The Various Japanese Japanese Katana Edo Period Wakizashi Ser. 71104 is a Edged - Japan first produced in 1218. It carries a scarcity score of 90/100 based on tracked survey data, with 11 active listings currently on the secondary market and a global benchmark price of $55,406.
This wakizashi-length blade reflects Japan's centuries-long tradition of swordsmithing that reached one of its most celebrated early peaks during the Kamakura period, when master smiths refined differential hardening techniques to produce blades combining a hard, sharp edge with a resilient, shock-absorbing spine. Dating to the early thirteenth century, this piece comes from an era generally regarded by scholars and collectors as a golden age of Japanese sword production, predating the later standardization of the paired daisho, or matched long-and-short sword set, that would become customary among the samurai class in subsequent centuries. Japanese blades of this early period were prized for their combination of aesthetic refinement, expressed through the hamon, or temper line, and exceptional functional quality, and many surviving examples were remounted and reappraised by generations of later owners as sword fittings and classifications evolved. As an example of this foundational period in Japanese edged-weapon craftsmanship, the blade represents the technical and artistic origins from which the celebrated katana and wakizashi traditions of later centuries developed.