The 2.3-meter sword with a meandering blade is also the largest iron sword made in that period in East Asia.
“(These discoveries) indicate that the technology of the Kofun period (300-710 AD) are beyond what had been imagined, and they are masterpieces in metalwork from that period,” said Kosaku Okabayashi, the deputy director for Nara Prefecture’s Archaeological Institute of Kashihara.
He called their discoveries a breakthrough in the research of the period, named for the “kofun” tomb mounds built for members of the ruling class.
The patterned surface of the mirror carries the designs of two more common “daryu” mirrors, distinctive with its designs based on imaginative creatures, which have been found mainly in western Japan.
The sword is the oldest of dako swords distinguished by their wavy, snake-like shapes, from which their name is derived....<<<Read More>>>...
