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meibutsu

Submitted by kazarena on Wed, 2007-11-28 00:48

Japanese

名物

Definition

Lit. 'Famous thing'. In relation to Nihonto, meibutsu is:

  1. a sword which is famous for its smith or owner(s) or most likely both.
  2. a sword listed in Kyōhō Meibutsu Chō. This record was compiled by Honami Mitsutada (本阿弥光忠) at the order of the Tokugawa government in Kyoho era. It enlists famous blades of historical importance from late Heian to Yoshino period. Detailed descriptions of the blades from Meibutsu Cho can be found in Albert Yamanaka's Nihonto Newsletter.