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From 14 January 2015
Throughout Japan (museums, exhibitions, sword facilities and more)
Forces
Game operators (DMM GAMES and Nitroplus)
Museums, sword facilities and fans
About 7 min read
The sword boom from 2015 onward refers to the spread of sword appreciation, especially among young women, triggered by the browser game Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-, which began for PC on 14 January of that year. Players act as saniwa, collecting token danshi, swords that have taken human form, and sending them into battle against history revisionists. Many of the swords that appear are real famous blades, and people who wanted to see the real thing through the game began to visit museums and other venues.
Until then, sword appreciation was often seen as a hobby centered on middle-aged and older men. A curator at the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum in Okayama has said that the popularity among women ignited by Touken Ranbu made it easier for young women to say they like Japanese swords.
Touken Ranbu started service on 14 January 2015, operated jointly by DMM GAMES and Nitroplus. The smartphone version, Touken Ranbu Pocket, began on 1 March 2016.
The spread of the boom showed in the response at museums and exhibitions. When an exhibition of Mikazuki Munechika began at the Tokyo National Museum in May 2015, about 100 fans reportedly gathered on the first morning even though it was a weekday, and a museum staff member said there were more visitors than expected. The museum community is said to have been surprised at the rush of young women to institutions showing swords from the game.
The term token joshi ('sword girls') was nominated for the 2015 U-CAN New Words and Buzzwords Awards, and Touken Ranbu itself was nominated in 2017. The game's popularity was also discussed in connection with events surrounding swords, such as crowdfunding aimed at recreating a lost sword and the rediscovery of a sword whose whereabouts had drawn attention.
The work expanded through media mix: a stage musical began in 2015 and a straight play was staged in 2016. Television anime followed with Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru (2016) and Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (2017), and live-action films with Eiga Touken Ranbu -Keisho- (January 2019) and Eiga Touken Ranbu -Reimei- (March 2023).
The swords in the game include National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties still held by museums and shrines, and fans began to look up where they are held and to visit exhibitions. Increased visits to facilities holding swords connected with the game and growing sales of sword-related books have been reported.
This meant that sword appreciation widened from simply looking at a blade to enjoying learning about its history, owners and provenance. Because the game's sword characters are portrayed in connection with the histories of real swords, fans gained a reason to research those histories.
For museums it was a chance to welcome new visitors who had not previously attended sword exhibitions. On the exhibition side, programs tied to showing swords that appear in the game and efforts to guide visitors in how to appreciate them also appeared.
A 2023 media article reports that the sword boom shows no sign of fading, with introductory features being produced and new fans increasing. It also notes that sword-related magazines are selling well.
The boom is valued for widening the audience for Japanese swords, but it also depends to some extent on the popularity of a particular work, and its continuation is influenced by how that work develops. Nationwide statistical backing, such as the rate of increase in visitor numbers, was not obtainable within the range of materials checked for this entry.
Even so, the spread of a way of appreciation that links real swords with stories has great meaning for the transmission of sword culture. The movement that began in 2015 continues today through exhibitions, related books and sword facilities around the country.