Kusanaki (Grasscutter)

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On April 25, 1185, Minamoto no Yoshitsune’s fleet defeated the naval forces of the Taira clan in The battle of Dan-no-ura, fought in the narrow waters separating the northern tip of Kyushu and the southern tip of Honshu, known as the Shimonoseki Straits. The battle was the climax to a series of bitter skirmishes between the two great clans that are known collectively as the Gempei War.  (Samurai World, https://samurai-world.com/the-battle-of-dan-no-ura/)



天叢雲剣

Heavenly Sword Of Gathering Clouds


This is one of the three things making up the Imperial regalia.  The other is the sacred jewel and mirror.  
As an aside when Hirohito concluded the war these are the only things he was worried about, certainly not his people or his soldiers.  We should have given him to the Australians.  






No one living outside of the Atsuta Shrine has ever seen these.  They probably do not exist:
"These gifts came in handy when Yamato Takeru was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous warlord. The lord had fiery arrows loosed to ignite the grass and trap Yamato Takeru in the field so that he would burn to death. He also killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato Takeru used the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi to cut back the grass and remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind and cause it to move in the direction of his swing. Taking advantage of this magic, Yamato Takeru used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men, and he used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them. In triumph, Yamato Takeru renamed the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grasscutter Sword") to commemorate his narrow escape and victory. Eventually, Yamato Takeru married and later fell in battle against a monster, after ignoring his wife's advice to take the sword with him". (wikipedia).




The Taira clan hoisted a fan atop one of their ship's masts and dared the Minamoto forces to try and shoot it down.  Nasu Munetaka takes aim and clips the fan with a humming arrow, knocking it down.  This well nigh unbelievable feat puts the Taira on notice that all is not going to go well.  It just came to my notice that this incident was at Yashima.  A woman placed a fan on a pole and stood it up on the deck of a ship, daring the Minamoto to knock it down.  After Nasu did so he then killed a warrior dancing on the deck where the fan was.  Everyone on both sides applauded this shot.  Presumably, Taira no Munemori, head of the clan, was appalled by this.  Munemori was a coward who was captured alive.





Humming bulb, or turnip arrow.  It had a whistle incorporated into it.  As we can see, the intense archer above does not appear to be Japanese.





The arrow incident really happened.  Such a shot was no accident although there was a lot of good fortune that day around this incredible archer.





It was prophesied that the battle would go against the fleet a pod of dolphins swam toward.  Sure enough, they swam toward and under the Taira.





Stan Sakai's version of the battle sparked my interest in this.  The sword was lost at sea and remains so, I believe.  So many warriors died that day that their souls have transmigrated into the bodies of crabs.





Heikegani, Samurai Crabs





Showtime.






Transmigration.





Nom nom nom....so, desu ka!





Minamoto Yoshitsune at Shinomoseki Park, the site of the battle.  I think this is where he jumped from boat to boat to escape a particuarly fearsome archer, Noritsune.  This was a land battle fought at sea, with a vicious tide that ran against the Taira fleet.  The Kanmon strait is 600 m. wide where the battle was fought. Noritsune grabbed two of the Minamoto and jumped to his death with them. 






Taira no Tomomori, Taira general, lashes an anchor to himself and jumps overboard.  These clans seem to have more than their share of excellent followers.  One must consider that there is no funeral for a man without courage!




The Stan Sakai version, which is where I first heard of this.  I love adorable anthro animals engaged in savage warfare.  Yoshitsune was killed by allies faithful to his brother, who became Shogun.  He deserved better.





Abayo.





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