Inariyama Sword

The iron Inariyama burial-mound sword (稲荷山古墳出土鉄剣, inariyama kofun shutsudo tekken) or kinsakumei tekken (金錯銘鉄剣) was excavated at the Inariyama Kofun in 1968. Inariyama Kofun is located in Saitama Prefecture. In 1978, X-ray analysis revealed a gold-inlaid inscription that comprises at least 115 Chinese characters. This sword was described as the discovery of the century for the study of ancient Japanese history. The sword is designated a national treasure of Japan.

Japanese research suggests that the metal used in the sword was smelted from copper-bearing magnetite originating in the Jiangnan region of China, later brought to Japan, and then used to forge the sword.

The inscription is in Chinese, but includes several Japanese proper names written using Chinese characters as syllabograms. The original inscription and translation (by Murayama Shichirō and Roy Andrew Miller) is as follows.

The year is denoted as "xin-hai" according to the Chinese sexagenary cycle, in which the name of the year is recycled every 60 years. It generally regarded in Japan to correspond to 471 AD, but Seeley suggests that 531 is a more likely date. The person buried in the tomb, named Wowake, was an influential warrior in the region. King Waka Takiru in the transcription is thought to be the same person as Ōhatsuse-wakatakeru-no-mikoto as mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, an alias of Emperor Yūryaku. The name Waka Takiru is also apparently mentioned on another inscribed sword, the Eta Funayama Sword.

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