A Single Lot of Archaeological Material, National Treasure since 1983
Items Excavated from the Inariyama Tumulus, Saitama, Musashi Province (武蔵埼玉稲荷山古墳出土品, Musashi Sakitama Inariyama Kofun Shutsudohin) are Kofun-period archaeological material at the Saitama Prefectural Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds, 4834 Saitama, Gyoda City, Saitama Prefecture, made an Important Cultural Property on 9 June 1981 and designated a National Treasure on 6 June 1983. The owner is the state through the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Only two years separate the two listings. Intervals of forty-three, forty-seven, fifty-two and sixty-six years have been common among the properties covered here. Two is short.
The category is archaeological material. Painting, craft, calligraphy and books, historical material and other have all appeared; this category is new. This is the fifth property here owned by the state.
The Quantity Reads As One Lot
The quantity field carries a form of words not met before.
One lot. No number is given.
Quantities so far have been counted in measure words fitted to the form: scrolls, hanging scrolls, painted surfaces, pairs of screens, bowls, blocks, folded books, volumes, sheets, boxes. The Tetsugen blocks were counted to the single block, 48,275 of them; the Yasaka documents were divided as 89 scrolls, 40 volumes, 1 folded book and 1 sheet.
Here nothing is counted. What came out of the tumulus is treated as one body of material.
The Sanmyakuinki's dimensions field read measurements and the like omitted: something that could be written but was not. One lot works the same way, marking material that could be counted but has not been.
The Same Gold Inlay, the Opposite Standing as Evidence
At the centre of this material is an iron sword with an inscription inlaid in gold.
The katana covered immediately before, with its gold-inlaid attribution to Masamune, also carries an inscription in gold. Their characters are opposite.
On the Masamune sword, the tang had been greatly shortened and the original signature lost, so an appraiser set the name in gold afterwards. It records a judgment.
Here it is otherwise. The Agency writes that the inscription of one hundred and fifteen characters is one of very few contemporary sources from a time when ancient Japanese society was undergoing great change in the fifth century, and may be called the oldest surviving piece of Japanese writing.
A contemporary source. Not added later, but written in its own time. The same technique of inlay stands in exactly opposite relation to the evidence depending on whether it is later work or contemporary.
Oldest Surviving, Stated in the Record
The words of assessment are worth checking here as well.
May be called the oldest surviving piece of Japanese writing. That judgment stands in the Agency's own record.
Where old articles claimed the oldest or the only, the record has often held nothing of the kind. Only three bowls in the world, for the Yohen Tenmoku; surviving only in Japan, for the Meihoki; the oldest copied sutra, for the Vajrabhadrani Sutra. None could be confirmed, and all were dropped.
Not so here. As with the count of surviving copies for the Soranjo, the claim is written into the record itself.
The Agency also calls the inscribed iron sword the finest of all objects excavated from Japanese tumuli. Of its contents it says that they convey the workings of ancient clans and throw further light on the history of the early Japanese state as handed down in the eighth-century chronicles.
The Sword's Inscription Turns the Rest into a Yardstick
Why everything is listed together can be read from the record.
The objects found with the sword are, in their relation to its inscription, valuable material for research into the chronology of Kofun-period remains, and their scholarly value is extremely high.
Objects found with it means whatever came out of the same ground. Some of it is not in itself rare.
But because the sword carries a datable inscription, the date of everything found beside it is fixed too. Chronology here means the ordering of remains by date.
The sword does not hold its value alone. Sword and accompanying finds together become a measure of time, and that is why they are listed as one lot.
The material is at the Saitama Prefectural Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds, owned by the state. The museum's Japanese name calls the mounds a historic site. Display plans can change, so check the museum's information before travelling.
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Q&A
- When was the material designated?
- It became an Important Cultural Property on 9 June 1981 and a National Treasure on 6 June 1983, two years apart. It is at the Saitama Prefectural Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds and owned by the state.
- What does one lot mean?
- That no number is given and everything from the tumulus is treated as one body of material. It works like the Sanmyakuinki's dimensions field, which reads omitted: countable, but not counted.
- What does the sword's inscription say?
- The Agency records an inscription of one hundred and fifteen characters, one of very few contemporary sources from the fifth century, which may be called the oldest surviving piece of Japanese writing and conveys the workings of ancient clans.
- Why is everything listed together?
- Because the objects found with the sword gain value in relation to its inscription. A datable inscription fixes the date of everything found beside it, so sword and finds together serve as a measure of time.
- Is the claim of oldest surviving reliable?
- It stands in the Agency's own record. Similar claims made elsewhere about the Yohen Tenmoku bowl and the Meihoki could not be confirmed and were dropped, but this one is written into the record.
Basic Information
| Name | Items Excavated from the Inariyama Tumulus, Saitama, Musashi Province (武蔵埼玉稲荷山古墳出土品, Musashi Sakitama Inariyama Kofun Shutsudohin) |
|---|---|
| Location | Saitama Prefectural Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds, 4834 Saitama, Gyoda City, Saitama Prefecture |
| Designation | National Treasure (archaeological material) |
| Year Designated | 1981 (9 June), Important Cultural Property; 1983 (6 June), National Treasure |
| Quantity | One lot, with no number given and everything treated together |
| Dimensions | The Agency records no dimensions. The central object, an iron sword inlaid in gold, carries an inscription of 115 characters and is treated as a contemporary source of the 5th century. The period is Kofun |
| Owner | The state, through the Agency for Cultural Affairs |
| Public Access | Held by a museum; display plans can change |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: items excavated from the Inariyama tumulus
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/159795
- Saitama Prefectural Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds
- https://sakitama-muse.spec.ed.jp/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: introduction to fine arts and crafts
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/bijutsu_kogei/
Last verified: 2026.09.05