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 katana by Kunikuni, a smith of the Osaka Shinto school, features a deep sori and a short nakago, characteristic of single-handed swords from the Sengoku period. It exhibits a well-packed ko-itame hada with some masame in the shinogi-ji, and a suguha hamon with a plump nioiguchi. The blade comes with both a shirasaya and a koshirae, and is accompanied by an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate.
NihontoWatchOffered by Asahi Token
Settsu · around 1661-1673
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 95%
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 siteReturns accepted within 7 days of arrival if item is unchanged from condition at time of sale; customer bears return shipping for personal-reason returns, company covers errors/shipping damage.