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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.
Contents
Creation
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.
Inscription
The original inscription and translation (by Roy Andrew Miller and Murayama Shichirō) is as follows.
辛亥年七月中記乎獲居臣上祖名意富比垝其児多加利足尼其児名弖已加利獲居其児名多加披次獲居其児名多沙鬼獲居、其児名半弖比
Inscribed in the seventh lunar month of a xin-hai year: Wo wakë omi: [his] remote ancestor's name, Öpö piko; his child's name, Takari tsukunie; his child's name, Teyö kari wakë; his child's name, Takapatsï wakë; his child's name, Tasakï wakë; his child's name, Pandepi;
其児名加差披余其児名乎獲居臣世々爲杖刀人首奉事來至今獲加多支鹵大王寺在斯鬼宮時吾左治天下令作此百練利刀記吾奉事根原也
his child's name, Katsapaya; his child's name, Wo wakë omi. From generation unto generation, we have served as the sword-bearers' chiefs, down to the present time. When the great king Waka Takiru's court was in the Sikï palace, I, assisting in the governance of the realm, caused to be fashioned this well-wrought efficacious sword, recording my origins in service.
Interpretation
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.