Seventeenth-Century Japanese Sword, with Scabbard , by Schlindwein and Castrejon

A swordsmith named Iehisa forged this blade during the Genroku Era (1688-1702)
of the Edo period of Japan in the historic Mino Province. The sword was donated to the Illinois
State Museum on 8/11/1988 and is one of the older swords in the collection, as it is from the Edo
period. This sword features designs of animals of the Japanese zodiac along the hilt of the blade,
and has a scabbard and handle made of animal skin