This is a follow on article to the one on Taiwan's last swordmaker. The article made passing mention of the sword of Kanjang or Gan Jiang in Hanyu Pinyin. Gan Jiang (Chinese: 干將) and Mo Ye (莫邪) were a legendary swordsmith couple who lived during the Spring and Autumn Period 春秋時代 (771-476 BC). A pair of swords were forged by and named after them. There are a number of different versions of the story currently extant.
According to the historical text Wuyue Chunqiu 吳越春秋, King Helü of Wu 闔閭 had received three swords from the state of Yue and treasured them. As a result, he ordered Gan Jiang and Mo Ye to forge a pair of swords for him. To make the sword Gan Jiang collected the iron essence of the five mountains and the metal efflorescence of the six unions (valleys). He attended upon the Heaven and waited on the Earth; Yin and Yang shone together, the hundred spirits approached, but the essences of the metal and the iron did not melt sink and flow. [The blast furnace failed to melt the metal.] Mo Ye suggested that the transformation of spirit and matter needed a person for its accomplishment and that there was insufficient human qi in the furnace. Ganjiang replied that when his teacher was smelting the metal and iron would not melt, only after both the husband and wife (male and female principle) had entered the furnace was the material formed. Later generations have not dared to smelt in the mountains without first donning sackcloth garments with a hempen band (as a sign of mourning) before smelting.
So the couple cut their hair and nails and cast them into the furnace, while 300 maidens and youths helped to blow air into the bellows. [This account is rather interesting in that it touches upon many of the themes inherent in Taoist Alchemy and internal martial arts - the union of the heaven and earth, the male and female principle, etc. and these concordances also have reflections in the external world.]
In another account, Mo Ye sacrificed herself to increase the human qi by throwing herself into the furnace. As she did so she promised Gan Jiang that they would be reunited someday. The desired result was achieved after three years and the two swords were named after the couple. The male sword was made with a tortiseshell pattern 貴文 and the female sword was made with an eel skin pattern 漫理紋. The tortise shell pattern is similar to the to that seen on the sword of Guojian (see my related post) which dates from around the same time. Gan Jiang kept the Ganjiang Sword for himself and presented the Moye Sword to the king. The king was angered when he discovered Gan Jiang had kept one of the swords so he had Gan Jiang killed. As he did this the Mo Ye sword turned into a beautiful dragon. Afterwards, the Gan Jiang sword possessed by the king also disappeared.
A replica of the two swords by the Taiwanese master Kuo Chang Hsi can be seen in the Crafts Museum in Taiwan
Six hundred years later, in a remote small town, the sword which possessed its own intelligence saw the dragon in the lake and immediately turned into a dragon—and were reunited. The next day, the people in the town saw a new couple settle there. The husband was an excellent blacksmith, who only made agricultural instruments for people while steadfastly refusing to anyone, whether or not they asked, to make valuable swords. When he was at work, his wife would cool him with a fan and wipe sweat from his body. Thereafter, Gan Jiang and Mo Ye represented the two swords of love.
Another alternative reading from the book of fantastic tales 《搜神記》 was that before his death Gan Jiang had already predicted the king's reaction (but this reading has the king of Chu 楚王 as the villian), so he left behind a message for Mo Ye and their unborn son telling them he had hidden the Ganjiang Sword underneath a pine tree growing out of a large rock in the mountain south of their home. Several months later, Mo Ye gave birth to Gan Jiang's son, Chi 赤, and years later she told him his father's story. Chi was eager to avenge his father and he sought the Ganjiang Sword. At the same time, the king dreamed of a youth who desired to kill him and, in fear, he placed a bounty on the youth's head. Chi was indignant and, filled with anguish, he started crying at his inability to have his vengeance. An assassin came upon the crying youth, who told the assassin his story before committing suicide. The assassin was moved and decided to help Chi fulfill his quest. The assassin severed Chi's head and brought it, along with the Ganjiang sword to the overjoyed king. The assassin asked the king to have Chi's head boiled in a cauldron. For three days the head refused to decompose and stared angrily at the king. THe assassin told the king that he needed to take a closer look in order for the head to decompose faster. The king bent over the cauldron and the assassin seized the opportunity to decapitate him, his head falling in to the cauldron alongside Chi's. The assassin then cut off his own head, which also fell in to the boiling water. The flesh on the heads was soon boiled away such that none of the guards could recognise which head belonged to whom. The three heads were eventually buried together at Yichun County, Runan, Henan, and the grave is called "Tomb of Three Kings"
According to historical records, an assassin of King Helu of the State of Wu had used this type of "fish intestines" sword to kill King Helu's predecessor, King Liao, who was Helu's kin. Reportedly, King Liao had worn 3 layers of armour but the sword pierced through and killed him. The original sword could be ranked as one of the most famous swords in all of Chinese history and lies buried and unexcavated in King Helu's tomb at Tiger Hill in the city of Suzhou. It is interesting to note that the famous strategist Sun Tzu, who wrote the military classic "the Art of War", had once served under King Helu.
The famous artist 金海鷗 from Suzhou crafted two swords for the Suzhou pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2011.
The historical texts Xunzi and Mozi from the Warring States Period 戰國時代 (476-221BC) also mention the existence of the Ganjiang and Moye Swords.
《墨子》：「良劍期乎利，不期乎莫邪。」
《荀子‧性惡》：「闔閭之干將、莫邪、鉅闕、辟閭，此皆古之良劍也。」
The official biography of Zhang Hua in the historical text Book of Jin records that the two swords reappeared during the early Jin Dynasty. The swords were later buried at Yanping Ford (present-day Yanping District, Nanping, Fujian). A monument for the swords stands is still present in Yanping District. Mount Mogan (which is named after the couple) in Deqing County, Zhejiang, is named in memory of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye. It is a short trip from Shanghai and was a famous summer escape for foreigners before 1949. The various photographs are from this site.
Related Posts:
Taiwan Traditional Swordmaker Kuo Chang-hsi 郭常喜
The Sword of Goujian - 越王勾踐劍
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