#Commentary on Existing Masterwork Arms

Contents

Fiction-Only + Summary. This document links the masterworks already carried in co-07-02-masterworks.md and ex2-40-03-masterworks-extra.md while explaining only the anecdote·ownership condition·relationship with the master. It does not rewrite the numbers.

Divine Treasures are not treated below. Weapons of divine origin such as Ame-no-Murakumo·the sword of Susanoo·the bow of Hachiman·the sword of Fudo Myoo go to fc05-01-02-existing-divine-artifacts.md.

#Introductory Fragment — A Name That Already Exists

A young warrior opened the masterwork arsenal and asked. "If it is a blade already recorded, is there a story left for me to make? Here the owner, the effect, and the anecdote are all written down."

The old GM drew a small blank space beside the blade's name. "The record tells where the blade came from. The session tells whom the blade departs today."

"Departs? I was thinking of the scene of gaining it."

"From the moment of gaining, the possibility of departure is born." The GM closed the arsenal. "The reason a masterwork is fearsome is not that it is strong. It is because, having already passed through so many hands, it teaches you that this hand too may be a passing hand."

The warrior wrote his own character's name in the blank space beside the blade's name. Then he erased it. It seemed too early to settle it yet.

That night's scenario began as a story of seeking a blade, but by the time it ended everyone had learned: to use an existing masterwork is not to bring in an already-finished story, but to add one new wound to a long lineage.

#How to Use This Document

Each entry is composed of the following five lines.

Original data — in which document·section of the main volume/expansion the numbers are.
Current whereabouts — the location at the start of the scenario (or whereabouts unknown).
Ownership condition — which PC/NPC may wield it, or to whom it responds.
Representative anecdote — the incident that compresses this weapon into a single line.
Scenario use — the simplest way to bring this weapon into a single session.

The numbers (Energy·Wounds·Target Number·technique names) all follow the original data. If this document sets new numbers, that is a Variant.

#§ Scent — The Blade That Has a Name

A name dwells in the blade. When a single blade cuts down a hundred — at some point that blade gains a name that people call. It is the last name of the one cut down, or the family name of the one who wielded it, or, if what was cut was not a person but an oni, the name of that oni transfers onto the blade.

When a blade has a name — the blade begins to look at its master. "Can this hand bear the weight of my name?" The hand that cannot bear it drops the blade, or is devoured by the blade's curse. The hand that bears it — writes the next line of the blade's anecdote with its own hand.

This volume is a book about the weight of that name.

#§ Law — Sword-Type Masterworks

#Higekiri

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Tachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Whereabouts unknown. Kagura Domain is tracking it.
Ownership condition	Recognition by a direct line of the Minamoto (Genji) or a direct descendant. The tradition that it responds to one who has cut the remnant of Ibaraki-doji.
Representative anecdote	At Rashomon, Watanabe no Tsuna cut off the arm of Ibaraki-doji. It was also in the hands of the 4 Heavenly Kings during the Shuten-doji subjugation.
Scenario use	"The oni's arm has appeared again" — a one-act in which the remnant of Rashomon·Ibaraki-doji revives. The PC is tested for the qualification to obtain Higekiri. Connect with `co-09-09-minamoto-specter.md` and `fc04-03-02-yorimitsu.md`.

#Hizamaru

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Tachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	A pair with Higekiri. The tradition of being scattered and the tradition of being kept coexist.
Ownership condition	Like Higekiri, the Genji lineage. It vibrates near a spider-type yoma (the remnant of Tsuchigumo).
Representative anecdote	Yorimitsu stabbed and cut a giant spider that appeared in his own bedchamber — Tsuchigumo. Afterward the name "Kumokiri (蜘蛛切)" was added.
Scenario use	The key to a Tsuchigumo-remnant scenario. The single blade that unbinds an NPC tied in spider silk. Connect with `fc04-04-02-tsuchigumo-rashomon.md`.

#Kogarasumaru

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Tachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	The offering at Ise Shrine is of unknown whereabouts. The theory that Heike remnants carried it and vanished at Dan-no-ura.
Ownership condition	The Heike (Taira) lineage, or one who upholds the rites of kingship. "The crow that saw the arm cries" — the blade responds only to one who has heard the crow's cry.
Representative anecdote	The spine and the edge are of one body, so it cuts either way. The last Heike warrior at Dan-no-ura cut two men at once with this blade and obtained it.
Scenario use	A Heike-specter·kingship-symbol scenario. The blade a PC meets by following a crow's cry. A trial that bids one enshrine it rather than wield it.

#Mikazuki Munechika

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Tachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Kept by Kagura Domain (official). Many theft-incident records.
Ownership condition	Swordsmanship Master + a match of Way of Emptiness (Compassion) or Way of Mystery (Truth). If the blade does not glow blue, one has no qualification to wield it.
Representative anecdote	When it cuts a yoma, the blade glows blue. The masterpiece of the Heian swordsmith Sanjo Munechika — the anecdote that a god helped forge it.
Scenario use	The first appearance of a Tenka Goken scenario. It can be set as a tool to test a PC's qualification — does it glow when wielded. `fc05-02-02-tenka-goken.md`.

#Muramasa

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Uchigatana Masterworks` · `ex2-40-03 § Swords·Blades`
Current whereabouts	Many circulate in the market. Owing to the rumor "ill omen (凶) to the Tokugawa house," its keeping is shunned.
Ownership condition	Use is free, but — the blade desires its master's blood. The curse of being unable to retreat of one's own will.
Representative anecdote	The rumor that a person of the Tokugawa house, if they wield it, sheds their own blood. The user cannot stop on the battlefield.
Scenario use	"In a scene where one must retreat, the PC is holding Muramasa" — a tool that turns the rule itself into the PC's choice. For the curse-mitigation procedure see `fc05-04-02-curses-devotions.md`.

#Dojigiri Yasutsuna

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Uchigatana Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	A heirloom of the Minamoto house. Kept by the main house or in official keeping.
Ownership condition	A Swordsmanship Master. One with the will for yoma subjugation. It vibrates if the remnant of Shuten-doji is near.
Representative anecdote	The blade with which Yorimitsu cut off the head of Shuten-doji in a single stroke. Foremost among the Tenka Goken.
Scenario use	The first card when a remnant·descendant of Shuten-doji appears. The effect of cracking a seal is a decisive blow in a master-class yoma battle. `fc04-04-01-shutendoji.md`.

#Aizu Shintogo

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Kodachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	In the official keeping of Aizu Domain. It has been tracked as the relic of an old swordsman.
Ownership condition	It shows its true worth when one holds a Nito-ryu License. It responds only to one who has mastered the breath of no-rhythm (無拍子).
Representative anecdote	A single strike that severs the opponent's rhythm. The relic of a swordsman who boasted invincibility with a Nito-ryu off-hand weapon.
Scenario use	A late-game reward for a Nito-ryu PC. Strong on its own, but set the breath-match with the main weapon as a scenario reward.

#Kotetsu [Spirit Realm Wandering Treasure]

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Kodachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Something that flowed out of the Spirit Realm. Found near the Gate of the Spirit Realm, or appearing as someone's relic.
Ownership condition	The blade peers into the heart of "one who craves a fight." In an ordinary person's hand it is merely a small blade.
Representative anecdote	A blade the future swordsmith Nagasone Kotetsu will make flowed backward through time. One sees visions — a dojo and a prisoner of an age one does not know.
Scenario use	The entrance to a Spirit Realm Wandering Treasure scenario. How the PC reacts to the vision is the branch. `co-07-02 § Spirit Realm Wandering Treasures`.

#Sasanoyuki

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Kodachi Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	The relic of a physician family from snow country. Passed down to one who carries on the work of medicine (醫) generation after generation.
Ownership condition	Its silence (無音) activates only for one who uses it as a tool of medicine (醫), not assassination.
Representative anecdote	It is a form specialized for assassination, yet its master was a physician. It was used to cut out a patient's tumor, or to sever the agony of one facing death.
Scenario use	"A physician PC has, without knowing it, come to hold a masterwork kodachi" — first appearance as a medical tool, a weapon in a crisis.

#§ Law — Spear·Bow·Gun-Type Masterworks

#Tonbogiri

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Suyari Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Kept by the Honda house (official). A loss scenario is possible.
Ownership condition	A Spearmanship Master. The ability to operate a formation. The recognition of the Honda house, or a duty to that house.
Representative anecdote	A dragonfly alighted on the spear point and was cut in two. One axis of the legend that Honda Tadakatsu was never once wounded in his life.
Scenario use	A Front Zone·formation scenario. In a scene where a PC leads a squad, it works as morale through a squad Cohesion bonus.

#Nihongo

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Jumonji-yari Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Kept by the Kuroda house. Famous for its drinking-bout anecdote.
Ownership condition	One who possesses both boldness and Bearing at once. The joke "one who can win it at a drinking bout" is close to the truth.
Representative anecdote	The dashing legend that one received it by draining a to of sake at a drinking bout. One of the Three Great Spears Under Heaven.
Scenario use	A social challenge — a masterwork won not by force but by a Bearing·Presence (美) check. The acquisition itself is one scenario.

#Otegine

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Naginata Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	A wares a weapon dealer sometimes mentions. Few can wield it, so it sells poorly.
Ownership condition	Physique+2 recommended. The weight itself is the barrier to entry.
Representative anecdote	The spear point is as large as a pestle, so nothing struck survives. One of the Three Great Spears Under Heaven.
Scenario use	A late-game reward for a giant-build PC. The Energy penalty is a drawback, but it clears out the rabble with a single crushing blow.

#Raimei · Nasu-no-Yoichi-yumi

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Daikyu Masterworks` · `§ Hankyu Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Raimei is in Minamoto-line keeping. The Nasu-no-Yoichi bow is tracked by Nasu-house descendants.
Ownership condition	An Archery Master. Raimei, the will for yoma subjugation; Nasu-no-Yoichi, the will for precise aim.
Representative anecdote	Raimei — Yorimasa shot down the nue. Nasu-no-Yoichi — at Dan-no-ura he struck a fan atop a ship.
Scenario use	The key to a Heian·Genpei scenario. See the separate-entry commentary in `fc05-02-01-heian-genji-heike.md`.

#Kunitomo Reisen

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Tanegashima Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	The prototype is kept by the Kunitomo Guild. If lost, it can be tracked by spiritual traces.
Ownership condition	Archery. Perception. One who accepts the ethical burden of using a yoma core as a power source.
Representative anecdote	A prototype made with the core of a yoma. It pierces even an incorporeal yoma.
Scenario use	A late-game reward for an artisan·gaijin PC. It serves well as the fuse of an ethical-conflict scenario.

#§ Law — Dagger·Unarmed·Staff-Type Masterworks

#Yoshimitsu

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Ninjato Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Somewhere in the shinobi main house. Only the main house knows the exact location.
Ownership condition	A Ninjutsu Master. The will to maintain a state of Infiltration. The recognition of the Awataguchi blade school.
Representative anecdote	The most perfect dagger in history. It pierces the gap of armor precisely.
Scenario use	A late-game reward for a shinobi PC. The infiltration-maintenance effect is the decisive blow of an infiltration scenario.

#Kagero · Kotowari · Iyomante

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Kaiken/Makiri Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Kagero is the wares of a yoma-material tool dealer. Kotowari is the relic of a scholar lineage. Iyomante is kept within the Emishi kamuy faith sphere.
Ownership condition	Kagero responds to an infiltrator. Kotowari scholar/onmyoji only. Iyomante the will of kamuy faith·yoma return.
Representative anecdote	Kagero's blade cannot be seen. Kotowari knows the vital point by Wisdom (智), not Presence. Iyomante is the ritual blade that returns a yoma to the kamuy.
Scenario use	An identity reward for an atypical PC build (scholar assassin, kamuy-faith PC). Reinforce the class concept with a single weapon.

#Onigoroshi · Benkei-no-Bo

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Unarmed/Staff Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Onigoroshi is kept at an esoteric-Buddhist head temple. Benkei-no-Bo is lost, tracked around the Dan-no-ura region.
Ownership condition	Onigoroshi esoteric monk only. Benkei-no-Bo a warrior-monk or successor of Physique+2 or higher.
Representative anecdote	Onigoroshi turns a bare fist into an Exorcism weapon. Benkei-no-Bo took a thousand blades.
Scenario use	A reward option for a PC who does not use weapons. The key to a scene against a heavily-armored enemy, or one where disarming is the core.

#Dainichi-Kongo · Kongoriki · Kanabo

Item	Value
Original data	`co-07-02 § Vajra/Tetsubo Masterworks`
Current whereabouts	Dainichi-Kongo is kept at a Shingon-sect head temple (authenticity unclear). Kongoriki is the secret transmission of a Shugendo dojo. Kanabo is of unknown origin, suspected to be a Spirit Realm Wandering Treasure.
Ownership condition	Dainichi-Kongo, the recognition of a Shingon-sect head temple. Kongoriki, one who has completed a 1000-day austerity. Kanabo — anyone can wield it, but is devoured by rage.
Representative anecdote	Dainichi-Kongo is transmitted as a relic of Kukai. For Kongoriki, the pain of austerity becomes power. Kanabo is a human-sized variant of the club a great oni used.
Scenario use	An identity weapon for a religious PC. Kanabo is the fuse of the "rage mechanic" — a d100 roll after use.

#§ Law — Armor·Accessory Masterworks

#Armor Type

Weapon	Original data	Ownership condition	Scenario use
Genji-no-Yoroi	`co-07-02`	Minamoto direct line·descendant. The will of Squad Command.	The morale axis of a squad-battle scenario. The very fact that there is one wearing it makes the formation firm.
Maeda-no-Gusoku	`co-07-02`	The Kaga Maeda house, or a front-zone captain that house recognizes. An oath to refuse retreat.	A scenario of guarding a single passage. Immunity to forced relocation is decisive.
Kirishitan Breastplate	`co-07-02`	Gaijin or Kirishitan faith.	This volume is limited to Japanese-mainland masterworks — this entry crosses with `co-07-04`. Send it to an Exotic Sacred Objects scenario.

#Accessory·Tool

Weapon	Original data	Ownership condition	Scenario use
Yata-no-Kagami (八咫鏡, replica)	`co-07-02`	A match of Shinto faith. Responds in a scenario where an enemy has disguised themselves.	The key to an illusion·Disguise scenario. Reflected in the mirror, the truth is revealed.
Magatama	`co-07-02`	The will of soul protection.	A Possession·charm scenario. The revival of a companion is the climax of a scenario.
Enma-no-Juzu	`co-07-02`	An Exorcism Master. One who knows the name of the yoma to be sealed.	The single string of prayer beads with which permanent sealing is possible. The climax tool of a sealing scenario.
Kunitomo Gigan	`co-07-02`	One who has lost an eye. The recognition of the Kunitomo Guild.	A tool that, through weakness analysis, shaves a strong foe's Defense. A mid-to-late boss battle.
Tengu-no-Hauchiwa	`co-07-02`	Negotiation experience with the Muhyeon Band. The qualification of a tengu's envoy.	A forced-relocation·Negotiation scenario. The guide of a mountain scenario.

#§ Law — `ex2-40-03` Additional Masterworks

Only the Japanese-mainland entries of ex2-40-03-masterworks-extra.md are treated in this volume. Exotic variants (Joseon hwando·Ming tang-dao·Joseon horn bow, etc.) are outside this volume's scope.

Weapon	Entry	This volume's commentary direction
Masamune Severing Blade	`40-03-02`	A late work of Masamune. The blessing of righteous action. A tool to test whether a PC keeps the "righteous-faction" line.
Righteous Koro Blade	`40-03-03`	The commendation ceremony of a righteous-faction dojo. Suited as a one-scenario reward — not powerful, but a first masterwork with weight.
Bakumatsu Western Sword	`40-03-04`	Bakumatsu only. The last category within this volume's Heian–Edo range.
Jigen-ryu Master Sword	`40-03-05`	First-round Critical Hit enhancement. A pair with a Jigen-ryu License. Connect with `fc03` swordmaster sheets.
Yagyu Shinkage-ryu Wooden Sword	`40-03-06`	The thought of no-killing. A scenario in which "one can cut, yet does not cut" is tested.
Hozoin Jumonji Spear	`40-03-09`	The pinnacle of weapon-catching. A pair with a Hozoin-ryu License.
Takeda Red Spear	`40-03-10`	The Red-Corps squad is the premise. A duty of friendship with the Takeda house. A house-politics scenario.
Matchlock Precision Type	`40-03-14`	Energy -1 with an Inatomi-house License. Synergizes also with this volume's swordsmith build (Inatomi is a firearm swordsmith).
Shikigami Talisman Bundle	`40-03-19`	A tool for an onmyoji·Sorcery Master. Connect with `fc04-05-03`·`fc04-05-04`.
Tea-Ceremony Famed Bowl	`40-03-20`	An exemplary case of a masterwork that is not a weapon. A core prop of a Bearing·diplomacy scenario.

#Common Writing Cautions

The numbers of the above entries (Energy·Wounds·Target Number) all follow the original data. If this document writes different numbers, that is an fc05 Variant.
So that this document does not confuse "masterwork and Divine Treasure," weapons whose core is a divinity·great yoma·Spirit Realm contract are sent to fc05-01-02-existing-divine-artifacts.md.
For Spirit Realm Wandering Treasures (Kotetsu, etc.), this document explains only the anecdote·ownership, and gives priority to the body of co-07-02 § Spirit Realm Wandering Treasures for the time·Spirit Realm mechanics.

#Reference Links

Even a blade already recorded, when taken up by a new hand, cuts a different story.

#Commentary on Existing Masterwork Arms

#Introductory Fragment — A Name That Already Exists

#How to Use This Document

#§ Scent — The Blade That Has a Name

#§ Law — Sword-Type Masterworks

#Higekiri

#Hizamaru

#Kogarasumaru

#Mikazuki Munechika

#Muramasa

#Dojigiri Yasutsuna

#Aizu Shintogo

#Kotetsu [Spirit Realm Wandering Treasure]

#Sasanoyuki

#§ Law — Spear·Bow·Gun-Type Masterworks

#Tonbogiri

#Nihongo

#Otegine

#Raimei · Nasu-no-Yoichi-yumi

#Kunitomo Reisen

#§ Law — Dagger·Unarmed·Staff-Type Masterworks

#Yoshimitsu

#Kagero · Kotowari · Iyomante

#Onigoroshi · Benkei-no-Bo

#Dainichi-Kongo · Kongoriki · Kanabo

#§ Law — Armor·Accessory Masterworks

#Armor Type

#Accessory·Tool

#§ Law — ex2-40-03 Additional Masterworks

#Common Writing Cautions

#Reference Links

#§ Law — `ex2-40-03` Additional Masterworks