Archaeologists find a 7-foot-long dakō sword: The discovery that astonished a nation

Roughly 1,600 years ago near the city of Nara, Japan, a person of what appears to be great significance was laid to rest. The person’s burial tomb mound, known as kofun, is one of the largest with a diameter of over 350 feet and 32 feet high.

The person’s importance is also indicated by what was found inside the tomb, a 7.5-foot iron dakō sword, the largest ever discovered, and a 12-pound bronze mirror shaped like a shield that is about 2 feet long and 12 inches wide. It is not know who the person was but they are believed to have been related to the imperial Yamato family.

Masterpieces in metalwork

The discoveries date back to the Kofun Period, named after the distinctive burial mounds that dot Japan, dating from between 250 CE and 538 CE. This is a time in Japanese history for which archaeologists must rely on unearthed artifacts to glean new knowledge as there was no yet a writing system.

The Tomio Maruyama kofun has been a trove of artifacts including eating utensils, containers made from, and copper iron farming tools. However, the most amazing discoveries were the dakō sword, which has a wavy or undulating blade thought to represent a dragon or a snake, and the bronze mirror.

Experts believe the purpose of these objects were most likely to protect the person, whose remains have not been recovered, from evil spirits in the death. The sword, originally thought to be multiple swords, is twice as long as any other that has been discovered and was too large to wield as a weapon.

“I was surprised. It was so long that I doubted it was true,” Riku Murase, an archaeologist for the Nara City Archaeological Research Center, told Live Science.

Kosaku Okabayashi, the deputy director for Nara Prefecture’s Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, speaking to the Kyodo News Agency said the discoveries at the Tomio Maruyama kofun “indicate that the technology of the Kofun period are beyond what had been imagined… They are masterpieces in metalwork from that period."

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