Tokugawa-Era Japanese Swords

Timeline

1. 1603–1615Edo · JapanAfter Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate, policies such as swordsmith registers, sword appraisal, and sword hunts regulated sword production and circulation, establishing the sword's status as the samurai's sidearm and ceremonial implement in peacetime.
2. 1660–1670Osaka–Kyoto swordsmith circle · KansaiAfter warfare subsided in the mid-seventeenth century, daimyo and wealthy merchants competed to collect famous old blades; research on sword inscriptions, hilt fittings, and mounting craft flourished, and the Japanese sword shifted from a practical weapon to a highly aestheticized cultural object.
3. 1868–1876All of Japan · JapanThe Meiji government issued the sword abolition edict, stripping samurai of the right to carry swords; the Japanese sword left its everyday armed role and survived as a work of art, martial arts implement, and symbol of national craft.