Motoko Kusanagi takes her last name from Kusanagi sword, which, along with a mirror and a jewel, form the three Go-Shin Tai (three sacred treasures), the imperial regalia of Japan. Masamune Shirow makes reference to them at the end of the second manga. Kusanagi sword is as important for the Japanese culture as Excalibur is to that of Britain. It represents the virtue of valor.
According to the oldest surviving book in Japan, Kojiki (known in English as The Records of the Ancient Matters) Susa-no-o, the god of storms, discovered Kusanagi inside the body of a dragon that he defeated. He called it Ame-no-Murakamo-no-Tsurugi (Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven). Recognizing the sword as a sacred weapon, he gave it to his sister Amaterasu, the sun goddess, to settle an old grievance. Amaterasu gave it to her great grandson Jimmu-Tenno, the first emperor of Japan. Generations later, Sujin, the tenth emperor, ordered to build the Kusanui shrine to house the imperial regalia. According to some reports, the emperor Sujin also ordered to fashion replicas of the sword, the mirror and the jewel.
Yamato Takeru, a son to the twelfth emperor Keiko, once was attacked by a treacherous warlord on an open grassland. The grass was ignited in order to burn the prince to death. Yamato Takeru used the sacred sword to cut back the grass. It is then that the sword received the name Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, that is the Grass-Cutting Sword (however, in the ancient Japanese language, kusa means sword and nagi means snake, so Kusanagi may also mean Snake Sword). The prince also discovered that Kusanagi had magical properties, which caused the wind to blow in the direction of its swing.
In the sixth century the sword was reportedly stolen by a Chinese or Korean monk who planned to escape Japan by sea. Terrified by the storm, the monk threw Kusanagi into the sea (according to another version, the sword sank along with the ship), but the sacred weapon was recovered ashore by Shinto priests. According to The Tale of the Heike, Kusanagi was nearly lost at sea again in 1185, during the naval battle of Dan-no-ura. The young emperor Atoku and his grandmother were on a ship belonging to the Taira clan that represented the imperial rule. They were surrounded by the ships of the Minamoto clan representing the Shogunate. Atoku’s grandmother leapt into the sea with the emperor and the three regalia, including Kusanagi. Since then Minamoto claim that the emperor was carrying the replica made under Sujin, but Taira say that because of the lost sword no subsequent emperor has been properly enthroned. According to the official version, Kusanagi sword is still kept in a Shinto shrine at Atsuta near Nagoya. Recently journalists from NHK, a Japanese broadcasting station, went to Atsuta in order to videotape the sword, but the priests declined to present it. Historically, Kusanagi is taboo for anyone except the emperor and the head Shinto priest at the Atsuta shrine.
According to the oldest surviving book in Japan, Kojiki (known in English as The Records of the Ancient Matters) Susa-no-o, the god of storms, discovered Kusanagi inside the body of a dragon that he defeated. He called it Ame-no-Murakamo-no-Tsurugi (Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven). Recognizing the sword as a sacred weapon, he gave it to his sister Amaterasu, the sun goddess, to settle an old grievance. Amaterasu gave it to her great grandson Jimmu-Tenno, the first emperor of Japan. Generations later, Sujin, the tenth emperor, ordered to build the Kusanui shrine to house the imperial regalia. According to some reports, the emperor Sujin also ordered to fashion replicas of the sword, the mirror and the jewel.
Yamato Takeru, a son to the twelfth emperor Keiko, once was attacked by a treacherous warlord on an open grassland. The grass was ignited in order to burn the prince to death. Yamato Takeru used the sacred sword to cut back the grass. It is then that the sword received the name Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, that is the Grass-Cutting Sword (however, in the ancient Japanese language, kusa means sword and nagi means snake, so Kusanagi may also mean Snake Sword). The prince also discovered that Kusanagi had magical properties, which caused the wind to blow in the direction of its swing.
In the sixth century the sword was reportedly stolen by a Chinese or Korean monk who planned to escape Japan by sea. Terrified by the storm, the monk threw Kusanagi into the sea (according to another version, the sword sank along with the ship), but the sacred weapon was recovered ashore by Shinto priests. According to The Tale of the Heike, Kusanagi was nearly lost at sea again in 1185, during the naval battle of Dan-no-ura. The young emperor Atoku and his grandmother were on a ship belonging to the Taira clan that represented the imperial rule. They were surrounded by the ships of the Minamoto clan representing the Shogunate. Atoku’s grandmother leapt into the sea with the emperor and the three regalia, including Kusanagi. Since then Minamoto claim that the emperor was carrying the replica made under Sujin, but Taira say that because of the lost sword no subsequent emperor has been properly enthroned. According to the official version, Kusanagi sword is still kept in a Shinto shrine at Atsuta near Nagoya. Recently journalists from NHK, a Japanese broadcasting station, went to Atsuta in order to videotape the sword, but the priests declined to present it. Historically, Kusanagi is taboo for anyone except the emperor and the head Shinto priest at the Atsuta shrine.
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Excellent background with Japanese culture, and past legends. I look forward to reading more of your blog on the series, movies, and manga comics. You even make me want to go back to learning japanese. They can be so forward looking, while reflecting on the past, or nostalgia for the past. Again great job on deciphering the meaning's and clues. Please do more.
ReplyDeletePatient # 0.1357
LaboriousCretin
Awsome all this really makes Motoko Kusanagi become an irreplaceable name from vast information of history
ReplyDelete-The major will always be the major!
It should be noted...
ReplyDelete::: 2nd GIG SPOILER BELOW :::
At the end of SAC: 2nd Gig... Motoko states/reveals to Kuze that she doesn't recall her real name. Motoko Kusanagi is merely a pseudonym.
Personally, I think this makes the name analysis and fact that "Kusanagi is taboo for anyone except the emperor and the head Shinto priest at the Atsuta shrine" all that more interesting.
Just a note, it is now widely speculated whether or not the sword actually exists, or whether the real one was lost years ago, and there is simply a ruse maintained now to keep up the necessary presence of something very important. Because aside from a select few whom we cannot access, no one can actually observe it or prove its very existence.
ReplyDeleteJust like the Major's humanity, and her ghost.