Once upon a time, two couriers from a feudal lord in Kyushu were going to Edo. They were carrying a letter of importance. They had left the stop-over at Okitsu before it was daylight. Thereafter, they had to take the road from the sea over the long Satta Pass. Suddenly, they looked back at the seashore and saw an unusual thing. A very large octopus had come out of the sea. It had a long arm wound around something and was trying to drag it into the sea. When they went closer, they saw that it had a monkey. The monkey was clinging with all its strength to the edge of the rock, trying to keep from being pulled away. But the octopus was much stronger. “Let’s help the monkey!” the couriers said. They began to throw little stones at the octopus to scare the octopus away. But the octopus did not pay any attention and kept dragging the monkey.
The Letter
Now, the two couriers left their letter box at the side of the road in front of the entrance to the pass and ran down to the shore. They took out their swords and slashed at the octopus. Being attacked, it released its hold and slipped into the water. The monkey was delighted with its narrow escape. It crawled from the place and approached its rescuers. But suddenly, the monkey instead of going towards its rescuers picked up the letter box which they had left at the roadside. It leapt away at the top of the mountain. A letter of great importance was in that box. There was no footing on the mountain other than the road through the pass. The men tried to run after the monkey but it was so fast that they could not find even a trace of it. With their letter case missing, there was no point continuing their journey.
The Gift
The incident was totally annoying. Worried and not knowing what to do, the two men sat down near the pass and stared blankly ahead. After a while, far away on the mountain, the men saw that monkey again. “Look. Oh, look,” the two men cried as they looked at it. It was holding their letter case with one arm and with the other it held something like a long bundle wrapped in straw matting. The men wondered what to do. Suddenly, the monkey came close to them and put the two things down before them. They were relieved that they had their valuable letter case back safely. They wondered what was there in the bundle. When they were about to pick up the things, the monkey climbed back to the mountain.
Monkey Masamune
The two men realised that the monkey had carried away their letter case so that they might wait while the monkey brought them a gift of thanks. When they opened the bundle wrapped in straw, they found a sheathed sword and a long wooden box. They took the sword and continued their journey towards Edo. There, they showed the sword to an expert. He said that it was indisputably an original masterpiece of Goro Masamune. He examined it and found that it was without a single tarnish. It was a wonderful antique sword. The men decided to give the sword to their feudal lord. In style and length, it was exactly what he was looking for. The lord gave a huge reward to both the couriers. He named the sword Saru Masamune (Monkey Masamune), and kept it along with his family treasure.
