This is the first in a series of posts which, when released, will bring us an in-depth look from the very earliest history – and sword history – of Japan, to the modern day, and how the world of Touken Ranbu fits into this history.

Jomon Period (10,000-300 BCE): 

The earliest people to inhabit Japan lived during a period called the Jomon era, which is believed to have lasted from 10,000 to 300 BCE. They are thought to have immigrated via a land bridge, which connected what are now the Japanese islands, to the mainland of Asia. The name of the era comes from the pottery technique they used, which has been dated back up to 6,000 years ago and has a distinctive rope-like pattern, although other styles of pottery have been found and dated to this period, suggesting there were multiple independent groups living on the islands.

The Chinese writing system was not imported to Japan until the 5th century CE, and so no written records of this time and culture exist.

During the Jomon era, rudimentary tools were used for fishing, hunting, and farming, as far back as 5,000 BCE.

As well as skeletal remains, burial sites of this era have also found both iron knife blades and hand axes. Sadly, to date, no swords have been recovered from this period.

Yayoi Period (400 – 300 BCE)

The people of the Yayoi period and the people of the Jomon era are quite distinct.

The permanent villages they built are found at multiple sites in Northern Honshu and Southern Kyushu.  They had a consistent source of food, because they farmed rice in rice paddies: shallow, water-covered fields.

It is from this era that we first see evidence of swords in Japan.  These were straight and made of bronze, and there are also a number of other bronze items found that date back to the Era, including bronze spearheads, mirrors, and bell-like objects known as otaku. The people of this period possessed iron farming implements, and other tools, that were heavily used. It seems therefore, because bronze is a softer material, that these swords and other items were not used in battle, but instead in religious ceremonies.

Chinese accounts from the 3rd Century CE also offer clues as to the use of these swords. One such account says, “Their weapons are spears, shields, and wooden long bows and bamboo arrows.”  Of interest is the fact that this account does not mention the use of swords in battle, despite the fact that many of the swords found date back much further than this account. As such it is not known to what extent these swords were used, either in battle or as tools.

These primitive, straight swords evolved over time right up to the modern era, where swords are still made using traditional methods which themselves have evolved over time.  These changes came about not only because of the demand for swords to be used in war, but also due to the spiritual needs of society as it grew and changed.  This means that the development of the recognisable Japanese sword is a union of blade and spirit, thus impacting on the very shape of the warrior ideal.

After all, Japan has seen a tremendous history of political turmoil and social upheavals, and so a treatise of the history of the Japanese sword cannot be separated from the study of Japanese history, where advances in technology occurred within metallurgy and were quickly tested on the battlefield.

This need for tools of warfare meant that feedback from the wars was both constant, and immediate.

What followed after the Yayoi Era was the Kofun Era, which saw further change and development of the Japanese sword.