Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-121.7.195.67-20161128145037/@comment-96.245.236.193-20170330155908

The sanjous were smithed by the same person therefore they are family of a sort. Brothers because they were made by the same smith whether they truly existed or not. I think they are all just too formal to refer each other as brothers, which is fine. Nitro+ groups the sanjous together and the anthologies treat them all as an eccentric family, without saying it. I don't think it has anything to do with how they're dressed and how that determines whether or not they're family, but if we're going into that - the sanjous, while not dressed exactly similarly are all color-coded for one. Mikazuki is blue, kogi is orange, ishi is green, iwa is purple, and imano is a grayish blue. They all have the running theme of having horse riding hakama and are dressed to suit the heian era - and they all have neckguards. There are no rules in game that says the swords from the same school have to dress EXACTLY similar to be considered family ( look at nikkari and juzu. Same school - different outfits. Yamabushi isn't dressed all that similarly to yamanbagiri and horikawa either. )

This shouldn't really be that confusing or hard to grasp. Same smith, same school- brothers. Different smith, same school- extended family. Sword created in the image of another sword? Pseudo-family according to nitro+.

The sanjous are brothers due to them being made by the same smith. That's all there is to it. And while we're on the subject of family, Tsurumaru is technically a relative of the sanjou swords as well because he was made by Sanjou's disciple.

I know this is a few months old but that doesnt change the fact that just because the sanjous dont refer to each other as brothers doesnt mean they arent brothers. If in reality you and another person were born to the same mother and father, you would be considered siblings. In touken ranbu, any swords forged by the same smith are brothers. To be honest, the sanjou swords save for IMA don't seem like the types that would run around referring to each other as ' onisama ' or ' aniki ' and stuff. It would seem very ooc, in my opinion so I'm very glad they don't. They just seem like a quiet respectful family that herd together like a family ( as depicted in the anthologies, the musical and the anime ).

They're brothers. End of story.