GOLDEN BELLS TOMB — HIRANO AND TAKIGUCHI 443 



Earrings. — The earrings are of two types : a large variety of copper 

 tubing bent into a loop, and a small variety of copper wire. Both 

 styles are gold plated. The pair of earrings from the coffin, of the 

 larger variety, measure 3.5 centimeters in outside diameter with the 

 tubing 8 millimeters in diameter. The smaller pair measured only 

 2.7 centimeters in outside diameter with the tubing 6 millimeters. 



Gilt-hrome shoes. — In the front part of the chamber a pair of gilt- 

 bronze shoes were found. Although shoes were generally made of 

 leather or wood, metal ones were used for formal occasions. 



Gold hells, threads., and chatelaines. — The tomb was named Khi- 

 reizuka for the beautiful small gold bells found inside the burial 

 chamber. These bells are 8 millimeters in diameter and weigh 1.5 

 grams each, and still ring clearly. Other gold goods included a 

 variety of gold thread which had been woven into a kind of Gobelin 

 tapestry in which the warp threads were presumably silk and the weft 

 made of finely thinned gold coiled around the threads. This gold 

 tapestry, combined with the gold bells and silver ornaments, probably 

 constituted some sort of waistband. The gold thread from Kin- 

 reizuka is thought to have been a trade item introduced from China or 

 Korea and not developed locally in this part of Japan. 



Swords. — Over 20 different sword specimens were found in the 

 tomb, counting fragments too badly corroded to be restored. They 

 can be classified as to type according to the shape of the pommel, 

 for the iron blades of ancient Japanese swords are all straight. 

 Although swords are found in even the poorest of the burial-mound 

 tombs, no other single burial-mound tomb in Japan has produced the 

 quantity of elegant swords found in Kinreizuka. All the sword 

 blades were so corroded that it was impossible to reconstruct the exact 

 length, the fragments of the longest specimens measured 133 centi- 

 meters. Of particular interest are the elaborately modeled birds, 

 dragons, and lions in the ring of the pommel. The pommels are 

 covered with a thin gold plate. The sheaths were usually made of 

 a thin gilt-bronze plate with a design of beads and arabesque with 

 a metal ornament of open arabesque work affixed to the central por- 

 tion of the sheath. It should be mentioned that although most of 

 the metalwork of the swords and sheaths was in gold, some had 

 silver wire coiled around the hilt or, in a few cases, the pommel might 

 be made entirely of silver. 



Two ornamental swords for formal use came from the tomb. These 

 are called Kabutsuchi-tachi, meaning "hammer-shaped." This style 

 of sword, originating in Japan, has a peculiar type of pommel formed 

 like a flattened ball into which a cudgel is inserted and fastened by 

 packing it with hemp cloth and then riveting. The rivet passes 

 through the cudgel and ring and carries a string or cord. The ball 



