The discovery of an ancient sword changed Japanese history

Human history is fickle and the discovery of new artifacts can change the reality of what we thought we knew about our ancient past. This scenario was exactly what happened in Japan back in 2023.

Archeologists working at the Tomio Maruyama Tumulus burial mound in Japan's Nara Prefecture unearthed a unique sword and shield that proved to be the types of ancient items that can change history. 

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The Japan Times reported that the giant sword and mirrored shield were made to defend their owner from demons. It was this amazing quirk that turned the archeological pieces into important treasures.

“The discovery of the shield-shaped mirror being the first of its kind,” The Japan Times explained in a January 2023 article on the groundbreaking discovery. But what made the find so important?

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The shield mirror was made of bronze and measured an impressive 25 inches by 12 inches while it weighed 12 pounds according to Smithsonian Magazine’s Sarah Kuta. 

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Kuta added that experts at the time believed the mirror was designed to help “ward off evil spirits,” something that would make sense considering the sword it was buried paired well for such a task.  

Known as a dakō, the iron sword is the largest example of such a weapon ever to be discovered in Japan according to the researcher who unearthed the ancient blade. 

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"I was surprised," Riku Murase, an archaeologist at Nara Prefecture's Archaeological Research Center, explained to Live Science about the weapons via email. "It was so long that I doubted it was true." 

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Measuring seven-and-a-half feet tall, Murase said his recently discovered dakō sword was “twice as big as any other sword found in Japan." But the length of the weapon wasn't the only thing that made it a unique find.

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The sword has an unusual “snake-like shape” according to Newsweek’s Jess Thompson, and was thought to have been buried with the deceased to protect them from “evil spirits.”

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Together the sword and the mirrored shield changed everything historians and archeologists thought they knew about the period from which the two archeological pieces were made. 

Most likely having been produced and buried during the Kofun period, the two ancient artifacts revealed that the peoples of ancient Japan were a lot more technologically advanced than previously believed. 

Kosaku Okabayashi is the Deputy Director of Nara Prefecture's Archaeological Institute of Kashihara and said that the finds were “masterpieces in metalwork from that period." 

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“[These discoveries] indicate that the technology of the Kofun period are beyond what had been imagined,” Okabayashi told Kyodo News.

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Japan’s Kofun period took place between the third and early sixth centuries according to Wikipedia and it is best known today for the key-shaped burial mounds the civilization left behind.

"It was my dream to dig up a mirror,” Riku Murase said according to Kyodo News. “Who knew that it would be something so incredible."

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Both the mirror shield and giant sword were discovered inside a large clay coffin after an extensive survey found signs of a burial grave according to a press release from Nara City’s Archaeological Research Center. 

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