The Revival Movement for Sword-Wearing in Mid-Meiji and the Late Shinshintō Period——Nationalism and the Reappraisal of Sword Culture

The Impact of the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei) and the Crisis in the Sword Industry

The Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei), promulgated in Meiji 9 (1876), completely banned sword-wearing by the samurai class and dealt a devastating blow to the Japanese sword industry. The production structure of tōkō, saya makers, metalwork artisans, and togishi, which had been sustained throughout the Edo period by samurai demand, lost its entire demand base overnight. In the ten years following the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei), an estimated several hundred tōkō across the country went out of business, and the urban concentrations of tōkō in Edo (Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto were particularly devastated.

However, the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei) could not eradicate the sword as a cultural object. Rather, the sword underwent a shift in meaning, from "the soul of the warrior" to "a symbol of Japanese culture," acquiring new value as an antique and art object. In the course of this transformation, the modern cultural practice of sword appreciation was born.

Nationalism and the Debate over Restoring Sword-Wearing——Discussions of the Meiji 20s (1887–1897)

The Meiji 20s (1887–1897) was a period in which Japan's nationalist movement flourished. Centered on the journal Nihonjin, founded by the Seikyōsha, intellectuals appeared who opposed wholesale Westernization and argued for the preservation of Japan's own culture and spirit. Within this context, some debate arose calling for "the freedom to wear swords to be restored."

These debates, however, did not lead to any actual change in policy. This was because the ban on sword-wearing was central to the Meiji government's course of modernization, and the restoration of samurai-class privileges was unacceptable to the government. Nevertheless, the discourse of "the sword as the embodiment of the Japanese spirit" began to take hold, and an orientation toward protecting and promoting the sword as an "art object" and "cultural property" gradually developed.

At the arts and crafts exhibition held at the Imperial Museum (now the Tokyo National Museum) in Meiji 29 (1896), swords were displayed as an important category of art object. This became one of the catalysts for the popularization of sword appreciation.

The First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and Guntō Demand——Partial Revival of the Tōkō Industry

The First Sino-Japanese War of Meiji 27 (1894) and the Russo-Japanese War of Meiji 37 (1904) brought new demand to the sword industry. The guntō worn by military personnel as formal dress swords partially revived the sword demand that had contracted after the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei).

Two types of guntō coexisted.

To meet the demand for Japanese sword-style guntō, some tōkō who had retired from the trade resumed their activities, and tōkō workshops in Tokyo and Osaka began receiving orders from the military.

This guntō demand became an important pillar of tōkō activity during what is known as the "late shinshintō period." Technically descended from the lineage of late-Edo shinshintō, tōkō who produced swords for the military as a new source of demand were active throughout the country from the late Meiji period into the Taishō era.

The Tōkō of the Late Shinshintō Period——The Struggle to Preserve Tradition

After the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei), tōkō who continued to uphold traditional sword-forging techniques were compelled to operate in a harsh economic environment. Relatively large numbers of tōkō who carried on the tradition remained in the Chūgoku region — Okayama, Hiroshima, Shimane, and Tottori — and in the Kyushu regions of Hizen (Saga) and Satsuma (Kagoshima).

Gassan Sadaichi (1836–1918), one of the foremost tōkō of the Meiji era, was a master craftsman of the late shinshintō period who was based in Osaka. Inheriting the traditional ayasugi-hada of the Gassan school, he produced imperial commission swords for the Ministry of the Imperial Household (now the Imperial Household Agency) and celebrated pieces for exhibitions. At the Fourth National Industrial Exhibition held in Okazaki, Kyoto, in Meiji 28 (1895), he won second prize in the meritorious works category, blazing a trail for Japanese swords to be recognized as objects of evaluation at modern arts and crafts exhibitions.

The activities of Gassan Sadaichi symbolize the nature of sword culture in the Meiji era. Rather than pursuing the mass demand for guntō, he sought to produce swords as refined works of art, opening up new "demand sources" in exhibitions and the Ministry of the Imperial Household. This approach anticipated the path toward the "Living National Treasure" system (holders of intangible cultural properties) in the later Shōwa era.

The Modern Establishment of Sword Research——The Birth of Appraisal and Preservation Culture

From the late Meiji period through the Taishō era, the scholarly study and appraisal culture of swords began to be organized on a modern basis. While inheriting the tradition of sword appraisal that the Hon'ami family had carried out since the Edo period, sword research developed in a new form.

In Taishō 6 (1917), a precursor organization to the NBTHK (Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) began to be established, and the development of an institution to systematically conduct authentication, preservation, and promotion of swords advanced (the formal establishment of the NBTHK came after the war). This laid the foundation for the transition from a stage in which judgments of sword value depended on the subjective opinions of individual appraisers to an organized, objective evaluation system.

The founding of sword journals also followed one after another during this period, and the formation of a community of enthusiasts and collectors advanced. The spread of the cultural practice of sword appreciation known as tōken shumi beyond the samurai class and former warrior families to merchants, industrialists, men of letters, and business entrepreneurs was an important cultural change of the late Meiji through Taishō periods.

By the Taishō era, roughly forty years after the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei), the Japanese sword was in the process of establishing its status as a "cultural property and art object" rather than "a former weapon." This transformation led to the sword preservation movement and the development of the intangible cultural property system in the Shōwa era, ultimately determining the nature of Japanese sword culture in the modern day.