ABSTRACT
The sword, along with the spear, has played an important role in the Japanese consciousness since ancient times. Swords of bronze existed together with those of stone as early as the Yayoi culture, which was brought into Japan by as yet unidentifiable immigrants and which displaced the 'original' Japanese Stone Age culture of the Jdmon Period. In 688, the third year of the rule of Jito Tenno, Takata no Obito Iwanari was honoured for his achievements in the san hyo, the three disciplines of battle: archery, swordsmanship, and spearsmanship. Confucianism was able to gain a new and strong influence over the ethos of the warrior class by way of the Zen monasteries, especially those of the Gozan, the five mountains in Kamakura and Kyoto, which became the guardians of education in the Chinese tradition. Zen Buddhism directly related the correct practice of swordsmanship to exercises for attaining enlightenment and to the desired and sought-after condition of selflessness.
