- 15 Mar 2003
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tetsunihon said:well i have to agree but I read a book about samurai's and it also mentioned that he had an apprentice named I believe shiro Muramasa.
Muramasa's earliest known work dates to 1501.
The Masamune most people refer to (there were three smiths who signed their work Masamune at various periods), worked mainly in the middle 1300's.
The two could not have known each other.
There is an idea that because of the prohibitions by the Tokugawa (we are talking much later after both men were deat and gone) against Muramasa's blades - considereing them bad luck - the MURA character was cut off the tang and MUNE inscribed. Thus MuraMasa became Masamune, and thus the officials couldn't get upset. This might be the source of the confusion in thinking the two are somehow connected.
Just as an aside, just because something is signed with a name doesn't mean it was made by that smith. It was not uncommon for Japanese smiths for a long time to sign thier master's name, change their name, flat out try to swindle somebody with a fake/famous name, or just not sign it at all. This makes a huge headache out of tracing pedigree.