Other Famous SwordsTachiImportant Cultural Property

抜丸

Nukemaru

Also known as: The Self-Drawing Blade

Smith

Unknown (attributed to Ko-Hōki)

Era

Heian to Kamakura period (estimated)

Type

Tachi

Designation

Important Cultural Property

Location

Itsukushima Shrine, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture

Description

Nukemaru is a legendary tachi preserved at Itsukushima Shrine on the island of Miyajima in Hiroshima Prefecture, closely associated with the Taira (Heike) clan who were the shrine's greatest patrons. Its name — 'the self-drawing blade' — derives from a legend that the sword would slip from its scabbard of its own accord, a sign of its supernatural power. The Taira clan, under the leadership of Taira no Kiyomori, lavished support on Itsukushima Shrine, building the famous floating torii and sea-level shrine complex that survives today, and presenting treasures that included this sword. The clan was destroyed at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, when the child Emperor Antoku and the imperial regalia were lost to the sea — but Nukemaru, preserved in the shrine that the Taira had made their spiritual home, survived to carry their memory forward. It is now designated as an Important Cultural Property.

Legends & Stories

The legend of Nukemaru's name is that the blade would draw itself from its scabbard when its owner was in danger — an autonomous act of protection that convinced people the sword possessed its own spirit and will. In Japan's ancient animist tradition, great blades were believed to house kami (divine spirits), and a sword that moved on its own was evidence of extraordinary supernatural potency. Taira no Kiyomori, who visited Itsukushima Shrine more than thirty times and lavished it with magnificent gifts, may have venerated this blade as an embodiment of the shrine's goddess herself. When the Taira fell at Dan-no-ura, the imperial sword sank forever into the sea. But Nukemaru, left at the shrine of their patron goddess on the island of Miyajima, survived. To stand before it today is to stand in the presence of the Heike's faith, their glory, and their grief — and the inexplicable persistence of beautiful things through catastrophe.