Bronze sword

Bronze swords. They can be broadly divided into those with a handle, which is cast in the sword, and those without a handle or those with a handle. In China, handle-type bronze swords appeared during the Western Zhou period, but handle-type bronze swords were used during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. In the first half of the first millennium BC, handle-type Liaoning-type bronze swords (curved blade swords, pipa-shaped daggers) were used over a wide area from northeastern China to the Korean peninsula. Around the 3rd century BC, thin bronze swords derived from Liaoning-type bronze swords began to be made on the Korean peninsula. Thin bronze swords were imported from Korea to Japan around the end of the early Yayoi period, and bronze swords began to be made in Japan around the middle of the same period. At first, swords similar to the imported bronze swords were made, but they gradually became larger, and they ceased to have practical uses and became ritual vessels. Bronze swords are divided into four types according to the size of the blade: thin, medium thin, medium wide, and flat (wide). The majority of thin bronze swords were imported, but some are likely to be imitations (domestically produced copies of Chinese-made swords). Anything larger than the medium thin type is an imitation. Bronze swords were produced not only in northern Kyushu, but also along the Seto Inland Sea coast and the coast of Osaka Bay, and bronze swords with strong regional characteristics are distributed in each area. In 1984 (Showa 59), a batch of 358 medium thin bronze swords was discovered at the Kojindani ruins in Shimane Prefecture.

[Koichi Tamura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

青銅製の剣。柄(え)を共鋳した有柄(ゆうへい)式のものと、柄をつけて使用する無柄式または有茎式のものに大別できる。中国では西周時代に有茎式の銅剣が出現するが、春秋戦国時代には有柄式銅剣が使用された。紀元前一千年紀前半期には、中国東北地区から朝鮮半島に及ぶ広い地域で、有茎式の遼寧(りょうねい)式銅剣（＝曲刃剣、琵琶(びわ)形短剣）が使用された。前3世紀ごろには、遼寧式銅剣から派生した細形銅剣が朝鮮半島でつくられ始めた。日本には弥生(やよい)時代前期末ごろ朝鮮から細形銅剣が舶載されたが、同中期中ごろには日本でも銅剣が製作され始めた。当初は舶載の銅剣に似たものがつくられていたが、しだいに大形化し、実用を離れ、祭器と化した。銅剣は、剣身の大きさによって、細形、中細形、中広形、平形（広形）の四類に分けられる。細形銅剣のうちの大部分は舶載であるが、なかには仿製(ぼうせい)（中国製のものを模倣して国産化）のものもあろう。中細形より大きいものは、みな仿製である。銅剣の製作は北部九州のみならず、瀬戸内沿岸や大阪湾沿岸でも製作され、各地に地域色の強い銅剣が分布している。1984年（昭和59）、島根県荒神谷(こうじんだに)遺跡から358本の中細形銅剣が一括して発見された。

［田村晃一］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例