案内 Reference
Japanese Sword Guides
-
Guide
Periodisation of the Japanese sword
The sword across twelve centuries: Jōkotō, Heian, Kamakura, Nanbokuchō, Muromachi, Sengoku and Momoyama, Edo shintō, shinshintō, gendaitō, and the living shinsakutō. What each era looked like, why it changed, and what a collector should expect.
-
Guide
Kantei: attributing a Japanese sword
How a blade is attributed by examination: sugata, jihada, hamon, bōshi, nakago, mei. The period and school signals, the gokaden in practice, and what an honest mumei attribution does and does not claim.
-
Guide
How to read nihontō papers
What an NBTHK or NTHK paper actually certifies: the bodies, the ranks, the kanji on the origami, the old Kichō scandal, the risks, and how a UK collector submits a blade.
-
Guide
WW2 Japanese sword buyer's guide
Nihontō, gendaitō, shōwatō: how to read a WW2-era Japanese sword. Production, mounts, mei, stamps, UK legal status, and provenance.
