Giant 7-foot-long ‘demon-slaying sword’ used over 1,600 years ago is unearthed in a Japanese grave

A giant two-meter-long “demon-slaying” sword that was buried for more than 1,600 years has been found in Japan.

The iron weapon was discovered in the Tomiomaruyama burial mound in Nara in a tomb to help the deceased ward off evil spirits in the afterlife.

Archaeologists discovered a 16-foot-long wooden coffin deep in the mound, which housed the sword and a two-foot-long shield constructed of a mirror.

While many demon-slaying swords have been found in Japan, it is the largest and oldest found in the country.

The ‘national treasures’ suggest that the individual in the tomb was an elite who may have been in the military.

Since last year, archaeologists have been removing layers of dirt from the burial mound, which measures 350 feet wide and up to 32 feet tall.

The mound is known as ‘kofun’ after the Kofun period of Japanese history when they were built between AD 300 and AD 710. living science reports.

“So far, we have conducted aerial laser surveys (first study) and excavation surveys (second to fifth studies), and obtained important results to clarify the structure of burial mounds,” the archaeologists shared in a Press release announcing the discovery.

The survey showed confined ‘ritual’ spaces within the mound, leading the team to a grave where a clay box housing the coffin was located.

“It is believed that the coffin was placed in a part deeply embedded in the bottom of the grave pit, and a thin layer of clay and sand was leveled to about 30 cm outside the position where the coffin lid would be placed,” according to the archaeologists

And inside the coffin were the giant sword and the mirror.

The six-inch bladed sword, known as a dakō, was probably never used, but only designed to be placed with the deceased on the mound.

The iron weapon was discovered in the Tomiomaruyama burial mound in Nara in a tomb to help the deceased ward off evil spirits in the afterlife.

The sword was buried in a layer of clay that still had the outline of the weapon when archaeologists found it.

The dakō sword was designed with an undulating blade reminiscent of a snake, and due to its enormous size, researchers initially thought they had found multiple swords lined up next to each other, it reports. Kyodo News.

This artifact is also the oldest “demon slayer” weapon found in Japan – more than 80 have been found around the world.

The mirror, shaped like a tortoise shell and made of copper, sloped diagonally to match the shape of the clay that covered the coffin lid.

There’s a knob on the back and “other patterns centered around the sawtooth pattern, and it’s a bronze mirror like no other,” the team shared.

Archaeologists discovered a 16-foot-long wooden coffin deep in the mound, which housed the sword and a two-foot-long shield constructed of a mirror.

The mirror weighs 125 pounds and an x-ray detected tin, copper, and lead. It is also the first discovered in a burial mound in Japan.

“The surface is smooth and polished, and is believed to have been made by a Japanese mirror craftsman.”

The mirror weighs 125 pounds and an x-ray detected tin, copper, and lead.

It is also the first discovered in a burial mound in Japan.

Within Japanese culture, mirrors are one of the most powerful symbols of power, revered as sacred objects that represent the gods.

There is also a belief that mirrors connect our world with the spiritual world.

“(These discoveries) indicate that the technology of the Kofun period is beyond what had been imagined,” Kosaku Okabayashi, deputy director of the Kashihara Archaeological Institute in Nara prefecture, told Kyodo News.

. They are masterpieces of goldsmithing of that time.