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Jump to navigationJump to searchCreated page with "*''Other Names'': 筑紫ちゃら ''(Tsukushi-chara)'' *''Japanese'': 治金丸 ''(Jiganemaru, Teganemaru)'' ''Jiganemaru'' is a sword associated with the [[Sho dynasty|royal..."
*''Other Names'': 筑紫ちゃら ''(Tsukushi-chara)''
*''Japanese'': 治金丸 ''(Jiganemaru, Teganemaru)''
''Jiganemaru'' is a sword associated with the [[Sho dynasty|royal family]] of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. According to the ''[[Kyuyo|Kyûyô]]'', it was presented to King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]] by [[Nakasone Toyomiya|Nakasone Tuyumya]] of [[Miyakojima]] in [[1522]]. The unsigned 15th century blade and the 17th century black [[lacquer]]ed furniture are believed to have been made in Japan; the hilt is wrapped in sharkskin, and the ''[[kozuka]]'' are decorated with designs of auspicious clouds. It is hedl today in the [[Naha City Museum of History]].<ref>Naha City Museum of History, [http://www.rekishi-archive.city.naha.okinawa.jp/archives/item1/2059 Digital Museum], 2015.; ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 4. Okinawa Times, 1989. Description of Plates 81-82.; George Kerr. ''Okinawa: The History of an Island People''. Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing (2000), 118, 121-122.</ref>
According to some accounts, an official named [[Ahagon Jikki]] took the sword to [[Kyoto]] to be polished, sometime in the 1520s-1560s, but upon returning home to Ryûkyû with the polished sword, he realized it was not the same sword: the swords had been switched somehow. Returning again to Ryûkyû three years later having retrieved the correct sword, Ahagon was highly praised by the royal court, and following his death was honored with the privilege of being buried near [[Shuri castle]].<ref>Plaques on-site at Aijô-ufumichi in Shuri, Okinawa.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15282650097/]</ref>
Some scholars, however, suggest that the name Jiganemaru, or Teganemaru, refers not to a sword from Miyako, but rather to a sword also known as '''Tsukushi-chara'', from [[Kyushu]] (aka Tsukushi, or Chikushi). This sword is closely associated not only with the royal court at Shuri, but also with the lords of [[Ozato gusuku|Shimasoe Ôzato gusuku]] in southern Okinawa.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 99.</ref> Like another prominent royal sword, [[Chiyoganemaru]], the blade indeed appears identical in style and manufacture to those made in Japan, albeit with fittings (hilt, etc.) atypical of Japanese use. It's believed that most arms and armor used in pre-modern and early modern Ryûkyû was in fact made in Japan. None of this precludes the possibility, of course, that the Japanese-made sword passed through Nakasone's hands before making its way to Okinawa, if it is indeed the same blade as mentioned in the Nakasone legends.
{{stub}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Ryukyu]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Arms and Armor]]
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]
*''Japanese'': 治金丸 ''(Jiganemaru, Teganemaru)''
''Jiganemaru'' is a sword associated with the [[Sho dynasty|royal family]] of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. According to the ''[[Kyuyo|Kyûyô]]'', it was presented to King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]] by [[Nakasone Toyomiya|Nakasone Tuyumya]] of [[Miyakojima]] in [[1522]]. The unsigned 15th century blade and the 17th century black [[lacquer]]ed furniture are believed to have been made in Japan; the hilt is wrapped in sharkskin, and the ''[[kozuka]]'' are decorated with designs of auspicious clouds. It is hedl today in the [[Naha City Museum of History]].<ref>Naha City Museum of History, [http://www.rekishi-archive.city.naha.okinawa.jp/archives/item1/2059 Digital Museum], 2015.; ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 4. Okinawa Times, 1989. Description of Plates 81-82.; George Kerr. ''Okinawa: The History of an Island People''. Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing (2000), 118, 121-122.</ref>
According to some accounts, an official named [[Ahagon Jikki]] took the sword to [[Kyoto]] to be polished, sometime in the 1520s-1560s, but upon returning home to Ryûkyû with the polished sword, he realized it was not the same sword: the swords had been switched somehow. Returning again to Ryûkyû three years later having retrieved the correct sword, Ahagon was highly praised by the royal court, and following his death was honored with the privilege of being buried near [[Shuri castle]].<ref>Plaques on-site at Aijô-ufumichi in Shuri, Okinawa.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15282650097/]</ref>
Some scholars, however, suggest that the name Jiganemaru, or Teganemaru, refers not to a sword from Miyako, but rather to a sword also known as '''Tsukushi-chara'', from [[Kyushu]] (aka Tsukushi, or Chikushi). This sword is closely associated not only with the royal court at Shuri, but also with the lords of [[Ozato gusuku|Shimasoe Ôzato gusuku]] in southern Okinawa.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 99.</ref> Like another prominent royal sword, [[Chiyoganemaru]], the blade indeed appears identical in style and manufacture to those made in Japan, albeit with fittings (hilt, etc.) atypical of Japanese use. It's believed that most arms and armor used in pre-modern and early modern Ryûkyû was in fact made in Japan. None of this precludes the possibility, of course, that the Japanese-made sword passed through Nakasone's hands before making its way to Okinawa, if it is indeed the same blade as mentioned in the Nakasone legends.
{{stub}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Ryukyu]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Arms and Armor]]
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]
