The Firearms and Swords Control Law and the Art Sword Registration System (1958)

Overview

The Firearms and Swords Control Law (Juto-ho) was enacted and took effect in 1958 (Showa 33). It prohibits possession of firearms and swords in principle and permits it only with, for example, a permit from a prefectural public safety commission. It is a public-safety statute aimed at preventing violent crime, but for Japanese swords it has a second meaning: Article 14 allows swords of artistic value to be owned if registered with a prefectural board of education. This registration system underlies sword sales, inheritance and exhibition today.

Background

The law's roots are traced to Meiji-era firearms and explosives control and the Haitorei. Its direct postwar trigger was the 1946 ban on possession of firearms issued on Allied instructions. Many swords were confiscated during the Occupation and possession was severely restricted. After the Occupation, security regulation was still needed, yet there was a view that artistically valuable swords should be protected. The law and its registration system reconcile those two demands.

Main provisions

Swords here include blades of 15 cm or more (swords, spears, naginata), straight swords of 5.5 cm or more, daggers and certain switchblades. Possession is prohibited in principle, with the exception that antique firearms of value as art or antiques and swords of value as art may be possessed through registration. Separate rules restrict carrying; for example, carrying a blade longer than 6 cm without justifiable reason is banned.

The registration system

A Japanese sword eligible for registration is one forged and hardened by traditional methods and recognized as having artistic or documentary value in its shape, temper line or inscription. Examples excluded include Showa-to and Mantetsu-to swords resembling Japanese swords, foreign swords, command and ceremonial swords, and badly deteriorated pieces. Applications go to the board of education of the owner's prefecture (or the governor where the governor handles cultural-property affairs), and expert examiners appraise the sword. A registration certificate is issued upon approval. The appraisal standards are set out in the Firearms and Swords Registration Rules (Commission for the Protection of Cultural Properties Rule No. 1 of 10 March 1958). Rules for approving the making of art swords were also established in 1958.

Certificates and circulation

Registration attaches to the sword itself rather than to a person; a registered sword may be possessed by anyone. The certificate must accompany the sword when it is possessed, transported, transferred or entrusted, and acquisition, inheritance, lending or entrustment must be reported, with exceptions for short-term polishing, repair or public display. Lost or stolen certificates are reissued after notification, and certificates are returned if the sword is lost, destroyed or exported.

Relation to other systems

The Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (1950) protects masterpieces through designation, whereas the registration system makes a much wider range of swords lawfully owned. It is also distinct from the 1954 approval of sword making, which concerns producing new swords, whereas registration provides the basis for possessing existing ones.

Aftermath

The law took its present title in a 1965 revision and has been amended many times since. The registration system has become established as a way of protecting Japanese swords as art while allowing ownership and inheritance. A sword found without a certificate must be reported to the police, so procedural strictness remains part of its operation.