Japanese wakizashi, the hilt of the wakizashi consists of a wooden grip, which is covered with white ray-skin and is secured to the tang near the top by a short bamboo rod. The bamboo rod is bound with a piece of flat black silk tape. The hilt of the wakizashi is decorated with ornaments (menuki) made entirely of gilt. The obverse of the hilt is decorated with a lion passing in front of a clump of peony. Whilst the reverse of the hilt is decorated with another lion seated behind and partly hidden by a clump of peony. The ferrule (fuchi) at the top of the grip is made of shakudo (gold alloy) and has a copper top pierced to admit the tang. It is heavily decorated with embossed gilt and depicts a stream with reeds and other marsh and water plants growing from its banks. From one of two outcrops of rock, both covered with lichens, grows a willow tree bearing fruit; above the tree fly two egrets and on a bridge sits a third egret. The pommel (kashirm/kashire) fits over the end of the grip and is secured by binding tape. It, too, is made of shakudo (gold alloy) and is decorated with a similar scene to that on the ferrule. The guard consists of three parts. The slightly curved steel blade has a flat back and groove. The back and the groove are brightly burnished and this has revealed slight flaws in the metal. A double collar (niju-habaki) is decorated with diagonal scratching and sewn pellets. The wooden scabbard is covered with black lacquer. The tape used to secure the sword to the waistband is made of cord in two colours - mid-brown and fawn.

The Imperial Japanese Naval Attaché, Rear-Admiral K. Oguri (active 1914) at Christmas in 1914, presented this wakizashi to Admiral of the Fleet Lord John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron Fisher of Kilverstone (1841-1920) and his wife. The sword has been provisionally identified as having been made in the Bizen Province, Japan in the early part of the 16th century.