Before You Commission Polishing—Understanding Utsuri, Costs, Choosing a Polisher, and the History Your Sword Tells

Togishi, the Craftsman — The Artist Who Awakens the Beauty of Swords

The polishing of Japanese swords is an extremely sophisticated and profound technique carried out by specialized craftsmen called togishi. The togishi is not merely someone who "polishes" a sword, but rather an artist who draws out the beauty dormant within the blade and brings back to life in the present day the aesthetic world the swordsmith intended. Polishing serves the practical role of sword preservation while simultaneously being a critical process that significantly influences a sword's market value. In the hands of a skilled togishi, dull jigane reveals clear jihada patterns, and previously unclear hamon emerges bright and sharp. Mastering this technique typically requires over 10 years of training, and the number of accomplished togishi remains extremely limited even today.

The Multi-Layered Purposes and Roles of Polishing

While it is commonly believed that "polishing exists to restore sharpness," this is actually only one aspect of its true purpose. The primary objective of polishing is to maximize the beauty of the jigane's jihada—whether itame, mokume, nagare-jikada, or other patterns—to make the hamon's complex and subtle patterns more clearly visible, and to enhance the phenomenon called utsuri, the white reflection that appears on the jigane. Utsuri is an aesthetic phenomenon that appears particularly prominently in swords of the Bizen tradition, and its appearance is greatly influenced by the quality of polishing work. These aesthetic elements exist latent within the steel at the time of the sword's creation and are revealed to the outside world only through the polishing process. Polishing is precisely the act of "awakening the dormant beauty of the sword," and in that sense it is an artistic endeavor that possesses value equal to or greater than the restoration of artworks.

Shitaji Togi — The Foundation Work That Establishes the Sword's Form

The first stage of polishing is called "shitaji togi" (ground polishing). It begins by using comparatively coarse whetstones such as ara-to and chu-to to establish the overall shape (sugata) of the blade. This stage constitutes the most important foundation of the entire polishing process. The togishi must first understand the sword's historical background, period of creation, and the characteristics of its school, then determine what the sword's form should originally be. Each era—Kamakura, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Muromachi, and Edo—had distinctive characteristics in the curve's form, the blade's width, and the thickness of the spine, and restoring the sword to the characteristic shape of its era is the core of shitaji togi. While carefully correcting scratches and dents and removing rust, the togishi gradually approaches the ideal form the swordsmith intended. This process is purely technical while simultaneously requiring deep aesthetic judgment.

Shiage Togi — The Final Stage That Reveals Beauty

Once the sword's form is established through shitaji togi, it advances to the "shiage togi" (finishing polishing) stage. At this stage, specialized finishing whetstones are used to maximize the beauty of both the jigane and the hamon. Uchigumori-to is a whetstone used in the final stage of shitaji togi that refines the jigane's surface and brings out the jihada's appearance. In finishing polishing, a whetstone called "hazuyā"—a thinly-worked uchigumori-to backed with Japanese paper—makes the hamon more clearly visible and clearly expresses the texture of nie and nioi. Next, a whetstone called "jizuyā" further polishes the entire jigane, adding luster and depth to the blade. The final stages of "narume" and "migaki" (polishing) complete the work, bringing the blade to a state of maximum brilliance. The choice of whetstones and their application at each stage are crystallizations of the togishi's knowledge and experience, requiring delicate judgment according to the sword's steel properties, hardness, and carbon content.

The Reality of Polishing Duration and Costs

The time required to polish a single sword varies greatly depending on the sword's condition, degree of rust, presence or absence of damage, and desired level of finish.

• Relatively well-preserved sword: typically 3 to 6 months
• Severely damaged swords or those requiring particularly fine finishing: it is not uncommon for the work to take six months to over a year

Costs are often calculated based on the blade's cutting length and vary widely depending on the sword's condition and desired level of finish.

• General preservation-purpose polishing: typically costs tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen
• Precise finishing for important swords: can reach several million yen in some cases

This is by no means excessive cost but should be understood as a legitimate investment to maximize the sword's value and ensure its preservation for the future.

The Choice of Togishi Determines the Sword's Future

When commissioning the polishing of a Japanese sword, the choice of togishi is the most critical decision that will determine the sword's future value. Swords polished by skilled togishi experience a complete awakening of dormant beauty, and sometimes their appraisal value increases dramatically. Conversely, polishing by a togishi lacking sufficient skill risks reducing the blade excessively, ruining the jigane's appearance, and irreparably damaging the sword's value. The following points are important when selecting a togishi:

• Directly examining the togishi's previous polishing work
• Obtaining recommendations from sword dealers, appraisers, or museums
• Verifying the togishi's training history and accomplishments

Selecting a togishi through a trustworthy introduction is the best way to protect the sword's value.

The History That Polishing Reveals

Polishing is not merely maintenance work but also an act of deciphering the history of time the sword has experienced. The traces of old damage, marks of rust corrosion, and signs of edge chips that appear during polishing eloquently tell of what history the sword has lived through. Excellent togishi seek a sophisticated balance, maximizing respect for these historical testimonies while simultaneously bringing out the sword's maximum beauty. Excessive removal of historical traces damages the sword's historical testimony value, and conversely, prioritizing beauty too much can result in the loss of important information. Maintaining this balance requires, in addition to technical mastery, profound respect for history and aesthetic insight. Polishing is a bridge connecting the sword's past and future, and the togishi is the builder of that bridge.