Category: Well I thought it was neat!
When it comes to famous samurai clans and legendary sword battles, Japan’s history is full of them. From Sasaki Kojiro and his famous duel with Miyamoto Musashi to tales of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, these battles are dramatic and compelling. While there are many standout warriors throughout Japan’s samurai history, there is one who was considered to have the deadliest sword. 
The Katana of Masamune
Many people acknowledge that Masamune was Japan’s greatest swordsmith. Gorō Nyūdō Masamune was active around the 13th century, when samurai warriors were in a constant sword battle, and this style of weapon was in high demand.
In addition to being a very talented smith, Masamune also understood the mechanics of the samurai fighting style as well as their needs when battling their most fearsome enemy — the Mongols. He actually developed the katana from the common swords of the period, like tachi and kissaki.
His work was based on the work of a previous swordsmith named Amakuni. Many legends talk about the frustration Amakuni experienced watching his swords break during battle after battle.
He began experimenting with different materials and blade shapes until he found one that could stand against the armor and weapons of the enemy. He created his deadliest sword, the tachi, which Masamune then transformed into the katana.
His Katanas
The katana has a slender design with a curve in the center that soldiers could effectively use for slashing and stabbing. Masamune’s katana creations were more than just the deadliest swords around, they were also incredibly beautiful. His weapons quickly became the benchmark for all samurai weapons, and the katana transitioned into a position as a samurai’s most important weapon.
An old portrait of Masamune
Masamune’s Weapons History
Many of Masamune’s creations were considered some of the deadliest swords available, but there are some more famous than others. The most infamous sword he created is called the Honjō Masamune katana. This sword has been passed down by shōguns throughout the centuries until it arrived in the hands of Tokugawa Iemasa — its final owner.
This sword was named a national treasure in 1939 but disappeared in the midst of World War II. After the war, someone surrendered it to a police station under laws imposed by the American occupation. Since nobody recognized the world’s most infamous and deadliest sword, nobody knows what happened to it or where it went.
Lisa Marie Presley’s life was ultimately tumultuous and relatively brief.
Here entry into the world, however, was nonetheless quite sweet.
A couple of weeks into the new year, Lisa Marie Presley died at the age of 54. Like many kids born into show business royalty, hers was a tumultuous and ultimately abbreviated life. Money, fame and notoriety certainly do not bring happiness. Quite the contrary. Lisa Marie’s brief sojourn with us has been characterized by chaos. However, it all started amidst an environment of remarkable sweetness. Now, hold that thought.
My best friend comes from a most extraordinary family. We met in seventh grade and grew up together. His dad was one of the most successful portrait painters in the world. His mom was just a piece of work. We’ll call her Mrs. B.
I took them all for granted. I assumed every little Southern town had such a rarefied mob on its outskirts. With the crystalline clarity of hindsight, I had no idea how precious my time with these extraordinary people might have been.
There were four sons in this tribe. After the first, Mrs. B got the itch to do something different, so they bought an airplane. They lived on an expansive Mississippi Delta farm, so they bulldozed a runway in the cotton field behind the house. The young woman then got up every morning, flew to the small airfield at Mud Island in Memphis, Tenn., and attended medical school.
Mrs. B went to medical school at a time when not a lot of women did. She was the only female in her graduating class. Despite juggling her own growing family, commuting some 78 miles each day by air, and facing some pretty serious institutional misogyny, this lady knocked the ceiling out of the academic rankings. She soon became a practicing gynecologist. One day, she was on call when someone very special went into labor.
Elvis Presley was arguably the most popular entertainer who ever lived.
A poor man from exceptionally humble beginnings, Elvis ultimately rose to superstardom.
Back then, gender roles were pretty clearly delineated for the human birth process. Nowadays, guys are expected to be an active part of the festivities, helping manage breathing, cutting cords and the like. Back in the day, however, things were very different.
In 1968, the woman was responsible for going through labor, managing her own breathing, and actually birthing the child. By contrast, the male half of the happy union was expected to sit in the waiting room while smoking cigarettes and reading Field and Stream magazine. Sometimes he would bring some friends to help shoulder this weighty burden. So, it was this day when Priscilla Presley presented to the hospital along with her husband to welcome their new child.
Elvis Presley was but a humble Mississippi redneck transported into a very complex world. His expansive estate is what happens when you take a well-intentioned but simple man, give him all the money in the world, and then let him create a garish monument to 1970s-era tastelessness. You then cement it in time at the moment of his death for some half a million tourists per annum to gawk upon, and voila, you have Graceland. The King of Rock and Roll was indeed a once-in-world-history phenomenon.
Elvis went no place alone. In this case, he was accompanied by his standard entourage. Colonel Tom Parker was in attendance, as were his immediate family and sundry strap hangers. After all, that Field and Stream magazine wasn’t going to read itself. Mrs. B told me they did squirrel them all away in the doctors’ lounge to avoid precipitating a riot in the waiting room.
These were the days before ultrasound machines, so the gender and general health of a child were things to which one was not privy prior to birth. This made an already stressful event all the more so. Like any prospective dad serious about his craft, Elvis was justifiably anxious.
Once the technical aspects of the exercise were complete, Mrs. B went out to the doctors’ lounge to deliver the news. She was instantly mobbed. Everyone wanted to be the person to tell Elvis the details of the day’s proceedings. She dutifully pushed aside Colonel Parker and the rest of the hangers-on with a curt directive that this was something a man needed to hear for himself. She made her way through the crowd to take her place before the King of Rock and Roll.
Mrs. B told me that Elvis seemed terribly apprehensive. A man who performed before millions was now in a place where the well-being of those most precious to him hung in the balance. No matter your station in life, that’s a terribly lonely space.
She took Elvis’ hand, looked him in the eye, and explained that it was a girl, and that mother and daughter were both healthy and fine. In response, the most popular entertainer in the world shuddered slightly and then wept. The King had just become a dad, an experience that moved him.
This is where the idea of the Transcontinetal Highway system got started from. Grumpy
