Why focus on Mei? Many Japanese swords have inscriptions on the tang. It is recorded that in the Nara period (710-794), a swordsmith’s name was required by law to be inscribed on the tang. However, it is said that the...
Fake swords apparently started being made around the Kamakura period. In the Muromachi period there was already a “certificate of authenticity” which included an inscription on the tang of the words and a description of the blade. In the Edo...