The traditional Japanese Nihontō sword as a source of inscriptions and texts

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The Japanese sword Nihontō 日本刀 can be viewed through the prism of traditional culture not only as an edged weapon and a work of applied art, but also as an object of veneration in Shinto and Buddhist cults. It bears sacred meanings and symbols, as well as various inscriptions and texts. The article is devoted to the analysis and systematization of most typical sword inscriptions (mostly on the blade tangs), their structure and the nature of information contained. Such sword inscriptions could be extremely laconic, or quite detailed. Some detailed inscriptions are a kind of literary narrative, including puns and even pieces of poetry. The article analyses a representative selection of inscriptions by several famous Japanese swordsmiths found on the blades in Russian and Japanese museum collections.

作者简介

Aleksandr Sinitsyn

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), RAS

Email: asin@kunstkamera.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7392-1837

Cand. Sci. (History), Senior Researcher, Department of East and Southeast Asia

俄罗斯联邦, St. Petersburg

Arina Gabitova

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS

编辑信件的主要联系方式.
Email: arina.gabitova@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0008-4838-9824

Senior Laboratory Assistant, Department of Far Eastern Studies

俄罗斯联邦, St. Petersburg

参考

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1. JATS XML
2. Fig. 1. Tanto combat knife: made from the gun steel of the battleship Mikasa, 1931

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3. Fig. 2. Inscription on the handle of a katana blade forged by Gassan Sadakatsu (1930s) from tamahagane steel, presented by Emperor Meiji to Mingatogawa Shrine in 1908.

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4. Fig. 3. Tanto blade: made from iron from the Shirahagi meteorite, forged in 1891 by blacksmith Okamoto Kunimune for Enomoto Takaeki. Collection of the Toyama Prefectural Science Museum

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5. Fig. 4. Inscriptions on the handles of katana blades by Nagasone Kotetsu with tameshi-mei. Left: From the collection of the Tokyo National Museum; right: From the collection of the Tsukamoto Museum of Art, Chiba Prefecture.

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版权所有 © Sinitsyn A.Y., Gabitova A.I., 2025

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