Katana News — 2026-10-25: Bonhams Yorke Sale Nears, Tokyo Shinto Show Opens

Bonhams prepares the Peter Yorke collection for its October 30 opening, a new show on Edo-period masters opens in Tokyo, and Reddit's day belongs to a found sword and an iaito care question.

1. Bonhams Lines Up Peter Yorke Collection for October 30 Opening

Bonhams' online sale "Japanese Swords: The Peter Yorke Collection" runs from October 30 to November 11, 2026, with viewing by appointment at New Bond Street in London from November 1 to 3. The highlight reported is a Masamune-lineage Soshu wakizashi with an engraved dragon and gold-lacquer mounts, estimated at £15,000–£25,000. Yorke, who died in 2023, spent more than five decades studying, buying, and selling Japanese swords, and the sale dates are corroborated by the Asian Art in London 2026 guidebook.

Source: World Art News — Web

2. IGavel's Current Japanese Lots Close November 10

Lark Mason / IGavel's current timed listings include a signed Norisada katana from the Showa period, a mumei katana attributed to Awa Kaifu Yasuyoshi (circa 1375–1520), and a Muromachi-period naginata signed Yoshisuke in shirasaya with a red-lacquered saya. The lots opened October 22 and close on the morning of November 10 (Eastern Time), with opening bids from $50 to $1,000. The listings are live now rather than a future announcement, so bidders can inspect the individual lots directly.

Source: IGavel Auctions / Lark Mason — Web

3. Tokyo Sword Museum Opens Kotetsu and Sukeyasu Show

A Tokyo listings page records the Japanese Sword Museum's special exhibition "Masters of New Swords East and West — Kotetsu and Sukeyasu" as just opened on October 24, running to December 20, 2026. The show pairs two giants of the shinto (new sword) period: Nagasone Kotetsu of Edo and Sukeyasu of Osaka, whose contrasting schools shaped the later Edo blade. This item rests on the listings page rather than a museum announcement, so dates should be confirmed before travel.

Source: Weekendseek (Tokyo listings) — Web

4. Katana Seized as Paris Protests Draw Over 100,000

More than 100,000 people marched in Paris on Saturday, October 24, in protests over the cost of living, with police detaining 135 people and seizing weapons that included a katana sword alongside metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, and airsoft weapons. France deployed around 70,000 security personnel nationwide for the protests. The report is a wire-style news brief, not a sword-law change, and no further detail on the seized katana is given.

Source: Inshorts (via WION) — Web

5. SBG Details Redesigned Tactical Katana With Removable G10 Grip

The SBG Sword Store blog's behind-the-scenes post on the revived Tactical Katana describes a full redesign of the handle system: the old Kraton grip is replaced with removable diamond-checkered G10 slabs, reshaped into a more rounded profile, with matte stainless tsuba and kurikata and reworked tang and habaki construction to support the removable-handle design. The scabbard remains a lightweight fiberglass build, and the post frames the sword as a hard-use tool rather than a display piece. This is a design-detail post about the revived line, distinct from the closeout and release announcements covered earlier in the month.

Source: SBG Sword Store Blog — Web

6. RVA Katana Shows an 1841 Blade Made in Katayama Castle

RVA Katana posted a reel showing an exceptionally long katana made 186 years ago, with close-ups of the tang inscription reading "made in Katayama Castle" and dated Tenpo 13, which corresponds to 1841. The dealer presents the blade as a castle-made piece, and the reel drew about 1,700 likes on Instagram, with the same video appearing on Facebook. The post is dealer-created content, and the attribution rests on the dealer's reading of the inscription.

Source: RVA Katana (@rvakatana) — Instagram

7. RVA Katana Poses a 700-Year-Old Wakizashi Against a 600-Year-Old Katana

In a shop-floor reel, RVA Katana staff debate which they would rather own: a very long 600-year-old katana or a 700-year-old wakizashi. A closer-look reel on the wakizashi notes two different attributions reported for the blade: the NBTHK attributed it to the Hokke school of Buddhist monk swordsmiths from Bingo, while researcher Tanabe attributes it to the Shikake school of the Yamato tradition, described as a precious work. The two attributions are reported side by side, not reconciled, which is itself a useful reminder of how antique attributions can differ.

Source: RVA Katana (@rvakatana) — Instagram

8. Finch's Forge Shapes a Katana From an 18-Inch Pipe Wrench

Bladesmith Finch's Forge posted a short showing the forging of an 18-inch RIDGID pipe wrench into a katana, with a completion video promised the same day. The clip is a novelty forging project rather than a traditional nihonto build, and it trades on the visual joke of turning a workshop tool into a blade. It drew modest short-form attention compared with the week's bigger maker reels, but it is the most distinctive forging post in this window.

Source: Finch's Forge — YouTube

9. r/SWORDS' Top Find: A Sword Discovered in a New House

A member who had just moved posted a sword found in their new house, and the thread became r/SWORDS' most-engaged katana-adjacent post of October 24, with 170 upvotes and 28 comments at the time of reading. The post's draw is the classic found-sword premise — an unidentified blade left behind by a previous occupant — and the comments work through identification, as is usual for the subreddit. No maker or period is established in the thread title, so this item reports the find, not an identification.

Source: u/Fluid-Explanation394 — Reddit

10. r/Katanas Cross-Post Asks About Spots on an Iaito Tip

A cross-post from r/iaido asks about spots near the tip of a Katanamart / Yari no Hanzo iaito, and the same question appeared on both r/Katanas and r/SWORDS on October 24. The post is one buyer's report about another maker's product, not a complaint about SamuraiSwordMan, and the cause of the spots is unconfirmed from the post alone. It is a small but practical maintenance thread: iaito are unsharpened training blades, so tip spots raise questions about storage, moisture, and cleaning rather than edge damage.

Source: u/Mapachio — Reddit

SamuraiSwordMan publishes full specs — steel, hardness, and heat treatment — on every blade. If a listing anywhere won't do that, walk away.