山姥切長義

The legend of Yamanbagiri Chōgi revolves around the slaying of a yamanba — a mountain witch from Japanese folklore, a terrifying figure who inhabits deep mountains and preys on travelers. A warrior wielding this sword is said to have encountered and defeated a yamanba in the mountains, and the sword was subsequently named 'Yamanbagiri' — 'Mountain-Witch Cutter' — in commemoration. What makes this particularly extraordinary is that the sword's own nakago inscription records this history, making the blade a self-documenting artifact that testifies to its own legend. Later, the sword-master Kunihiro created a famous copy (utsushimono) of this blade for the Ashikaga shogunate — a testament to how celebrated the original was. The 'copy problem' gives Yamanbagiri Chōgi a complex modern life: in the popular game Touken Ranbu, the character insists on being the true original, turning an esoteric question of sword attribution into a dramatic narrative about identity and authenticity that has drawn thousands of young fans to see the actual blade in person.