Juzumaru Tsunetsugu

Trivia
Basic Info=
 * -|History=
 * The sword was owned by a great Buddhist reformer Nichiren (日蓮, 1222-1282). When he returned from a bakufu-imposed exile to the island of Sado (佐渡) to Kamakura in Bun´ei six (文永, 1274), he was invited by Nanbu Sanenaga (南部実長, 1222-1297) to the district of Hakii (波木井) in Kai province who was under his control. Sanenaga allowed him that he build up his hermitage on the local Mount Minobu (身延山). Later this hermitage was upgraded to the Kuon-ji (久遠寺, present-day Yamanashi Prefecture) on whose grounds also Nichiren´s grave is located.
 * Sanenaga was one of the most important patron of Nichiren and the later Kuon-ji and so he presented Nichiren with a sword of Tsunetsugu for his protection. For Nichiren this sword was merely a symbol for "destroying of inquinity and establishing righteousness" (hajakenshō no tsurugi, 破邪顕正の剣), and so he hung a Buddhist rosary (juzu, 数珠) over its hilt which gave the sword its name.
 * The history of the sword is already found in the "Kyōhō-meibutsu-chō" but the sword were already no longer preserved in the Kuon-ji at the time the meibutsu-chō was compiled in the Kyōhō era (享保, 1716-1736).
 * In October 1920, the sword was rediscovered by Sugihara Shōzō (杉原祥造) who was responsible for the blades of the Imperial Household Agency (kunai-shō, 宮内省). He found the sword among items of a certain aristocrat who put off parts of his collection for auction, placed a huge bid at the upcoming auction because he feared that the sword could leave Japan forever at a highest bid from abroad, and then invited all newspapers to write about his rediscovering of the sword. One year later it was designated as national treasure.
 * Sugihara tried to return the sword to the Kuon-ji, but the negotiations failed because the temple was not able to raise the funds to buy it from him. After tough negotiation, the sword was given to the Honkō-ji (本興寺), a temple near Sugihara´s hometown Amagasaki (尼崎) in Hyōgo Prefecture. As precious supporter for the temple acted the as religious as rich Ōsaka paper wholesaler Kitakaze Kumashichi (北風熊七). The sword is still preserved in the Honkō-ji and is designated as jūyō-bunkazai.


 * -|Appearance=


 * -|Miscellaneous=
 * He has his eyes shut, just like he's praying, and it's hard to read his thoughts.