About

Moroha is the Japanese word for “double edged”. The characters in Japanese are 諸刃, which are literally “double” and “edge”, nothing fancy needed to translate this word. The word moroha is practically always followed by tsurugi (剣) which is an older word for sword, usually the pronounciation ken is used for that character (for example in kendo, Japanese fencing). Tsurugi usually denotes a straight sword, as opposed to the katana or Japanese curved sword, which ken is usually referring to. Hence, moroha no tsurugi means simply double-edged sword.

The sword on the top of the page is none other than the Kusanagi no Tsurugi (草薙剣), which literally translates to “Grass Cutting Sword”. It’s other name is Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi (天叢雲剣), which basically translates to “Cloud Sword of the Heavens”. If you don’t want to read the whole page on the link, basically it’s a sword from Japanese mythology, akin to Excalibur or perhaps even the Spear of Destiny in western culture, except that it actually exists. It is one of the three sacred artifacts that is possesed by the imperial family, currently all three of them are housed in three separate Shinto shrines. The sword is located in Atsuta Shrine, in Aichi prefecture.

So why did I name this site Moroha? No deep reason, I just like the word.