Talk:Hotarumaru/@comment-31.33.217.53-20150325174208

OMG Hotarumaru is (?) the sword of former Prime Minister Aso... he would have been badass wearing it in Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku, instead of an hunting gun. lol

History of the name Hotarumaru (from Legends and Stories Around the Japanese Sword by Markus Sesko)

Fireflies and Swords?

Let‘s stay with the turmoils of the early Nanbokucho period (南北朝時代). In the third month of Kenmu three (建武, 1336), four months after the battle at the Hakone pass. Ashikaga Takauji was stuck on Kyushu. To this place he was driven by Nitta Yoshisada and Kusunoki Masashige after entering Kyoto, losing the capital just after a short time. The some thousand men of Takauji met the superior army of the Godaigo alliance at the back of Tatara (多々良浜, Hakata Bay, present-day Fukuoka Prefecture), at the same place where the Mongols once arrived. The emperor-loyal alliance was led by Kikuchi Takeshige’s (菊池武重, 1307-1338) younger brother Taketoki (武時, ?-1341), followed among others by Aso Korezumi (阿蘇惟澄, 809-1364), the then head of the Aso family. The Aso had been, like the Kikuchi, loyal to the emperor since oldest times.

Right at the beginning of the fightings, the alliance was able to disturb Takauji’s battle formation and split the army. For a moment it seemed that victory was theirs. But then, a fierce north wind sprang up and covered Taketoki’s warriors in a huge sand cloud, robbing their sight completely. In addition, many men went over to the enemy, and this was the disastrous end for the alliance and the victory for Takauji. Takauji was able to use this “tactic of conversion“ because, apart from the Kikuchi and Aso, most other members of the rather loose alliance held a wait-and-see policy and were not all for Godaigo’s plans. Aso Korezumi - his older brother Korenao (惟直) died in this battle returned wounded to his lands at the foot of Mt. Aso of the same name. His oo-dachi by Rai Kunitoshi (来国俊) with a blade length of more than one meters suffered badly from the mowing movements Korezumi made when facing his enemies. Totally exhausted, he lied down and fell fast asleep, having a strange dream. A swarm of fireflies (horaru, 蛍) - very atypical for this time of the year - came flying along, sitting down on the blade of his Rai Kunitoshi. The entire sword glowed in the dark of the night. Korezumi slept deeply until the next morning. Surprised by the dream he immediately unsheathed his sword, but he couldn’t believe his eyes: all the chips and cuts on the cutting edge (so-called “ha-kobore”, 刃毀れ) were gone! As head of the Aso family, Korezumi also held the office of high-priest (daigushi, 大宮司) of the Aso Shrine (Aso-jinja, 阿蘇神社, present-day Kumamoto Prefecture), and so the sword was kept there as a family treasure over the generations, under the name “Hotarumaru“ (蛍丸).

In 1931, the Hotarumaru was submitted by Baron Aso Tsunemaru (阿蘇恒丸), the then head of the family to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and was designated a national treasure. After the end of World War II, the sword was lost in the course of the sword hunt of the occupying forces. There are rumours that the blade is still in an unknown private collection in Japan but it is more likely that it was destroyed, just like many thousands of other swords.