Establishment of the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords (NBTHK)

In February Shōwa 23 (1948), amid a postwar Japan reduced to scorched earth, one organization quietly came into being. The Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai (Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords), today widely known among sword enthusiasts and researchers by the abbreviation Nittōho (NBTHK), was a product of the greatest cultural struggle of the Occupation period, one that bore on the very survival of the Japanese sword. Its founding was more than the birth of a mere preservation group. It was also a historic declaration, in which Japan answered the question 'What is the Japanese sword?' for the occupying power.

Destruction of Swords Under the Occupation: The Japanese Swords Lost

Immediately after the defeat in August Shōwa 20 (1945), GHQ (General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers) pushed the seizure and destruction of swords as part of Japan's disarmament. The order initially targeted mainly weapons for military use, but its implementation in practice extended very widely. At police stations and military government offices, ordinary citizens, former samurai families, and sword collectors brought in swords handed down from their ancestors, and many of them were destroyed or melted down.

Researchers estimate that at least tens of thousands of Japanese swords (by one account, hundreds of thousands or more) were permanently lost through the sword destruction of the Occupation period. Famous blades handed down in families, fine works by provincial minor swordsmiths, and swords showing excellent forging skill despite their anonymity were all uniformly disposed of as 'weapons.' Among them were likely masterpieces that, had their makers been identified, might have been designated National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties.

The loss of swords was more than the loss of material objects, because the Japanese sword had long been the spiritual core of Japanese culture as the 'soul of the samurai.' The works of master smiths such as Masamune, Muramasa, and Kotetsu were metalwork of the highest world standard, both in artistic value and in metallurgical technique. The danger that these lineages might be cut off in the postwar chaos was a crisis that went beyond the protection of cultural property. Furthermore, the seizure by GHQ and subsequent disappearance, from late 1945 to early 1946, of the Honjō Masamune, a work by Masamune and a treasure of the Tokugawa family, created an intense sense of alarm in the sword world that 'at this rate, the lifeline of the Japanese sword will be cut.'

From 'Weapons' to 'Works of Art': The Logic Behind the Founding of the Preservation Society

In response to the crisis of sword destruction, the countermeasure adopted by sword-world figures and cultural leaders was a kind of intellectual strategy: a 'redefinition' of the Japanese sword.

Their argument was that 'the Japanese sword is not a weapon but a Japanese art and craft object unique to Japan.' The hamon, jigane, and sugata of a sword embody a level of metalworking art with no parallel in the world, and they possess aesthetic and cultural value beyond function. The Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai was founded to secure this claim institutionally and organizationally.

There were also sympathetic figures on the occupying side. Colonel C. V. Cadwell, Provost Marshal of the U.S. Eighth Army, who was responsible for the seized swords, worked hard to preserve them. As a result of negotiations, a GHQ memorandum of September 1945 (Shōwa 20) set out a policy that swords of antique value could be retained after examination. Under the 1946 Ordinance Prohibiting the Possession of Firearms and Swords, the Japanese government came to issue possession permits to swords that passed examination. These permits literally became certificates that decided the life or death of Japanese swords. Swords that received permission were saved, while swords without one remained exposed to the risk of destruction.

The Hon'ami Family and the Tradition of Sword Appraisal: From the Muromachi Period to Shōwa

Japanese sword appraisal has a long tradition in the Hon'ami family, which has continued since the Muromachi period.

The Hon'ami family served successive powers, including the Ashikaga shogunate, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the Tokugawa shogunate. Its family trade was the polishing and appraisal of swords and the issuance of origami (certificates of appraisal). While Hon'ami Kōetsu gained renown as an artist in the Edo period, the main line of the Hon'ami family continued to serve the Tokugawa shogunate as a specialist in sword appraisal.

The NBTHK was founded through the gathering of researchers, collectors, and swordsmiths, centered on Honma Junji (Kunzan) and Satō Kan'ichi (Kanzan). It became a base for the rebuilding of Japanese sword culture in the postwar period, rather than a mere preservation group.

Establishment of the Examination System: How NBTHK Appraisal Works

The NBTHK's greatest contribution to postwar sword culture was the development of an objective and systematic examination system (shinsa seido).

The NBTHK's current examination is broadly divided into the following stages. Hozon tōken (swords preserved) are swords recognized as worthy of preservation, and they form the entry point of the examination. Tokubetsu hozon tōken (swords especially preserved) are superior works that received a higher evaluation. Jūyō tōken (important swords) are the formal designation of particularly outstanding swords. Tokubetsu jūyō tōken (swords especially important) are the highest-level recognition. These standards appraise swords from many angles, including workmanship (dekibae), sugata, hamon, jigane, and nakago.

This examination system functions not only within the framework of cultural property protection but also as a 'benchmark of value' in the sword trading market. That the NBTHK's examination grades are the value standard most referred to in today's sword distribution is evidence of institutional authority established over more than 70 years of history. Its authority has become such an indispensable foundation of modern sword culture that some collectors call the NBTHK's certificates 'passports for swords.'

Passing On Sword-Making Techniques: Official Authorization of Art Sword Making and Revival of Traditional Techniques

Another important development, proceeding in parallel with the founding of the NBTHK, was the legal recognition of sword making (sakutō) by swordsmiths (tōkō).

Under the Occupation, sword making was once effectively banned or restricted. However, once the logic of protecting art swords as cultural property was established, a path opened for allowing the production of Japanese swords by traditional methods to continue. In the latter half of the Shōwa 20s, the production of art swords was formally permitted within the framework of the Cultural Properties Protection Law, and sword making by contemporary swordsmiths legally resumed.

This resumption did not merely permit sword production. It also institutionalized the grounds on which the forging lineage that had continued from the Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo periods remains alive today: tatara smelting, tamahagane, orikaeshi tanren (folding and forging), tsuchioki (clay application), and yaki-ire (quenching). The NBTHK continues to examine and honor works by contemporary swordsmiths, and it actively supports the transmission of traditional techniques through the Contemporary Sword Craftsmanship Exhibition (Gendai Tōshoku-ten, formerly the Shinsaku Meitō-ten).

The NBTHK Today: As the Central Institution for Cultural Property Protection

More than 70 years after its founding, the Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai continues to function as the most authoritative institution concerning the Japanese sword. Its activities are wide-ranging. They include operating the Japanese Sword Museum (Tōken Hakubutsukan) in Ryōgoku (Yokoami, Sumida Ward), Tokyo; holding sword exhibitions across the country; publishing the journal Tōken Bijutsu; and honoring the skills of sword-related craftsmen, including swordsmiths, polishers, shirogane-shi (habaki makers), nushi (lacquerers), and tsukamaki-shi (hilt wrappers).

At a time when the cultural value of the Japanese sword is recognized at home and abroad, the NBTHK's existence forms an indispensable part of the history of the Japanese sword. From its founding in February 1948 (Shōwa 23), which saved swords facing the threat of destruction, to the present, the NBTHK has continued to support Japanese sword culture as a 'guardian of the Japanese sword.'

Even after the storm of destruction in the Shōwa 20s subsided, about 2.5 million Japanese swords are said to survive in Japan. They are handed down under the registration system administered by the prefectural boards of education. The NBTHK continues its work today as the institution responsible for the preservation, public display, and appraisal of these swords.