Kantei
Black-and-white photograph made up of five strips: both faces of the point, a stretch of blade, the tang with two holes and the two-character signature, and the whole blade, curved.

Tsuchiura City Museum and Agency for Cultural Affairs, via Bunka Isan Online · © Agency for Cultural Affairs

Tenka goken · meibutsu · jūyō bunkazai

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The Juzumaru is one of the most celebrated swords of Japan; the other designated Tsunetsugu, the one of Tsuchiura, has no school in its record.

On this page
  1. The Juzumaru
  2. The tachi of Tsuchiura
  3. With the same name, but from Aoe

The Juzumaru

WorkRankWhere it is
Tachi signed “Tsunetsugu”, meibutsu Juzumaru (数珠丸, Juzumaru)Designated on 13 April 1922 as a National Treasure of the time; today, Important Cultural Property (重要文化財, jūyō bunkazai)Honkō-ji temple, Amagasaki (Hyōgo)
  • It is one of the meibutsu of the 享保名物帳 (Kyōhō meibutsuchō), the list of celebrated swords of the Kyōhō era.
  • It is one of the five swords under heaven (天下五剣, tenka goken), with the Dōjigiri, the Onimaru, the Mikazuki and the Ōdenta. The English Wikipedia relates that of the five, three are National Treasures, one is a property of the imperial household and one, the Juzumaru, is a sacred relic of Nichiren Buddhism.
  • The Japanese Wikipedia gives it a length of 83.7 cm.

The tachi of Tsuchiura

A tachi signed “Tsunetsugu” of the Kamakura period, at the Tsuchiura city museum (Ibaraki), has been an Important Cultural Property since 29 August 1950. Its record neither says which school it belongs to nor describes it.

Black-and-white photograph made up of five strips: both faces of the point, a stretch of blade, the tang with two holes and the two-character signature, and the whole blade, curved.
The tachi signed 恒次 (Tsunetsugu) of the Kamakura period at the Tsuchiura City Museum, Important Cultural Property since 1950; its record does not say which school it belongs to. Tsuchiura City Museum and Agency for Cultural Affairs, via Bunka Isan Online · © Agency for Cultural Affairs · source

With the same name, but from Aoe

  • The tachi signed “Tsunetsugu” at the Kyūshū National Museum, from Bitchū, with no national designation in its record.
  • The tachi of Sahyōe-no-jō Tsunetsugu of Manju-shō, in Bitchū, dated 1330, with its katana mounting and a certificate by Hon'ami Kōjō.