A pair of 13th-century Samurai swords by master maker Bizen Nagamitsu (or, “Nagamitsu from Bizen province,” active 1264-1287) is estimated to sell for between $150,000 and $200,000 at Bonhams October ...

At Fusahiro Shimojima’s workshop, in the industrial city of Saitama, fires rage in small pits and an earthen floor absorbs the din of hammering. The Japanese swordsmith pounds the nascent blade of his ...

It can take more than a year to make a single razor-sharp katana. In Japan, business is booming for the few remaining smiths who know how to do it. At Nippon Genshosha, a sword workshop on Japan’s ...