Exporting Nihonto Via Commercial Airplane From Japan

[ZH1980]

My wife and I just successfully exported a Edo-era Katana and a Muromachi-era Wakizashi - both bought in Japan - via a checked suitcase on a United Airlines flight from Sapporo to the United States (via Tokyo). We were extremely nervous, did a lot of research in advance, and wanted to share our experience. Sharing in case this helps others. 

First off, we purchased a padded gun case with heavy duty TSA pad locks to transport the two swords. This ¥24,000 that we spent on the hard case was a wonderful investment. I highly recommend Lykus brand suitcases for this purpose. 
 

Secondly, we live in Japan and processed the entire Export Certification process ourselves. If you don’t speak Japanese, or don’t live

in Japan, I would highly recommend using a private service in Japan for obtaining the export certificate (most Japanese sellers seem to include this in the price of the sword). Other private companies offer export certification services (even if you don’t buy the blades from them). Doing it ourselves took six weeks from submission to receiving the certification. Written Japanese language proficiency was necessary. 
 

Other lessons learned:

 

(1) Departing from a city other than Tokyo or Osaka made things a bit more difficult. The Sapporo check-in agents were unfamiliar with nihonto export procedures and required that we have our suitcase reexamined in Tokyo.

 

(2) The export process in Tokyo involved two customs agents and a police officer inspecting the blades and export certification. My personal details, including residence card and passport, were copied. They applied a magnet to the blades to confirm that they were made of iron. The whole process took about 45 minutes. Bottom line: Budget extra time if traveling with nihonto. 
 

(3) Customs in Tokyo kept the original export certificate. Make a copy. 
 

(4) I was also traveling with some expensive tsuba and spare antique sword parts. We did not obtain export certificates for the tsuba. Customs did not think twice about tsuba or any of the other sword parts we traveled with. It remains unclear to me if tsuba require export certification procedures. 
 

(5) Fearing theft, I packed both wrapped blades with discreetly hidden Apple AirTags. These gave me peace of mind, but may have not been necessary. 
 

Good luck to those traveling from Japan with Nihonto!

Edited January 31 by ZH1980

[eternal_newbie]

1 hour ago, ZH1980 said:

It remains unclear to me if tsuba require export certification procedures.

 

Generally no, however there is a requirement to obtain a permit for the exportation of any antique item worth over 200,000 JPY (this was in 2015, so the exact threshold may be different today): https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/17816-export-permit-for-tsuba-bought-in-Japan/

 

This process is somewhat less involved than the procedure for swords, and seems to take around 2 weeks at most. I'm not sure if the customs officials you dealt with were unfamiliar with the rules, didn't realize your tsuba were valuable, or simply didn't care because the swords were their primary concern. Perhaps they thought the tsuba and other antique parts were koshirae for your two blades and thus covered by the permits you did obtain.

[ZH1980]

My understanding is that the ¥200,000 “threshold” was (and remains) very unofficial. The export certification application for sword parts (which is a different form from the sword export certification) makes no reference to purchase price or estimated value. My understanding is that customs clearance for tsuba is based on the customs official’s judgement about whether the item could be considered a protected item. 

[eternal_newbie]

2 hours ago, ZH1980 said:

My understanding is that customs clearance for tsuba is based on the customs official’s judgement about whether the item could be considered a protected item. 

 

Would not surprise me at all, especially since so many dealers will quite happily write whatever value and description you want on the shipping manifest for the purposes of taxation/import duties.

[Promo]

Curious, how exactly did you have to show them the blade? Did they allow you to handle the blade in front of them, or did they handle it themselves? And if they handled it themselves, how professional/non-professional was the handling?

[atm]

Thanks for sharing your experience @ZH1980! How was the customs declaration/tariff process once you entered the U.S.?

[groyn]

 

On 1/31/2026 at 3:17 AM, ZH1980 said:

5) Fearing theft, I packed both wrapped blades with discreetly hidden Apple AirTags. These gave me peace of mind, but may have not been necessary.

 

Hi Zachary, thank you for sharing this. I'm bringing a blade back to the UK in April, so this is all very useful. Thankfully, I will have help dealing with the paperwork.

Did you wrap the blades in customs only after the inspection and what did you wrap them with?

Regards,

Roy

[ZH1980]

1 hour ago, Promo said:

Curious, how exactly did you have to show them the blade? Did they allow you to handle the blade in front of them, or did they handle it themselves? And if they handled it themselves, how professional/non-professional was the handling?

Customs would not touch the blades themselves. The asked me to handle them throughout the entire inspection process. We showed them the blades at the United check in desk (the United employee had to call them over) and just simply opened the case and unwrapped the swords so they could test the metal. 

[ZH1980]

34 minutes ago, atm said:

Thanks for sharing your experience @ZH1980! How was the customs declaration/tariff process once you entered the U.S.?

Because my case is a gun case, I got a lot of attention at customs (because everyone assumed I was transporting a firearm). Once I explained that they were authentic nihonto and 250-500 years old, they didn’t ask any other questions. No forms to complete or other declarations of any kind. Very easy on the US side. Also - I offered to show them my Japanese export certification, but they didn’t care/want to see it (which makes sense). 

[ZH1980]

15 minutes ago, groyn said:

 

 

Hi Zachary, thank you for sharing this. I'm bringing a blade back to the UK in April, so this is all very useful. Thankfully, I will have help dealing with the paperwork.

Did you wrap the blades in customs only after the inspection and what did you wrap them with?

Regards,

Roy

Because I knew that customs/police would inspect them, and considering my really excellent case (plug again for Lykus), I didn’t spend a lot of time wrapping them. I totally disassembled both swords, packed the sword parts in different plastic bags, and wrapped both blades in scabbard bags often used for iaitos. 

[Sukaira]

Thanks for this, I also am going the gun case route to bring 3 back in a few weeks. Going in and out of Haneda, but my sellers in Japan have handled the export permits.

[Promo]

1 hour ago, ZH1980 said:

Customs would not touch the blades themselves. The asked me to handle them throughout the entire inspection process. We showed them the blades at the United check in desk (the United employee had to call them over) and just simply opened the case and unwrapped the swords so they could test the metal. 

Did they also wanted to look at the tang to see the signature? Or just to see if it is a sword and then done? What do you mean with "Test the metal"?

[Lewis B]

43 minutes ago, Promo said:

What do you mean with "Test the metal"?

To confirm its magnetic and therefore steel. 

[ZH1980]

Exactly - they tested the metal with a magnet device to confirm the magnetism. 
 

In terms of reviewing the signatures, they compared the export certification (which included photos of the tangs) with the actual blades, including comparing the signatures to verify that the blades at the airport were the ones approved for export. It was not a particularly comprehensive review, but they did do this comparison.