A piece of misinformation has been circulating — in online forums, in AI-generated search summaries, and in some English-language guides — that pre-1982 NBTHK certificates are unreliable, and that a sword is better off without them. This is incorrect, and...

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Three terms for one blade. Search for Japanese swords online and you will encounter all three — Japanese sword, samurai sword, katana — often used as if they were interchangeable. Sometimes they are. But each carries a distinct history, a...

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Nihonto Hataraki · Part 2 of 2 The hamon is what most people look at first on a Japanese sword — and with good reason. It is visually the most dramatic feature of the blade, its undulating boundary between hard...

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Nihonto Hataraki · Part 1 of 2 Pick up an authenticated nihonto and hold it under a single light source, tilting the blade slowly toward you. The surface of the steel begins to reveal itself — not as a uniform...

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