Thread: Swords

I believe that only generals and one of their subordinates had them. Am I correct?

kinda, the CO of each unit had one and used it like a flag.

There is a legend about a sword called Kusanagi. The legend is called "The blade that cut the burning grass." there is also a book written about the sword with another story thrown into it. According to Kojiki, the Japanese god Susanoo encountered a grieving family headed by Ashi na Zuchi in Izumo province. When Susanoo inquired of Ashi na Zuchi, he told him that his family was being ravaged by the fearsome Yamato no Orochi, 8-headed serpent of Koshi, who consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and that the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushinada. Susanoo proceeded to investigate the creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushinada's hand in marriage, which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb to have her company during battle, he detailed his plan.

He instructed the preparation of 8 vats of sake (rice wine) to be put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with 8 gates. The monster took the bait and put each of its heads through each gate. With this distraction, Susanoo attacked and slew the beast. He decapitated each head and then proceeded to the tails. In the fourth tail, he discovered a great sword inside the body of the dragon which he called Ame Murakumo-No-Tsurugi (Sword of Billowing Clouds), which he presented to the goddess, Amaterasu to settle an old grievance.

Generations later in the reign of the 12th emperor, Emperor Keikō, the sword was given to the great warrior, Yamato Takeru as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamato Hime the Shrine Maiden of Ise Shrine, to protect her nephew in times of peril.

These gifts came in handy when Yamato Takeru was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous warlord. The lord had fiery arrows to ignite the grass and trap Yamato Takeru in the field so that he would burn to death. He also killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato Takeru used Ame Murakumo no Tsurugi to cut back the grass and remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind and cause it to move in the direction of his swing. Taking advantage of this magic, Yamato Takeru used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men, and he used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them. In triumph, Yamato Takeru renamed the sword Kusanagi (lit. "Grasscutter") to commemorate his narrow escape and victory. Eventually, Yamato Takeru married and fell in battle with a monster, after ignoring his wife's advice to take Kusanagi with him.

While this is the most popular theory of how Kusanagi got its name, researchers agree that it is most likely false. In the ancient Japanese language, kusa meant sword and nagi meant snake. Thus, an alternative theory is that Kusanagi meant sword of the snake.

(Story is somewhat in original form and has all the Gods and Goddess' of the Japanese culture. Information provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. Enjoy!)

P.S.

My fav. Weapon or supposed weapon (It's a legend) and the weapon is used by a fav. character of mine Uchiha Sasuke.

katana all the way,the best sword hands down.

LoL.
Did you know japan is loaded with tales like that?
Heres one.
A swordman was about to die.
He sacrificed his sword to the wolves that were hunting him.When he awakend he never found his sword.Then a year later his sword was found laying besides him while he was sleeping.
The best sword for me is a streight Katana with a 1-degree curve and it's 27 inches long.It whould be a Masamune style sword.

My fav. Weapon or supposed weapon (It's a legend) and the weapon is used by a fav. character of mine Uchiha Sasuke.

Well did you know the sword that Naruto will use agianst Sasuke is the brother sword of Sasuke's?By the way it's like the Masamune,Muramasa story.
The Masamune Swords' were reguarded as holy swords, Naruto's whould most likely be this kind of sword.The Muramasa style swords were the exact oppisite, sasuke's was most likely one of these.

^_^ i think that the person with the gun would win... because the swordsman has to be better than a gunman in order to win... unless if God likes you more... than you would win... ^_^ but God always wins!

but seriously... i would say Katana becuz it's still being mass produced! ... but... you know... pex despensers can be pretty leathal... oh yeah...

Soshi Kitai Says: And remember kids, the most important thing to a shinobi is team work *snicker snicker*

guns don't require any skill to use, they take out the "art" of war. swords are much more efficient as well, if they could get teh world to do the same,then the american governement would start using swords again to save money.