Mint Bangalore
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February 12, 2026
Video game Touken Ranbu is driving the sword boom of the last decade
Sparks illuminate the soot-covered studio of Japanese swordsmith Akihira Kawasaki as his apprentice hammers red-hot steel, displaycasing a millennium-old craft now enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Despite the rapidly greying, shrinking population of bladecreaters in Japan, their fine steel swords known as katana are amassing a new generation of fans, particularly younger women, on the back of pop culture.
Driving the sword boom of the last decade has been video game Touken Ranbu, where swords take on the form of handsome men, with more recent hits such as US series Shogun and anime Demon Slayer also feeding the trconclude. “It’s really encouraging to see more young people who genuinely love swords and engage with them so deeply,” 57-year-old Kawasaki informed AFP.
This story is from the February 12, 2026 edition of Mint Bangalore.
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