Black Lacquer Sword (traditionally Owned by Sakanoue No

The Black-Lacquered Sword of Kurama-dera

Its official name calls it a ken, the Japanese word for a straight, double-edged blade. The object itself is something rather different: a single-edged straight sword about 76 centimeters long, its fittings darkened with black lacquer, unsigned and bearing no date. It belongs to Kurama-dera, the mountain temple in the cedar forest north of Kyoto, and a second name attached to it explains its renown. According to temple tradition, the sword was carried by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, the early Heian general who led the imperial armies north against the Emishi.

That attribution is impossible to prove, and the temple itself records it only as something handed down by word of mouth. What is not in doubt is the age of the blade. It is one of the few swords to survive from the era before the curved Japanese sword took its familiar shape, and for that reason alone it has been a protected national treasure for more than a century.

A Survivor from the Age of the Straight Sword

Japanese swords of the Nara period and the first decades of the Heian period were straight. The graceful curve most people picture today, the signature of the tachi and later the katana, developed only afterward, as forging methods changed during the tenth century. Straight swords of this earlier type are called chokutō, and complete examples are scarce, which is what gives the Kurama-dera blade its weight in the history of Japanese metalwork.

The blade is forged in kiriba-zukuri, a cross-section in which the cutting edge is ground at a distinct angle rather than curving smoothly into the body of the blade, a treatment characteristic of the period. Published measurements give a cutting length of 76.6 centimeters, a width of 2.6 centimeters at the base, and 1.8 centimeters near the point. The blade carries no smith's signature.

Just as important is what travels with it. A black-lacquer tachi mounting survives alongside the blade, the sheath and fittings finished in the same dark lacquer that gives the sword its name. Mountings rarely outlast the centuries as well as blades do, so a matched set from the Nara-to-early-Heian transition is an unusual reference point for anyone studying how swords of that age were worn and carried.

Why It Carries a National Designation

Japan protects its cultural property in graded tiers. The highest is National Treasure (kokuhō); below it sits Important Cultural Property (jūyō bunkazai), the category to which this sword belongs. Both are "designated" properties, meaning the state has formally selected them for protection on grounds of historical or artistic value, a stronger status than the lighter "registered" system introduced in 1996 for more recent buildings.

The sword's path through this system spans two different laws. Published scholarship records that it was first designated in April 1911 as a national treasure under the old Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law, the framework that governed such protection in the late Meiji era. When the present Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties replaced that framework, the blade was re-designated an Important Cultural Property on 29 August 1950. The national database maintained by the Agency for Cultural Affairs lists only the 1950 date, so a visitor comparing sources will find the earlier 1911 designation cited in temple histories and reference works rather than in the official register.

The reasoning behind the protection rests on rarity. Few straight swords of the Nara-to-early-Heian period survive in good condition, and fewer still keep their original mounting. The blade is valued as evidence of how swords were forged and fitted at that turning point, before the curved sword became the standard.

The Tamuramaro Tradition, and What It Is Not

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758-811) was the most celebrated general of the early Heian court. Appointed seii taishōgun, "great general who subdues the barbarians," he commanded the campaigns against the Emishi peoples of northeastern Japan and became a figure of legend within a few generations of his death. Kurama-dera holds that he prayed here for victory before marching north and dedicated this sword on his safe return.

It is a satisfying story, and the dating of the blade is at least consistent with his lifetime, which is why the attribution has held for so long. The caution comes from the documents. The temple's own medieval origin record, the Kurama-gaiji kanbun engi, makes no mention of the sword at all; the link to Tamuramaro reaches us only as oral tradition, which is why the formal name preserves the careful phrase "by temple tradition."

There is a further tangle worth untangling. The blade is often confused in popular writing with two famous legendary swords: the Sohaya no Tsurugi, a magical weapon that appears in medieval tales about Tamuramaro, and the Sakanoue treasure sword said to have entered the imperial regalia. Kurama-dera states plainly that its black-lacquered sword is not the Sakanoue treasure sword, and scholars generally treat the four blades as either separate objects or, at best, of uncertain relationship. The romantic identification, popularized by later authors without supporting evidence, is best read as folklore rather than history.

Seeing the Sword at Kurama-dera

The blade is kept at the temple's Reihōden, the treasure hall that sits along the path toward the inner sanctuary, a short climb beyond the main golden hall. A word of realism helps here: this is a museum object, not a fixed display. Temple treasures are rotated, and this sword has periodically left the mountain for exhibitions, including a 1940 national display of famous swords and a 2016 show of medieval sword mountings at the Kyoto National Museum. Anyone making the journey specifically to see it should confirm in advance that it is currently on view.

Even when the sword is elsewhere, the mountain rewards the climb. Kurama-dera is the head temple of the Kurama-kōkyō school and one of the oldest religious sites north of Kyoto. It is bound up with the boyhood of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who is said to have trained here as the young Ushiwakamaru under the tutelage of the mountain's tengu, the long-nosed spirits of Japanese folklore. The platform of the main hall, inlaid with a pattern representing the cosmos, draws visitors who come for the mountain's reputation as a place of concentrated natural energy as much as for its history.

Around Kurama

Reaching the temple is part of the experience. From central Kyoto, take the Keihan line or a bus to Demachiyanagi, then the Eizan Electric Railway to its northern terminus at Kurama, a ride of about half an hour that runs through a celebrated tunnel of maples in autumn. The temple gate stands a few minutes from the station. From there a steep, switchbacking path of roughly thirty minutes climbs to the main hall, or a short cable car covers part of the ascent for those who prefer it.

Many visitors continue over the ridge and down the far side to Kifune Shrine, set above a mountain stream and known in summer for dining platforms built over the water. The walk links two very different sacred places in a single half-day. Sturdy shoes are sensible in either direction; the route is stone steps and forest trail throughout.