Ama no Mura Kumo no Tsurugi

-one of the three artifacts obtained from the tail of the serpent.

Owner: Japanese Jian Ming, emperors of past dynasties

Times: Brandon-Modern

Territory: Japan

Allusions: ancient history, Japanese calligraphy, etc.

Weapon type: sword

The Excalibur, which emerged from the body of the terrible serpent Octagonal Serpent, was not even its opponent, and later became the sword of Yamato Takeerumikoto. And what is this sword, which is famous far and near as one of Japan's three artifacts? Let's find out its true colors.

Among the Japanese royal families, the "three artifacts" have been circulating since Brandon-the eight-foot mirror, eight-foot Qiong Quyu, and Tiancong Yunjian given by the God of Heaven on the occasion of the arrival of the heavenly sun. These artifacts symbolize the kingship of the country, which means that without these artifacts, the emperor's accession to the throne will not be allowed.

Among them, the mirror and Quyu are justified treasures made in Gaotianyuan, which can be said to be quite in line with its magical title. In particular, the Eight-Foot Mirror is a noble treasure that can also be regarded as the avatar of the Celestial God.

But the remaining one, Tiancong Yunjian, is only "obtained" by the disgusting monster serpent, which makes people feel that it is not very suitable to be called an artifact.

Why is Tiancong Yunjian included in one of the three artifacts?

In fact, this sword has a "symbol of kingship" as well as a "symbol of conquerors". From this angle, let's talk about this most famous sword in Japan, but unexpectedly it has its unknown side. Tian Cong Yunjian made his debut in mythology, whether in the Records of Ancient History or the Records of Japanese Book, it was when Susanoo wiped out the serpent of Eight Disagreements.

This monster, called Yamatanoorochi, just like its name, has its head and tail split into eight, its eyes are red like sour berries, and pine trees and juniper trees grow on its back. Its body spans eight valleys and peaks, and it is an unimaginable monster.

SUSANOO heard the old man's lament that the serpent, who eats a stranger's sacrifice every year, ate seven daughters, and had to hand over the youngest daughter this year. In exchange for that little girl, he set out to destroy the serpent. At this time, SUSANOO was exiled from Gaotianyuan because of excessive fierceness, and he was just a lonely wanderer in the central plains of Weiyuan.

SUSANOO had eight barrels of wine prepared, waiting for the serpent to come and devour the girl. In a short time, the eight-disambiguation serpent undoubtedly put eight heads into the barrel to drink wine, and finally passed out drunk. SUSANOO, who appeared when the time was right, pulled out ten swords on his waist and chopped the serpent into pieces. The blood flowing from the huge body seems to be like a big river. At this time, when SUSANOO cut off the tail of the serpent, this ten-grip sword, as the sword of the gods, touched something hard and slightly lacked an angle. He was surprised to cut his tail open and found a very sharp knife. As the head of the serpent with eight disambiguations is usually covered by clouds, the Taidao was named Cong Yunjian (the word Tian is your respectful name). As this is a very precious treasure, SUSANOO dedicated it to the God of Heaven.

In this way, Tiancong Yunjian was in Gaotianyuan for a while. Later, as mentioned above, he was given the honour of Qiong Qiong, who was going to the central plains of Weiyuan, and returned to the ground again. Three kinds of artifacts have been in the palace since the arrival of Sun Tianzi. However, at this time, the swords and mirrors were all simulated and built according to the will of God when worshiping the Emperor, and the real objects have been moved to other places. The Ise Shrine is a shrine built to collect these artifacts. (It may be a little beside the point, but the sword that sank into the sea with Emperor Ender in the altar pool is of course a simulation ... it can be regarded as a form instead. )

Awarded with the Excalibur and regaining his courage, the Japanese Jian-ming married Miyazuhime, the daughter of the founder, in Weizhang, and went east again. Encountered a major crisis related to life and death in the country of simile.

"In the middle of this wilderness, there is a swamp, and in the swamp, there lives a terrible and violent god."

I easily believed the Japanese leader's words and went into Yuan Ye. And the leaders set fire to surround him at this time. In a dilemma, the Japanese architect suddenly remembered his aunt's words, so he opened the bag and found a flint inside.

The prince pulled out the Excalibur, cut down all the grass around him, set fire to fight back, and finally got out of the danger and wiped out all the evil thieves. There is another saying that the sword is drawn automatically, sweeping all the grass around it (called "Shahiro" in Japan). However, Tiancong Yunjian is also nicknamed "Grass Shaving Sword", which is derived from this incident. Another argument is that the name Tiancong Yunjian was added by later generations to make the sword more authoritative, while its original name was "Caoshave (a snake with the same sound)". )

Miraculously, he recovered his life and continued his crusade. Even if he suffered the grief of losing his mother halfway, he still wiped out all the violent gods and all the evil thieves. The prince who returned to Weizhang triumphantly finally swept away the haze and married Miyuki. Then he set off for a crusade against Ibukiyama's evil god.

At this time, the prince left his precious Excalibur beside his beloved beautiful night. It may be because of this reason that he mistook the white pig incarnated by the gods (recorded as a serpent in the Book of Japanese Records) as just an angel of God, and let him escape after swearing at him. Immediately after that, he was caught in a wonderful heavy ice rain and suddenly fell ill, so he had to return to Yamato, and on his way home, the hero of this generation, Japanese Jian-ming, finally collapsed.

After the death of the prince, Miyuki has been the patron saint of swords, but after all, she is getting older, so she gathered her family to set up a shrine in this place of Hotan and collected Tiancong Yunjian here-this is the origin of Hotan Jingu. However, the imperial court did not seem to treat it as a problem in particular, so Excalibur was kept as the main god in the shrine of Reheda since then.

But after 23 years of innovation (668), a major event happened. Excalibur was stolen by the monk Daoxing in Silla.

Daoxing sneaked into the shrine and took the sword away. He immediately took it in his cassock and fled to Yi Shi. But after the sword disappeared all night, I don't know when it automatically returned to the shrine. Daoxing stole it again and fled from Shejin to Silla. But this time I was hindered by a storm and had to return to Hong Kong.

At this time, people who learned that the body of God had been stolen through the divine decree began to search in all directions. Judging that you will be caught in this way, I want to throw away my sword, but I don't know why my sword just can't leave my body. Daoxing realized that he had no escape, so he gave up and turned himself in.

The imperial court was quite shocked by the crisis that almost let the artifact flow out of the country, and then it took Tiancong Yunjian back to the palace from Hotan Jingu Palace. However, in the third year of Zhu Bird (688), Emperor Tianwu fell ill, and because it was said that this was caused by the Excalibur, he returned the Excalibur to the shrine of Reheda.

Since then, Excalibur has been enshrined in the shrine of Hotan, except in a very special period just after the Second World War. As one of the three precious artifacts in Japan, it can be said that even the emperor can't watch it at will. So we can't grasp the correct information about its shape.

Fortunately, in the book "Collection of Jade Signs" in the Edo period, it is recorded that four or five divine officials had spied on Excalibur.

"As long as you get close, the clouds will automatically surge and make people unable to see anything. Everyone dispersed the clouds with fans and lit them secretly. There was a five-foot wooden box there. There is a stone box in the wooden box, and the gaps in it are all buried with red soil. There is a camphor tree trunk hollowed out in the middle in the stone box, and the gap between camphor tree and stone box is also filled with red soil. The inside of the round trunk is covered with gold, and the god body is offered on it.

"God is two feet seven or eight inches long (about 80 centimeters). The blade looks like the leaf of Acorus calamus, and the central part of the blade is thicker. The part of the grip is about eight inches thick, and there are many links that are not smooth, just like the back bone of a fish, which is white from top to bottom. "

Since then, the officials who peeped at Excalibur have been cursed by Excalibur and suffered misfortune one after another. I heard that only one person left to record this story.

If we believe this story of personal experience, then Tiancong Yunjian should have a similar shape to the ancient sword unearthed from sites and other places. It has also been pointed out that it is similar to the sword unearthed in Chinese mainland. In addition, since ancient times, it is generally believed that Tiancong Yunjian is an iron sword, but from the point of view that its surface is not rusty and its color is white, there is also a saying that the Excalibur should actually be made of copper containing tin.