The Revival and Evolution of Modern Swords

Haitōrei and the Crisis for Swordsmiths (Early Meiji)

The Haihan chiken (abolition of the han and establishment of prefectures) in 1871 and the Haitōrei (Sword Abolition Edict) in 1876, issued by the Meiji government, destroyed the foundations of the swordsmith system of the Edo period. The official swordsmith systems of each han disappeared, and swordsmiths who lost their stipends and rations lost the basis of their livelihoods. Demand for swords itself fell sharply, and many swordsmiths were forced to close their businesses or change occupations.

Immediately after the Haitōrei, the sword industry fell into a serious crisis. Sword buyers were limited to the restricted demand of the police and the military, along with antique and art enthusiasts, and purchases by ordinary citizens plummeted. The number of swordsmiths is estimated to have dropped sharply, from several hundred in the early Meiji years to a few dozen.

However, the Haitōrei did not eliminate all demand for swords. In Meiji Japan, which was advancing toward Westernization and modernization, swords began to be rediscovered as “Japanese traditional craft and art.”

Teishitsu Gigei-in and the Birth of Art Swords

In Meiji 23 (1890), the Imperial Household Ministry (now the Imperial Household Agency) established the Teishitsu Gigei-in system to honor and protect outstanding artists and craftsmen. In Meiji 39 (1906), the swordsmiths Gassan Sadakazu (first generation) and Miyamoto Kanenori were appointed as Teishitsu Gigei-in.

Swordsmiths who became Teishitsu Gigei-in produced imperial ceremonial swords, protective blades, and other works. The fact that swordsmiths were honored alongside painters, sculptors, and metalworkers laid the foundation for the spread of the modern understanding that “swords are works of art and craft.”

In Meiji 6 (1873), a sword by Koyama Munetsugu was exhibited at the Vienna World's Fair. Exhibitions such as this one also became opportunities to present swords as art and craft objects both at home and abroad.

Before the Founding of NBTHK

From the Meiji to the Taishō period (1868–1926), organized preservation and research activities began among sword enthusiasts and scholars. Sword appraisers and researchers who inherited the appraisal traditions of the Honami family carried out systematic research on swords, and the study of smiths, schools, and periods began to be conducted at a modern academic level.

In the Taishō period, sword magazines and books were published alongside the growth of sword hobbyists, and the spread of swords as “art appreciation” advanced. Also, after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and World War I (1914–1918), demand for military swords rose again, and swordsmiths' livelihoods recovered to a certain degree.

Military Swords and Swordsmiths in the Early Shōwa Period

In the Shōwa period, under the wartime system of the Second Sino-Japanese War (from 1937) and the Pacific War (1941–1945), mass production of “military swords (gunto)” became a national task. Military swords existed in two types: mass-produced machine-made swords called “Shōwa-tō,” and swords forged by traditional hand-forging methods.

The Army Arsenal promoted the mass production of military swords by machine. On the other hand, senior officers and military attachés of the navy and army favored swords made by traditional hand-forging, such as “Yasukuni-tō” and swords by “Army-commissioned smiths (rikugun jumei tōkō).” The Nihontō Tanrenkai, established in Shōwa 8 (1933) as a zaidan hōjin (foundation), forged swords using traditional techniques within the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine (Yasukuni-tō).

Among the prewar swordsmiths who learned traditional techniques, figures such as Miyairi Akihira, who later became Living National Treasures, emerged.

Postwar Surrender, GHQ Confiscation, and the Crisis for Swords

After the surrender in 1945, the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP) issued an order to confiscate swords throughout Japan as “symbols of militarism.” As a result of this confiscation, swords said to number in the hundreds of thousands were seized, discarded, or flowed overseas, and Japan's sword culture suffered devastating damage.

In the face of this crisis, sword enthusiasts, scholars, and swordsmiths launched organized protection movements. The Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai (NBTHK, established 1948) repeatedly negotiated with GHQ on the position that “swords are not weapons but Japanese art and craft objects.” Through the enactment of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties in 1950, the status of swords as art objects came to be legally protected.

Redefinition of Modern Swords and the Living National Treasure System

With the certification of Holders of Important Intangible Cultural Properties (the so-called Living National Treasure system), which began in 1955, the traditional techniques of sword making became subject to national protection. In the same year, Takahashi Sadatsugu was certified as the first swordsmith. Miyairi Akihira (1913–1977) was also certified as a Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure) in 1963, and the protection of traditional forging techniques as “living cultural property” was institutionalized.

Modern (late Shōwa to Reiwa) swordsmiths are positioned in the world of craft art as “art swordsmiths,” and their works are housed in museums and art galleries in the same way as paintings and ceramics. The examination systems of the All Japan Swordsmith Association and the NBTHK, together with the framework of Important Intangible Cultural Properties and Selected Conservation Techniques administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, provide the foundation for the activities of modern swordsmiths.

Sword Renaissance and Cultural Property Protection

Entering the 21st century, the spread of sword culture to young people through anime and games, especially “Touken Ranbu” (from 2015), triggered a phenomenon called the “Sword Renaissance.” Visitors to sword exhibitions at museums and art galleries increased, and the number of people wishing to become apprentices to swordsmiths also grew.

This movement holds historical significance as a “social rediscovery” of sword culture, which had been in danger of declining amid modernization and Westernization. The lineage of the modern era, in which swords were redefined as “traditional craft and art,” reaches its clearest expression in today's Sword Renaissance.