Page:Nihongi by Aston volume 2.djvu/422

Rh 11th day. An Imperial edict was issued, as follows:—"In all cases where persons of no official rank are appointed as District Governors, the chief officials shall receive the rank of Shin-kwō-ni, and the assistants that of Shin-dai-san." there stated that these officials were then appointed for the first time. The so-called first discovery of copper in Japan in this year relates only to a find of native copper in the province of Musashi. This was the occasion of the name Wadō (workable copper, not mere ore) being given to the year-period which began with 708.

The "Nihonshi" contains a notice under the year 698 of copper being presented by the province of Inaba. This is the first historical notice of the production of copper in Japan. It is probable, however, that copper was worked long before this time in a country which is so rich in ores of this metal. The gold-copper images of Buddha referred to in Suiko Tennō's reign,  605, may have been made of Japanese copper, though there is no direct evidence to this effect, and from the frequent mention of copper and other metals among the "tribute" articles brought from Corea, it is evident that imported copper was well known. The Sun-goddess Myth speaks of copper, and there is frequent mention of mirrors and bells which were made chiefly of copper.

I think it is not too much to say that there is no positive evidence whatever in the "Kojiki" or "Nihongi" of the use of bronze in ancient Japan. The Japanese word for bronze, viz. karakane or metal of Kara, indicates that the Japanese first became acquainted with this metal as an importation from Corea. This word does not occur in the "Nihongi," but the term copper may have sometimes included the mixed metal. Besides, the more ancient specimens of bronze found in Japan do not contain lead, which is a characteristic constituent of the karakane introduced from China in later times, so that the absence of this term from the "Nihongi" is not conclusive. It is, nevertheless, curious, when we remember the frequency with which bronze is referred to in Homer, that no specific mention of this metal is to be found in the ancient Japanese records.

The evidence of the use of bronze in Japan, however, is not confined to literature. Mr. W. Gowland has examined a number of bronze swords and other objects dug up chiefly in Kiushiu under circumstances which point to a great antiquity, and he informs me that an actual mould in which they were cast has been discovered in Chikuzen. No iron objects of equal age have been found. Those who are interested in this subject would do well to consult Mr. Gowland's "Art of Casting Bronze in Japan," contributed to the "Journal of the Society of Arts" in May, 1895.

The case for a bronze age in Japan presented by him is a strong one, but how far the existence of the objects which he describes can be explained by the frequent commercial relations of Japan with the continent is a question on which I shall offer no opinion.

See also Anderson's "Glyptic Art" in Introduction to Murray's "Handbook," 2nd ed, p. [109]. et seqq.