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.
This is a wakizashi made by Amada Akitsugu in 1972, when he was 45 years old. Akitsugu is a Living National Treasure and three-time recipient of the Masamune Prize. The blade features a well-forged jitetsu with strong nie and a dynamic gunome-midare hamon with kinsuji and sunagashi. It comes with an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate and a box with the smith's autograph.
Certificate reading — 銘 天田昭次作之 昭和壬子歳二月日
NihontoWatchmei · Showa (1926-1989) · nagasa 40.8cm · sori 0.3cm
Niigata · around 1926-1989
Tōken Taikan top 87%
5 pieces on the market now
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.
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.
This is a wakizashi made by Amada Akitsugu in 1972, when he was 45 years old. Akitsugu is a Living National Treasure and three-time recipient of the Masamune Prize. The blade features a well-forged jitetsu with strong nie and a dynamic gunome-midare hamon with kinsuji and sunagashi. It comes with an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate and a box with the smith's autograph.
Certificate reading — 銘 天田昭次作之 昭和壬子歳二月日
NihontoWatchmei · Showa (1926-1989) · nagasa 40.8cm · sori 0.3cm
Niigata · around 1926-1989
Tōken Taikan top 87%
5 pieces on the market now
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.
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.
