Hosokawa Tadaoki's Sword
This blade belonged to the Sengoku-era warlord Hosokawa Tadaoki. Its name draws from the 36 Immortals of Japanese Poetry, though the actual inspiration was darker—it commemorates Tadaoki's execution of 36 of his own retainers. That grim origin captures something essential about both the sword and its owner: a strange duality mixing refined artistic sensibility with brutal violence. Tadaoki himself embodied this contradiction throughout his life, and the blade reflects that tension perfectly.
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