天理参考館蔵イラン出土黄金装鉄剣について -ササン朝剣装具と本邦刀装具の関聯-

Abstract

In the collection of the Tenri Sankôkan Museum, there is a long gold fitted sword (Photo I) and a set of gold fitted decorations for a smaller sword (Photo II).The sword of this type has begun brought in sight recently from Northern Persia, but few in number. The three specimens which Prof. R. Ghirshman introduced in the Artibus Aside Vol. XXVI, 1963) and the beautiful one in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York are especially famous.The handle and scabbard of these swords have distinctive features as follows; (1) the handle has projections for tight holding, (2) no guard or, if there is, very small, (3) there are two wide bands to reinforce the scabbard, one of the two is fitted at the mouth of the scabbard, (4) each band has a golden fish-shaped knot for suspension, (5) the width of the scabbard is neary the same from the tip to the end, (6) the side views of the tip of the handle and the end of the scabbard are the same “{” shape, (7) the basic pattern of the decoration is somewhat like squamation.The sword of this type is sometimes found on silver dishes in the period from the later half of Sasanian Dynasty to the early Islamic Age in Persia. It was drawn on the wall painting in the districts along the Silk Road. Also it is reported that there have been found many stone-statues which have the sword of this type in Altai, Mongolia and Western China. However, they are all newer than some of the Persian silver dishes. So I presume that this type of sword might have been completed in Northern Persia and its surroundings during the later Sasanian Dynasty.In Japan, the same sort of sword has been used si nce the 8th century. Among them, the most famous sword is the one of the Shôsôin Treasures. This sword has the same distinctive features as the above mentioned except in items (5) and (7). Even now, in Japan, a sword of this type is frequently used for ritual purpose. They are brilliant souvenirs showing the introduction of Persian civilization to our country. In addition, I would like to state that it is wrong to support the opinion that the pattern of squamation of the sword expresses the feathers of holy birds.It is clear that in Western Asia, there has long been a tradition to depict bush or trees by swarms of little arcs. And later this method of describing plants seems to be combined with the method of drawing the gathering of parmette. With this assumption, I presume that these patterns of squamation on these swords have similar characteristics as of the fringe of the arch of Taller Grotto, Taq-i-Bustan and so on. This pattern of decoration was transmitted to European countries and, because of its nobleness, was to be used as the decoration of the arches of church entrance and the edgings of church windows etc., I presume.