Nihonto Club

Dear New Member,

First of all, I would like to welcome you to Nihonto Club. My name is Stan Nazarenko and I'm looking after the data and services available on this website. Nihonto is my hobby and I'm providing Nihonto Club website free of charge.

Please see the list of resources available to you after registration below.

Swordsmith Index & Signature Search

This is the core of all other databases in Nihonto Club. You may find more information here. Each swordsmith gets a separate page which provides some basic information about his work, notes, references to Japanese sword literature, comments and sometimes much more. Please don't hesitate to add your comments to swordsmith records every time you learn something new about this smith and wish to share it. It doesn't matter if you are an experienced researcher or a novice, any comments are welcome.

Currently Members can't edit swordsmith records directly. This was done to ensure that all the information is presented in uniform fashion and certain standards of quality have been met. However if you are an experienced Nihonto enthusiast and have desire and patience to participate in the management of Swordswmith Index, I will happily and gratefully provide you with full editor's access.

Sword Database

This is the newest and the most ambitious project in Nihonto Club. The final (and frankly, unrealistic) goal is to create an open database of all extant authentic Japanese swords (at least ones made before WWII). It starts with listing all National Treasure swords, then famous historical swords, then important art swords of Tokubetsu Juyo and Juyo level and then any others with preference given to swords examined by professional appraisers and/or mentioned by reliable sources. The main purpose of such database is study (in particular, the ability to answer a question: which swords made by such and such smith exist now (or existed in the past) and where can I find more information or even see them, if displayed in museums or other public places?)

You can also look at it as a 'sword spotting' hobby. How many swords by Awataguchi Yoshimitsu have you seen/heard of? Well, there are 50 in the Sword Database.

Finding pictures of swords is always difficult. If you have good photos of any sword in the Database and you are willing to donate them for non-commercial use, it will be highly appreciated!

If you would like to add information about a Japanese sword in your possession to the Database (or in fact any other interesting sword you may have seen in some publically available sources, i.e. books, magazines, catalogues, websites etc) please contact me. The only requirement is that it has to be identifiable, with nagasa (length of the blade) and a picture of nakago being the bare minimum of information needed. We don't record or share any information on sources and whereabouts of any particular sword unless it's public knowledge already.

Discussion Boards

If you have a sword and you'd like to know more about it, you may post some pictures on Nihonto Discussion Board and we'll try to help you.

Personal Collections

If you wish to share some items from your personal collection with the World, please do so by using 'Create content' menu item on the left hand side, create 'Private Collection' first, and then add unlimited number of 'Private Collection Item' records.

Kind Regards,
Stan Nazarenko