Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis is a katana by Fujiwara Yukinaga of the Takada school in Bungo province, active around 1658 in the early Edo period. It features a shinogizukuri shape with a chu-kissaki, a well-forged itame and mokume jigane, and a gunome hamon with togariba. The blade is accompanied by a silver habaki, a black lacquered uchigatana koshirae, and an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token certificate.
NihontoWatchYukinaga行長
Offered by World Seiyudo
Bungo · around 1658-1661
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 60%
2 pieces on the market now
The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
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 siteNo cooling-off period or returns; refund only if the purchased sword is proven fake, capped at purchase price (excludes commission sales, accessories, auction items).
¥850,000