a young girl whom they were caressing and lamenting over. Susanowo asked them, "Who are you, and why do you lament?" The man answered, "I am an earthly deity named Ashinazuchi. My wife's name is Tenazuchi. This girl is our daughter Kushinada. We weep because once we had eight daughters, but year after year an eight-forked serpent has been devouring them and now the time approaches for this last girl to be devoured. She has no means of escape, and thus we grieve." Susanowo said, "If this is so, will you give me your daughter?" He answered, "I will comply and present her to you."

Susanowo then changed Kushinada into a multitudinous and close-toothed comb, which he stuck in the knot of his hair. Next he had Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi brew some eight-fold refined liquor and make eight platforms, on each of which to set a tub filled with liquor. Thus he awaited the serpent's coming, and, as expected, it eventually appeared. It had eight heads and eight tails, its eyes were red like winter cherries, and on its back fir and cryptomeria trees grew. As it crawled it extended over a space of eight hills and eight valleys. When it came and found the liquor, each head drank up one tub, and it became drunk and fell asleep. Then Susanowo drew his ten-span sword and chopped the serpent into small pieces. When he came to the tail, the edge of his sword was slightly nicked, so he split open the tail and examined it. Inside was a sword. this is the sword that is called Kusanagi ["Grass Mower," one of the three imperial regalia]. Susanowo said, "This is a divine sword. How can I presume to keep it myself? So he gave it up to the heavenly deities.

Yamata-no-Orochi excerpted from Religion, Politics, & Yamato Creation Myths

As otherworldly as all this sounds, the origin of the tale of Yamata-no-Orochi and the sword is believed to be utterly down-to-earth. Specifically, it is thought to stem from the itinerant groups of men skilled in the ways of making fine steel from iron-rich sand who, long, long ago worked deep in western Honshu's wooded mountains.

To make this prized metal (from which the finest blades were fashioned) required enormous quantities of water and wood, as well as a large group of experts led by one known as the murage.

Among these, some specialized in excavating ditches and sluices on the slopes down which vast amounts of water were channeled with iron-sand-rich soil to separate the mineral from the dirt by exploiting their different specific gravities.

Others chopped trees and burned wood to make charcoal, while some built the specialized clay tatara smelters ? 3 meters long by 1 meter wide and high ? into which 10 tons of iron sand would be poured over three days, heated with 12 tons of charcoal at more than 1,400 degrees, to yield some 3 tons of steel. Of this, about half was the prized tama-hagane from which Japan's famed swords are made, a steel distinctly different from its Western and Chinese counterparts made from iron ore.

With such prodigious quantities of fuel required, these groups of steelmakers constantly had to be on the move, as their smelters' appetites left entire mountainsides stripped of timber and streams polluted with runoff.

For villagers, these roaming steelmakers were a serious threat to their livelihood, both by denying them fuel and loading streams with mud that ruined their fishing and fouled their paddies. Hence the theory is that the monster, Yamata-no-Orochi, represented tatara steelmakers ? its burning red eyes being their fiery smelters and its bleeding body the muddied streams flowing from the mountains where they worked. [...]

As early as the 13th century, during the Kamakura Period (1183-1333), when the samurai class started to rule the nation, Japanese swords were recognized as superior to any made elsewhere in the world. Indeed, according to the late historical novelist Ryotaro Shiba, during the Muromachi Period (1392-1573) Japan's most popular exports to Ming Dynasty China were these fearsome weapons. In his travelogue, "Satetsu no Michi (The Road of Iron Sand)," Shiba says this was because although metal casting was common in China at that time, steelmaking was virtually unknown.

However, with the introduction to Japan of matchlocks, bows and spears during the 16th-century Warring States Period, swords became more symbolic of the samurai rather than their prime tools of combat. To preserve this symbolic aura, the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98) ordered that no one but members of the samurai class could possess a sword. And to ensure his edict was observed, he launched "sword hunts" aimed primarily at reducing the danger from the many farmers' uprisings. As well, however, it also served to further entrench the ruling class, called bushi (samurai), by turning the swords into their spiritual emblem throughout the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Weapons of Wonder by MASARU FUJIMOTO The Japan Times (free registration required)

The tip of a Masamune sword