Reiwa Sword Renaissance

The Cultural Revolution Sparked by Touken Ranbu

Launched in January 2015 by DMM Games, the browser game Tōken Ranbu is a simulation game in which players raise tōken danshi, personified versions of real Japanese swords. Its popularity surged immediately after release, and it created a large new group of Japanese sword fans, mainly women in their 10s to 30s.

The cultural significance of this phenomenon is immeasurable. Until then, most enthusiasts of Japanese swords had been middle-aged and older men. Tōken Ranbu drew a completely new audience of women and young people who like swords into Japanese sword culture. Fans began visiting museums and shrines that hold the actual swords on which the game's tōken danshi are based. The Tokugawa Art Museum, responding to a surge in inquiries, put Namazuo Tōshirō on limited-term public display, and the Tokugawa Museum saw Shokudaikiri Mitsutada rediscovered.

There are also deep ties to Sendai. Episodes featuring swords connected to Date Masamune, and sword-related pilgrimages (seichi junrei) to sites in Sendai and the Tōhoku region, became topics of conversation, and interest in facilities linked to the Date family, such as the Sendai City Museum, also grew. Tōken Ranbu has helped strengthen the appeal of sword culture in Sendai and has also contributed to the growing interest in sword sales platforms such as Toukenza.

The Transformation of Museums and Exhibitions

The Tōken Ranbu boom became an occasion for major changes in how sword exhibitions are planned and publicized. Previously, most sword exhibitions were aimed at closed communities of specialists and enthusiasts. Since 2015, however, new kinds of programs have appeared, including collaborations with Tōken Ranbu, which have greatly widened the entry point for general visitors.

The way museums display swords also evolved. Detailed explanatory panels, audio guides, video presentations, and integration with smartphone apps brought accessible digital interpretations to sword exhibitions. The term "tōken joshi" (sword women) entered mainstream media, and the diversity of sword enthusiasts gained broad social recognition.

Special exhibitions focused on Japanese swords also followed one after another. At the 2018 special exhibition Kyō no Katana, held at the Kyoto National Museum, collaboration tickets with Tōken Ranbu and audio guides were offered.

New Attention to Living Smiths and the Training of Successors

The Touken Ranbu boom also elevated the social profile of living swordsmiths. Previously nearly invisible in mainstream media, working smiths began to appear in magazine features, television documentaries, and YouTube videos. Videos showing the inside of forge workshops spread widely on social media, building admiration and interest in the swordsmithing craft.

The number of young people aspiring to become swordsmiths is also said to be increasing. To become a swordsmith, one must train for at least five years under a licensed swordsmith (tōshō) and complete the training course for art-sword smiths organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Several swordsmiths have reported that, since the latter half of the 2010s, more people have applied to become their apprentices. For the world of sword making, which had been facing a serious shortage of successors, the arrival of young people is culturally very significant.

On the other hand, the number of swordsmiths has declined from 300 in 1989 to 188 in 2017, and developing successors remains an issue.

Internationalization and the Growth of Overseas Collectors and Enthusiasts

The Reiwa Sword Renaissance extends well beyond Japan's borders. Touken Ranbu achieved popularity across Asia, sparking rapid growth in Japanese sword fans among young people in Taiwan, South Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. The trend of these Asian enthusiasts traveling to Japan specifically to see actual swords in person has become increasingly visible.

Interest in Japanese swords is also growing overseas, along with rising interest in Japanese culture. YouTube channels, social media accounts, and websites that explain Japanese swords in English, German, French, Spanish, and other languages are increasing, and an international sword community is beginning to take shape. Recognition of Japanese swords as international cultural properties is steadily improving.

TOUKENZA and the Reiwa Sword Culture

Toukenza, based in Sendai, is a platform for those who are carrying forward the new sword culture produced by the Reiwa Tōken Renaissance. By combining the regional identity of Date Masamune, Sendai, and Tōhoku with modern methods of spreading information and selling online across a wide area, it plays a role in connecting a new audience who want to own a sword for the first time with stakeholders who have a sense of mission to pass real Japanese swords on to the next generation.

The Reiwa Sword Renaissance is still unfolding. At this moment where digitalization, internationalization, and the entry of younger audiences converge, Japanese sword culture is acquiring breadth and diversity it has never known before. Ensuring this cultural renaissance is firmly transmitted to the next generation is a shared mission for all sword enthusiasts alive today.