NihontoWatchNBTHK HOZON SHIRASAYA NBTHK HOZON AKIHIDE (昭秀), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tōkyō – “Kurihara Akihide kore o kinsaku” (栗原昭秀謹作之), “Shimotsuke no Kuni-jūnin Kurihara Hikosaburō Akihide saku” (下野国住人栗原彦三郎昭秀作), “Tekka Nyūdō Akihide saku” (鉄火入道 昭秀作), “Kun-yontō Akihide saku” (勲四等昭秀作, “Akihide, bearer of the Order of Merit fourth class”), real name Kurihara Hikosaburō (栗原彦三郎), born on the eighth day of the second month Meiji twelve (1879) in Sano (佐野) in Tochigi Prefecture, there he studied under the local smith Inagaki Saijirō Masanori (将応), later he became also an apprentice of Horii Taneaki (堀井胤明), he was a member of the Lower House of Tochigi Prefecture and opened on July 5th 1933 in Tōkyō ́s Akasaka-Hikawashita (赤坂氷川下) the famous training site Nihontō Tanren Denshūjo (日本刀鍛錬伝習所) which gave rise to many of the later leading modern smiths, he died on May 5th 1954 at the age of 76, gō Tekka (鉄火) From, Swordsmiths of Japan, Markus Sesko, 2015. Akihide was rated a 1.5 miliion Yen smith. His works are listed in Sesko’s (see above), Sloughs, pages 17-18, Toko Taikan TK-2, Fujishiros Shinto Hen S-371, Hawleys AKI-38, HIK-9, Nihonto Meikan NMK-6. This sword comes in shirasaya and is accompanied by NBTHK Hozon papers.
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Tochigi · around 1926-1989
Tōken Taikan top 95%
6 pieces on the market now
Shōwa to the present: destruction and revival
The twentieth century nearly killed the craft twice: wartime distortion, then the occupation ban. The NBTHK’s founding in 1948 and licensed forging from 1953 rebuilt the sword as an art, crowned by Living National Treasures and the mukansa rank.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
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.
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