Higekiri was Minamoto no Yorimitsu's blade through his greatest exploits, passed down through the Minamoto clan as a treasure of demon-slaying lineage. Yorimitsu carried it to Mount Ōe and used it to behead Shuten-dōji in his sleep.
Higekiri cleaved through the neck of Shuten-dōji on Mount Ōe, and from that night the blade bore a new name — Onikiri, the Demon Cutter — stained with the blood of the greatest oni ever slain.
⚠ Heike Monogatari (Tsurugi no Maki) attributes the Onikiri renaming to the Shuten-dōji slaying, while some retellings link it to Watanabe no Tsuna's severing of Ibaraki-dōji's arm at Rashōmon.
Watanabe no Tsuna wielded the sword Higekiri when he severed Ibaraki-dōji's arm at the Rashōmon gate, proving the blade's power against demons in one of the most celebrated warrior feats of Heian legend.
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