Gan Jiang and Mo Ye

Gan Jiang and Mo Ye was the name of a famous swordsmith couple in the Spring and Autumn Period of China, and also the name of the famed twin blades named after the two. The '''' sword is "Gan Jiang" while the ''yin'' counterpart is "Mo Ye".



According to the ''Wuyue Chunqiu'' , King Helü of Wu ordered Gan Jiang, who studied with another famous blacksmith Ou Yezi, to craft two swords for him. However, Gan Jiang found that his blast furnace failed to melt the iron. His wife, Mo Ye, suggested that there weren't enough human ''qi'' in the furnace so the couple cut off their hair and nails and cast them into the furnace while 300 children blew air into the bellows. The resulting two swords were called "Gan Jiang" and "Mo Ye" after the two blacksmiths who forged them. Gan Jiang kept "Gan Jiang" for himself and presented "Mo Ye" to the king, who was first angered by the slow forging process but delighted with the result. However, after an underling told him that the male sword of the two was kept and secretly hidden by Gan Jiang, he ordered Gan Jiang's death. The son of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye later used the sword ''Gan Jiang'' for revenge by giving the sword and his own head to a traveller who tricked the king to look into the head that won't rot even when boiled for 3 days and nights. The traveller cut the king's and his own head off to help complete the revenge. The three heads was buried together since none of the features were recognisable, and the vessels thinks that the two young man are so honourable that they, too, earned the title of a king. Thus the tomb was called the ''grave of three kings''.



In some interpretations of the tale, Mo Ye was said to have sacrificed herself so that the sword could be forged.