nihon-to: the japanese sword
Most likely, there is no weapon that has played such a dominant and symbolic part in the cultural history of a people as the sword has in Japan. The Japanese people consider themselves as chosen and as mythology has it, their emperor descends directly from the sun-godess Amaterasu Omikami. One of the three regalia of the emperor, besides a mirror and crown jewels, is the sword the god Susanoo gave to Amaterasu after he defeated a dragon with eight heads.
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