Seven-Foot Sword Unearthed From 1,600-Year-Old Burial Mound in Japan

Archaeologists think the artifact was used to protect against evil after death

Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent

February 7, 2023



The dako sword found at Tomio Maruyama AsPJT via Wikimedia Commons under CC0 1.0 Universal

Japanese archaeologists have uncovered a 7.5-foot-long iron sword and a bronze mirror from an ancient burial mound near the city of Nara.

The weapon, known as a dako sword, is so large that it was likely never used for self-defense, serving instead as a means of protection against evil after death.

Researchers found both artifacts while excavating a 1,600-year-old site called Tomio Maruyama in November. The city of Nara’s education board and Nara prefecture’s archaeological institute announced the discoveries on January 25.

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Like other dako swords unearthed in the country, this one has an undulating blade that’s reminiscent of a snake. Due to the artifact’s size, the researchers initially thought they had found multiple swords lined up next to each other, reports Kyodo News.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/massive-sword-and-mirror-unearthed-from-1600-year-old-burial-mound-in-japan-180981588/

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7.5-foot-long sword from 4th-century Japan may have 'protected' deceased from evil spirits

By Tom Metcalfe published 3 days ago

Archaeologists have unearthed an oversized ceremonial iron sword and a bronze mirror shaped like a shield from a 1,600-year-old burial mound in Nara, Japan.



The iron dakō sword has heavily rusted after more than 16 centuries underground. In this photograph, a replica of the sword lies in the place where it was found. (Image credit: Public domain)
Archaeologists in Japan have unearthed a 7.5-foot-long (2.3 meters) iron sword during excavations of a 1,600-year-old burial mound near the city of Nara. The sword was too large to wield as a weapon, so its purpose was probably to protect the person it was buried with from evil spirits, experts say.

"I was surprised," Riku Murase, an archaeologist for the Nara City(opens in new tab) Archaeological Research Center who unearthed the sword in a tomb within the burial mound, told Live Science in an email. "It was so long that I doubted it was true."

Murase discovered the sword during excavations of the Tomio Maruyama burial mound in late November. The mound is located in a park just west of Nara, and dates from about the fourth century A.D.

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The swords in Japanese burial mounds might also represent a spiritual link between Japan, which at the time was considered the "center of the world", and the heavens — sometimes suggested in tomb artwork and on swords themselves by the distinctive pattern of the stars of the Big Dipper, or Great Bear (Ursa Major), a constellation that circles the celestial North Pole.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/7-foot-long-sword-from-4th-century-japan-may-have-protected-deceased-from-evil-spirits