Totsuka-no-Tsurugi- Japanese ArtifactArtifact · Weapon"Ten-Span Sword"
Also known as: Totsuka no Tsurugi, Ama-no-Ohabari, 十拳剣, and 天之尾羽張
Description
Izanagi drew this ten-span blade and slew his own son Kagutsuchi in grief and fury after the fire god's birth killed Izanami. From the blood dripping down the sword, new gods were born, among them Takemikazuchi, who would one day subdue the earth.
Mythology & Lore
The Slaying of Kagutsuchi
When the fire god Kagutsuchi was born, his flames burned through Izanami and she died. Izanagi knelt over her body, and the tears that fell from his face became deities. Then grief turned to fury. He drew the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, a blade ten hand-breadths long, and struck down his own son.
As the Kojiki tells it, the killing did not end with death. Izanagi cut Kagutsuchi to pieces, and from the fire god's blood and severed body, new gods came into being. Blood dripping from the sword's blade produced Takemikazuchi and other martial deities. Kagutsuchi's severed limbs and torso generated mountain gods and valley gods. The father's blade unmade one god and scattered dozens into the world.
The Sword as Father
The Totsuka-no-Tsurugi is also called Ama-no-Ohabari (天之尾羽張), the Heavenly Extended Blade. Under this name, the Kojiki treats it not as a weapon but as a parent.
When the heavenly deities needed an envoy to demand Ōkuninushi's cession of the earthly realm, their first choices failed. Ame-no-Hohi went and did not return. The gods deliberated again, and this time they addressed the sword itself: would Ama-no-Ohabari permit its son Takemikazuchi, the god born from its blade-dripping blood, to undertake the mission? The sword consented. Takemikazuchi descended to Izumo, planted his sword point-down in the crest of a wave, and sat cross-legged on the blade's tip to deliver his demand.
Relationships
- Associated with