Katana by Kurihara Nobuhide

Kurihara Nobuhide (1815–1880) was a leading swordsmith of the shinshintō (new-new-sword) period, active from the late Edo era into the Meiji period, celebrated above all as a master of blade carving (horimono). Born in Tsukikata Village, Nishi-Kanbara District, Echigo Province (present-day Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture), he later came to Edo, where he refined his forging skills under the guidance of Minamoto no Kiyomaro, himself a disciple of Suishinshi Masahide. Nobuhide's swords display a finely packed, uniform ko-itame jigane and a versatile command of hamon forms including gunome, chōji, and hitatsura. Yet his greatest distinguishing feature lies in his carving technique: the intricate and powerful carvings of dragons, Kurikara-Fudō, Sanskrit characters, and peony arabesques engraved on his blades were judged unsurpassed by any contemporary. He produced many presentation swords for the Tokugawa shogunate and daimyo lords, meeting the demand for refined weapons among the warrior culture throughout the turbulent final decades of the shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, despite the headwinds of the sword-prohibition edict, he continued working and received commissions from new-government officials and businesspeople alike. Multiple surviving works hold the Jūyō Tōken designation, and blades with horimono command particularly high prices. As a swordsmith embodying the legitimate line of Edo shinshintō from Suishinshi Masahide through Minamoto no Kiyomaro, Nobuhide is an indispensable figure in the history of modern Japanese swordsmanship.