Beloved Blades and Gift-Sword Diplomacy of Sengoku Warlords

Swords and Sengoku Politics

For the warlords of the Sengoku period, swords transcended their function as mere weapons to become tools of political and symbolic communication. Possessing a sword designated as "meibutsu" (a celebrated blade) was itself a testament to that warlord's status and power. The bestowal of a famous sword was the highest honor; its confiscation, the gravest humiliation.

Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu each developed distinct sword policies. Oda Nobunaga deployed famous swords as diplomatic instruments amid his tensions with Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin; Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as the sovereign of all Japan, amassed vast collections of celebrated swords and made them visible expressions of his lord-vassal relationships with the daimyo. Tokugawa Ieyasu, after Sekigahara, designated the famous swords seized from the western daimyo as symbols of shogunal authority.

Nobunaga and Swords

Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) showed strong interest in collecting celebrated swords and is said to have gathered and controlled many of the famous blades known in his day. He was particularly focused on the "Higashiyama Gomotsu"—the collection of celebrated objects inherited from the Ashikaga shogunate—and confirmed and appropriated part of this collection when he entered Kyoto under the banner of Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

What distinguished Nobunaga's sword policy was the direct use of famous-blade bestowals to strengthen ties with retainers and allies. Granting a famous sword to a meritorious retainer was, alongside an increase in stipend, the highest possible reward; for the recipient, a "sword granted directly by Lord Nobunaga" became a source of family honor. Conversely, refusing to present swords to Nobunaga or obstructing his sword policies could precipitate political downfall.

At the Honnoji Incident (1582), much of the enormous collection of celebrated swords that Nobunaga had assembled is said to have been lost in the fire. This "burning of the meibutsu" was not merely a material loss but sent a powerful shock wave as the destruction of the symbols of Nobunaga's power.

Hideyoshi and the "Meibutsu Hunt"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) conducted what became known as the "meibutsu-gari" (celebrated-blade hunt)—a large-scale campaign to collect famous swords as he unified Japan. He compelled surrendered daimyo and temples to "present" their celebrated swords, forming a vast meibutsu collection that materially embodied his authority as sovereign of all Japan.

Among the swords Hideyoshi particularly prized was the "Hone-bami Tōshirō" (a short sword made from reworked naginata, attributed to Awataguchi Yoshimitsu). After Hideyoshi's death, this blade was transmitted to the Tokugawa clan and formed the core of the Edo shogunate's meibutsu collection.

Swords also played an important role in Hideyoshi's Korean campaigns (the Bunroku-Keichō campaigns). The bestowal of swords on departing commanders was a ritual act of encouragement and loyalty affirmation, while Korean and Chinese swords brought back from the peninsula were collected as exotic war trophies.

The Practice of Gift-Sword Diplomacy

Gift-sword diplomacy in the Sengoku period was an indispensable ritual in the contexts of marriage alliances, treaty formation, and the establishment of lord-vassal relationships. The principal occasions were:

**Sword exchange at alliance formation**: When concluding a pact between two parties, it was customary for both sides to exchange famous swords, entrusting the gravity of the covenant to the blades. Swords exchanged on such occasions held special significance as "covenant swords."

**Sword presentation as proof of submission**: A warlord who surrendered or submitted would present a famous sword to his superior as a gesture of submission. This sword presentation symbolized a substantive "transfer of authority," and the recipient established his position as the new sovereign.

**Bestowal as reward for merit**: Lords granted famous swords to retainers to reward battlefield achievement or loyal service. This was regarded as the highest reward alongside an official letter of commendation.

The Circulation of Famous Swords and Sengoku History

Many Sengoku-period celebrated swords passed through the hands of multiple warlords. This "circulation of meibutsu" reflected the power transitions of the Sengoku era, and the ownership history of a sword allows us to trace the currents of Sengoku history.

Many of the celebrated swords that circulated among the powerful during the Sengoku period eventually came to rest in the storehouses of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Three Gosanke families, or various daimyo during the Edo period, and were documented upon registration in the Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō (compiled 1719).