NihontoWatchThis katana is a robust work by Nagao Masataka, born in 1817 in Aizu, Mutsu Province, and a student of Shoken Motoaki. It features a wide and thick body with appropriate curvature, a tightly forged ko-itame hada with ji-nie and chikei, and a hamon of yahazu-ba and gunome with nie and kinsuji. The blade received Tokubetsu Hozon certification in 2022.
NihontoWatchOffered by Touken Matsumoto
The Shinshintō revival
Around 1800 Suishinshi Masahide argued in his writings that the craft must return to the old masters’ methods: the fukkotō revival. His greatest successor Naotane worked convincingly in Bizen and Sōshū manners that had been dead for centuries.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteDomestic: items may be returned within 7 days in original condition for a full refund (buyer covers transport). Overseas orders: no-refunds, no-returns.
¥800,000