Naming of Japanese Swords

[natsumi]

Hajimemashite.

I came across this site while searching for a list of the names of famous swords. I do not mean the names of types or categories, but actual names of Japanese swords.

Is there a tradition to name a Japanese blade, as in the Viking tradition, for example?

Arigatou!

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

natsumi said:

Is there a tradition to name a Japanese blade, as in the Viking tradition, for example?

Irashaimasse! Welcome to the board.

The Japanese naming of swords tends more towards 'nicknames' and away from 'formal names.' There was a brief discussion of this on the SCA-JML about 18 months ago. Here is the thread:
groups.yahoo.com/group/sca-jml/message/12247

Here is another thread from the Sword Forums International:
forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33651

[Takeda Sanjuichiro]

Those are pretty good posts, but they only talk about a couple of swords, of which one is near mythical. The sword Kogarasu-maru (Little Crow) attributed to Amakuni is still an extant example.

Other than that we have:(all phrases and spellings are questionable since I am at work and doing this from memory)

Shutendoshi-giri: Tachi, called ogre-cutter

Miike no Tachi: Tachi,

Tonbo-giri: Yari, Dragonfly cutter, one of the seven great spears.

Hocho Masumune:Tanto, Masamune's Kitchen Knife

Unknown Name no Tachi: Tachi, named after a particular pheonix like bird that refused to sit upon the roof of the storehouse that it was kept in, supposedly because the presence of the sword was so fierce.

Cresent Moon/(Miyazuki?):, Tachi, by Munechika named for a particular detail in the hamon that looks like a cresent moon.

O-Kanehira/Great Fish:Tachi, by Kanehira the way Kanehira signed this particular sword the first character of his mei looks like the character for a big fish. Regrettably for him, this sword was the finest he ever produced and is noted as one of the finest extant swords ever, jokingly it is sometimes known as Great Fish.

Osoraku/Perhapse: Tanto, famous tanto by Sukemune(IIRC) It is a very distinctive shape with the kissaki being longer than the ha. Why it is called this is unknown, maybe it was a case of Perhapse this will sell?

There are several dozen more that I am not able to remember even sketchi details at the moment. Quite a few of the Heian/Kamakura era swords from the earlier half of the Koto period wound up with names if they and their weilder survived a particular event, but many of those swords were 'separated" from their names, or their names faded into obscurity by the Edo period.

-Takeda