After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis is a signed and genuine work by Masatoshi, a leading smith of the Mino Sakakura school, known for his deep connection with the Ise Senko smiths. The blade features a nagasa of 71.2 cm, a deep sori, and a vibrant hamon with a mix of gunome and choji, showing strong influence from Senko Muramasa. It comes with both a Tokubetsu Hozon Token certificate and a Kicho Token certificate, along with a sayagaki by Tanzan-sensei.
NihontoWatchOffered by Samurai Nippon
Mino · around 1532-1555
Tōken Taikan top 49%
1 piece on the market now
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
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 siteFor one-of-a-kind items such as swords, sword fittings, and antiques, please contact us about a return within 3 days of the item's arrival and ship it back within 8 days. Refunds are issued the same day the returned item arrives.