A Teruhide Army Officer Katana (輝秀)

Ishido Teruhide (1900-1982) was the 10th and last generation of the prestigious Ishido Korekazu line of Edo/Musashi province swordsmiths – direct descendants of the highly ranked Musashi Daijō Fujiwara Korekazu. During the Second World War he produced quality blades for high-ranking military officers, and was specially ranked Betsuki in the 1943 list of top Gendai swordsmiths by both the Nihon Token Tanrenjo and the Nihon Token Shinbunshi – a distinction reserved for the finest active smiths of the era.

On this sword Teruhide chiselled his name with the classic two-character signature he favoured early in his career. The construction is everything you would expect from the Ishido tradition: a fine ko-itame jihada blended with muji-hada, and a prominent gunome midare hamon that moves with real energy along the blade.

The blade is housed in its original WWII Japanese Army Officer Shin-Gunto koshirae, complete with a protective cover for its unusual lightweight wooden scabbard – signed by the craftsman, a happy discovery when the cover was first peeled back. All fittings carry matching serial number 3, and the hilt proudly retains the blue and brown Company Officer tassel. Two NTHK-NPO Kanteishō certificates accompany the sword, one validating the blade as a quality gendaitō made by traditional folding methods, the other certifying the koshirae.