Mythology - Masamune

If memory serves, the Masamune is one of the few reoccurring elements in the Final Fantasy series that does not take different forms in different games. The Masamune is always a sword, though in FF8 it's wielded by Gilgamesh, rather than by a party member. It's also one of the only items with a clear, verifiable history--Masamune truly did exist, though not quite in the way the games portray him.

Goro Nyudo Masamune was a Japanese sword smith who lived and worked c. 1264 – 1343 CE. He is largely considered Japan’s greatest sword artisan and his surviving works are among some of the country’s most prized national treasures.

In a number of stories and legends, Masamune’s work has been connected with that of another Japanese blacksmith, Muramasa, whose name has also appeared on swords in the Final Fantasy series. In reality Muramasa, who dated his swords, was working around 1500 CE, and as such could not have known Masamune, but the legends about the two still exist.

One of the more popular legends involves a contest between the two sword smiths. Each man forged a sword and then dipped its blade into a stream. Leaves floating downstream swerved unerringly into the path of Muramasa’s blade and were cut in half. In contrast, leaves that were on track to be cut by Masamune’s blade swerved aside and were spared. A passing monk approached the two and described that in Muramasa’s blade he sensed a deep blood thirst, as the sword would not spare even a leaf. Masamune’s blade, said the monk, possessed the calm consideration of a true warrior and would not harm an innocent. This legend helps to set up the idea that Masamune’s swords were superior to Muramasa’s, an idea that is preserved in the Final Fantasy series.