Bronze spear

Also written as bronze spear. A bronze weapon with a spear-shaped lower half that is bag-shaped (kyou) into which a handle is inserted. Bronze spears from the Yin Dynasty in China have semicircular ears on both sides of the base of the bag. Many bronze spears from the Western Zhou period onwards do not have ears, but one with one ear was carved into a mold excavated from the Tangshan Hail God Temple in Hebei Province. In the Korean Peninsula, two types of bronze spears were used around the 3rd century BC: earless bronze spears and one-eared bronze spears. Korean bronze spears are descended from Chinese spears, but the appearance of one-eared spears is a topic for further investigation. In Japan, short, sharp bronze spears were imported from Korea around the end of the early Yayoi period. Bronze spears were also produced in Japan from the middle of the middle Yayoi period onwards, but like bronze swords and bronze halberds, they gradually became larger and became ritual implements. Depending on the size of the spear head, it is classified into various types such as narrow-pointed (thin or medium-thin), medium-wide, and wide. However, the direction of change is orthogonal evolution, and there is no diversity like that of bronze swords and bronze halberds. This may be related to the fact that the production area of ​​bronze spears is limited to northern Kyushu.

[Koichi Tamura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

銅鉾とも書く。槍(やり)先状の身の下半部が袋状（銎(きょう)）になっていて、そこに柄(え)を差し込んで使用した青銅製の武器。中国殷(いん)代の銅矛は袋部の根元両側に半環状の耳がつく。西周時代以降の銅矛には耳のつかないものが多いが、河北省唐山雹神廟(はくしんびょう)出土の鋳型に刻まれた矛には片耳のものがある。朝鮮半島では紀元前3世紀ごろに、無耳の銅矛と片耳の銅矛の2種が使用されていた。朝鮮の銅矛は中国の系統を引くものであるが、片耳の出現は今後の検討課題である。日本には弥生(やよい)時代前期末ごろ、身が短く鋭利な銅矛が朝鮮から舶載された。日本でも弥生時代中期中ごろ以降、銅矛が生産されたが、銅剣や銅戈(どうか)と同様に、しだいに大形化し、祭器化する。矛身の大きさによって、狭鋒(きょうほう)（細形・中細形）、中広形、広形などの諸型式に分類される。しかし、その変化の方向は定向進化的で、銅剣や銅戈のような多様性がない。これは、銅矛の生産地が北部九州に限定されていることと関係するであろう。

［田村晃一］

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