Katana News — 2026-10-22: Bonhams Paris Auction Closes Tomorrow; Sotheby’s Lines Up a Horii Gendaito

Ten katana stories for today: a Bonhams Paris auction of Japanese arms and armour closes tomorrow, Sotheby's London lines up a Horii Tanetsugu gendaito, a kimono-clad katana care demo pulls 5.2K likes, and a Nihonto exhibition documents the restoration of a sword linked to Oda Nobunaga.

1. Bonhams Paris Japanese Arms and Armour Auction Closes Tomorrow

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr's online Paris sale "Asian Decorative Art: including Japanese Arms and Armour from a European Collection" ends tomorrow, October 23, at 12:00 CEST. The 120-lot auction includes a shinshinto katana by Keishinsai Naomasa (lot 13, €9,000–12,000), a 16th/17th-century koto katana (lot 14, €3,000–4,000), a 19th-century shishinto katana (lot 15, €4,500–7,500), a Taisho 2 (1913) gendaito tanto by Miyamoto Kanenori (lot 16, €4,000–5,000), plus Edo-period armour, kawari kabuto, and a yukinoshita do with a helmet signed by Nakaya Yojin Hideshige. All sword lots in the Japanese section are offered without reserve; realized prices will publish after the sale closes.

Source: Bonhams — Web

2. Sotheby's London Adds a Horii Tanetsugu Gendaito to November Sale

Sotheby's London has listed a gendaito katana signed by Horii Tanetsugu in its upcoming online sale "Asian Art / 5000 Years," scheduled October 30 to November 6. The lot essay identifies the smith as a third-generation member of the noted Horii swordmaking family, working in a Bizen-style choji hamon, and notes he gave forging demonstrations at the 1985 Tsukuba Expo. No prices are shown on the lot page; the offering gives buyers a fresh gendaito data point ahead of the sale.

Source: Sotheby's — Web

3. Nihonto Exhibition Shows Oda Nobunaga Sword Restoration and Masamune Tanto

A 19-slide Instagram carousel documents a Nihonto exhibition at the Daihoden, including a banner on the restoration of Oda Nobunaga's sword lost in the Honno-ji Incident. Displayed pieces include a tachi signed Kunitsuna (Awataguchi), a tanto signed Kunimitsu (Shintogo), a katana with a gold-inlay Yukimitsu signature, a tanto signed Masamune, a Soshu Ise Daijo Tsunahiro (March 1667), a Kanefusa with a seven-body cutting-test inscription, and a Kanemoto (Magoroku). The post's text is in Japanese; the attributions above are from a content summary of the carousel.

Source: @tue_korobanu — Instagram

4. “Respect the Blade: Katana Care” Demo in Kimono Pulls 5.2K Likes

A Facebook reel by Sumiko Nakano (October 21) walks through a full katana maintenance sequence in kimono: mekugi removal, disassembly order, uchiko powder cleaning, oiling, and reassembly. The reel drew 5.2K likes and 140 comments — the strongest engagement of any non-TV katana post in this window — with commenters debating the creator's use of CapCut Pro AI enhancement on the footage.

Source: Sumiko Nakano — Facebook

5. RVA Katana Demos Cloudhammer S5 “Surging Dragon” Katana

RVA Katana (55K followers) posted a Facebook reel on October 21 showing a new "Cloudhammer S5 Shock Steel Surging Dragon Katana" undergoing a concrete-block chipping test plus tatami tameshigiri performed by three men. The seller's post claims the sword was given to Shadiversity for testing against stone. This is seller-created promotional content, and the Shadiversity claim is the seller's own statement, not independently verified in this scan.

Source: RVA Katana — Facebook

6. Out-of-Pocket Review: Swordis “Shadow Dancer” Nagamaki in Crucible Steel

A YouTube review uploaded about October 21 covers Swordis's Shadow Dancer Nagamaki in the first of two parts: 1095 crucible carbon steel, differential clay temper with a midare hamon, nagamaki-zukuri with bo-hi, a 78 cm blade, a roughly 15.75-inch tsuka, and a crimson lacquered saya, at about $533 retail. The reviewer bought the piece with his own money, and part two (cut testing) is promised. The channel name was not shown in the page-text fetch; the description contact suggests "PNW Sword & Board," which is unverified.

Source: YouTube — YouTube

7. Tozando International Posts Macro Katana Craftsmanship Series

Tozando International (19K followers) posted a nine-slide Instagram carousel on October 20 with macro photography of a katana: green-wrapped tsuka with white samegawa, a tsuba with arrow motifs, menuki, sageo, and close-ups of the blade's hamon and kissaki. The set drew 200 likes and functions as a craft showcase rather than a sales post.

Source: Tozando International — Instagram

8. Full Forged in Fire S3E9 Episode Lands on YouTube

The HISTORY channel's official Forged in Fire YouTube channel uploaded the full season 3, episode 9 episode on about October 20: four bladesmiths forge signature blades from junkyard steel with coal forges, and the finalists recreate the Pandat, the two-handed war sword of Borneo's Dayak people. The episode itself is not katana-specific, but it is the freshest sword-making TV content in the window.

Source: @forgedinfire (HISTORY) — YouTube

9. Budget Walking Dead Replica Gets a Bamboo Test on Instagram

RVA Katana posted an Instagram reel on October 20 showing "Michonne's katana from The Walking Dead" — a $200 budget replica in 65Mn steel with zinc alloy fittings — cutting bamboo targets. The clip drew 110 likes and sits at the intersection of film fandom and entry-level katana retail.

Source: RVA Katana (@rvakatana) — Instagram

10. “Why a Katana Is Exceptionally Sharp”: Forging Explainer Reel

A narrated Facebook reel by Deep talk, posted October 20, walks through why katana cut: a meat-cutting demo, tamahagane smelting in a tatara furnace, folding layers, san-mai construction, and the differential clay coating and water quench that create the curve. It drew 350 likes and 5 comments — solid educational storytelling for buyers curious about what makes a blade sharp.

Source: Deep talk — Facebook

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