Which 1876 Japanese law prohibited samurai from wearing swords in public?

The 1876 law that prohibited samurai from wearing swords in public was the Haitōrei Edict.

The Meiji government issued the Haitōrei Edict during its rapid modernization of Japan. The measure generally banned people, except members of the armed forces and police, from carrying swords in public. It struck directly at the visible privileges and identity of the former samurai class.

The edict followed earlier reforms that dismantled the feudal domains, replaced hereditary military service with a conscript army, and removed samurai stipends. Together, these changes transformed Japan from a status-based warrior society into a centralized modern state.

The Haitōrei Edict did not by itself abolish every samurai privilege, and resistance continued. The 1877 Satsuma Rebellion became the last major samurai uprising. The law is often called the “sword abolition edict,” although its formal Japanese name is Haitōrei.