the swordsmith Heianjō Nagayoshi, so some scholars suggest Muramasa studied under Nagayoshi. It is also silver-damascened with characters , which suggests that the sword was once in possession of Nabeshima Katsushige (1580-1657), the first daimyō lord of Saga Domain. Later this sword was given to Katsushige's son Nabeshima Motoshige, the first lord of Ogi Domain, and has been inherited by his successors. Muramasa's students made excellent weapons too. Fujiwara Masazane, a disciple of Muramasa, forged Tonbokiri, one of the Three Great Spears of Japan. Masazane also forged a sword called whose name came from a legend that Sakai Tadatsugu killed a wild boar with this sword when accompanying Ieyasu in hunting. In history Origin The exact origin of the Muramasa school is unknown. The oldest extant sword equipped with both a name sign Muramasa and a date sign shows the year Bunki 1 (1501). Scholars, however, assert several swords signed with Muramasa (but without year signs) are slightly older than 1501 in light of their styles. It is generally thought that the school of Muramasa spanned at least three generations. It is hardly clear when the school disappeared, but some Muramasa swords contain the year sign Kanbun (1661-1673). Lores in the late Muromachi period (early 16th century–1573) stated that Muramasa I was a student of Masamune (c. 1300), the greatest swordsmith in Japan's history, and the Hon'ami family (family dynasty of swordpolishers and sword connoisseurs) commented that his floruit was the Jōji era (1362–1368). Scholars from the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1600) to modern days, however, have dismissed the relationship of Masamune and Muramasa as fantasy because all of extant Muramasa swords are too new to support this theory. Another theory states that Muramasa I was a student of Heianjō Nagayoshi, a prominent Kyoto swordsmith known for spears and engravings. The school of , a notable branch of the Muramasa school, records Masashige I died in 1456, so Muramasa I was active before 1456 if we believe the record. , the epithet of Muramasa, is also covered with myths. A common belief states Muramasa I was born in a place called Sengo, but there is no such a place near Kuwana in reality. Another popular legend says the mother of Muramasa I worshipped the bodhisattva Senju Kannon and thus he was called Sengo, a shortened form of . Kanzan Sato claims that the starting year of Muramasa I was Entoku and Meiō