The Revival and Evolution of Modern Swords

The Edict of Sword Abolition and the Crisis of Sword Smiths (Early Meiji Period)

The Abolition of the Han System (1871) and the Edict of Sword Abolition (1876) enacted by the Meiji government devastated the foundation of the Edo-period sword smith system. The official sword smith systems of each domain disappeared, and sword smiths who lost their stipends and stipend-supported positions lost their economic foundation. Demand for swords itself plummeted, forcing many sword smiths to cease operations or change professions.

Immediately following the publication of the Edict of Sword Abolition, the sword industry fell into severe crisis. Sword purchases were limited to the police and military on one hand, and antique and art enthusiasts on the other, while purchases by the general public plummeted. The number of sword smiths is estimated to have shrunk dramatically from several hundred in the early Meiji period to merely dozens.

However, the Edict did not eliminate all demand for swords. As Meiji Japan advanced in Westernization and modernization, swords began to be rediscovered for their value as 'traditional Japanese craftsmanship and art.'

The Establishment of Imperial Household Ministry Official Sword Smiths and the Birth of Artistic Swords

In the mid-Meiji period (1880s–1890s), the Imperial Household Ministry (now the Imperial Household Agency) established a system of appointing outstanding sword smiths as 'Imperial Household Ministry Official Sword Smiths' to meet the demand for ceremonial and diplomatic swords for the Imperial Court.

Imperial Household Ministry official sword smiths held the highest public status equivalent to the shogunate's official sword smiths of the Edo period, with the appointed smiths bearing the privilege and responsibility of manufacturing ceremonial swords, tachi, and tanto for the Imperial Household. This system provided the foundation for officially establishing the modern understanding that 'swords are craft art objects.'

The exhibition of swords at the First National Industrial Exposition in 1890 (Meiji 23) became a crucial turning point in establishing swords' status as 'artworks' in society. The practice of displaying swords alongside paintings, lacquerware, and ceramics was established through this exposition.

The Eve of the Founding of the NBTHK

During the Meiji and Taisho periods (1868–1926), systematic preservation and research activities by sword enthusiasts and scholars began. Sword appraisers and researchers who inherited the authentication tradition of the Honami family promoted systematic study of swords, and the research of sword smiths, schools, and historical periods reached modern academic standards.

During the Taisho period, with an increase in sword enthusiasts, sword magazines and books were published, and the appreciation of swords as 'art' advanced. Additionally, following the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and World War I (1914–1918), demand for military swords rose again, and sword smiths' livelihoods recovered to some degree.

Military Swords and Sword Smiths in the Early Showa Period

With the Showa period, the mass production of military swords became a national imperative under the wartime systems of the Second Sino-Japanese War (from 1937) and the Pacific War (1941–1945). Military swords consisted of two types: mass-produced machine-made blades called 'Showa swords' and traditionally hand-forged military field swords.

The Army Ordnance Plant promoted the manufacture of machine-made military swords, while high-ranking naval and army officers favored traditionally forged swords such as the 'Yasukuni sword' and swords forged by 'Army-commissioned sword smiths.' The 'Yasukuni Sword Forging Works,' established within the Yasukuni Shrine grounds, is said to have forged approximately 8,000 swords between 1933 (Showa 8) and 1945 (Showa 20).

From among the military field sword smiths who preserved traditional techniques emerged future Living National Treasures such as Miyairi Shōhei, as well as other outstanding contemporary sword masters such as Fujiyasu Shōhei.

Surrender, GHQ Confiscation, and the Crisis of Swords

Following Japan's surrender in 1945, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP) issued an order confiscating all swords throughout Japan as 'symbols of militarism.' Through this confiscation, tens of thousands—possibly hundreds of thousands—of swords were seized, destroyed, or lost overseas, dealing devastating damage to Japanese sword culture.

In response to this crisis, sword enthusiasts, scholars, and sword smiths launched organized protection movements. The Japanese Art Sword Preservation Society (NBTHK, founded 1948) conducted repeated negotiations with GHQ under the assertion that 'swords are not weapons but Japanese craft art objects,' and following the enactment of the Cultural Properties Protection Law in 1950, swords' status as artworks became legally protected.

The Redefinition of Modern Swords and the Living National Treasure System

With the enactment of the 'Important Intangible Cultural Properties' system in 1955 (the so-called Living National Treasure system), the traditional techniques of sword making became a target for national protection. Miyairi Shōhei (1st generation, 1913–1977) became the first sword smith to be designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property Holder (Living National Treasure) in 1963, institutionalizing protection for traditional sword-forging techniques as 'living cultural property.'

Contemporary sword smiths (from the late Showa period through the Reiwa era) are positioned in the world of craft art as 'art sword masters,' with their works housed in museums and art museums alongside paintings and ceramics. The screening systems of the All-Japan Sword Smiths' Association and the Japanese Art Sword Preservation Society, as well as the framework of Important Intangible Cultural Properties and Selected Preservation Techniques of the Cultural Agency, provide the foundation for contemporary sword smiths' activities.

The Sword Renaissance and Cultural Property Protection

Entering the 21st century, the dissemination of sword culture to younger generations through anime and games—particularly 'Touken Ranbu' (from 2015)—sparked a phenomenon called the 'sword renaissance.' Museum and art gallery visitors to sword exhibitions increased, and the number of aspiring apprentices to sword smiths also rose.

This movement carries historical significance as a 'social rediscovery' of sword culture that had nearly declined amid modernization and Westernization. The lineage of swords since their redefinition as 'traditional craft and art' in the modern period has borne its most vivid fruit in today's sword renaissance.