More than 2,000 years ago, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, bronze swords flourished, and the art of casting swords was the best in the world. In 1965, Wangshan, Jiangling County, Hubei Province, unearthed the 2,500-year-old Yue Wang Gou Jian sword, which is still intact as new, the blade is sharp, and the beauty of its casting and decoration is breathtaking.
The sword is also called "three feet", because the sword is three feet long, so it is also used as "three feet" instead of the name of the sword. The sword is generally called "three-foot sword", and "seven-foot sword" is a synonym for the ancient long sword. The sword is roughly composed of three parts: the sword body, including the tip, the blade, the end of the sword, the spine, the blade, and the blood groove; the hilt, including the sword grid, the sword head, the sword sheath and the sword spike; and the swallow, that is, the hand guard.
Due to the single function of the sword, its special status was determined. The cost of materials and forgers required to forge a sword often far exceeds that of other weapons. Therefore, the sword is not easily obtained by ordinary people, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the sword is a "noble" weapon. Because of this, the sword became a representation of status. In Chinese history, the early swords were limited to the class of scholars and doctors above, which can be found in the Zhou Li. "The sword is in the person, the sword is dead", the sword is not only a symbol of status, but more importantly, it is also the embodiment of the spirit and spirit of the swordsman - the symmetrical shape of the left and right, the long and straight sword, with the virtue of impartiality, fortitude and integrity, is the symbol of the gentleman and the weapon of the chivalrous, but also the protector of the righteous and chivalrous spirit, which is beyond the level of the user.
The Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword is famous for the allusion of "lying down and tasting the guts", and the "Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword" treasured in the Hubei Provincial Museum shows people the superb skills of the Wu Yue Bronze Sword.
Yue Wang Gou Jian sword length 55 .6cm, sword pavilion width 5 cm, the sword body is full of black diamond pattern, the front of the near inscription "Yue Wang Dove Shallow (Gou Jian) Zi Cha (Zuo) with a chain (sword)" eight characters, the font is a seal book decorated with bird shape, that is, the so-called bird seal, also known as bird book, bird worm book. The front of the sword grid casts the animal face pattern, inlaid with blue glass, and the blue glass beads set by the animal eyes are commonly known as "dragonfly eye glass", which is one of the earliest glass objects in China, which is said to be transmitted from the West and was extremely rare at that time. The back of the sword grid is cast with a cloud pattern and inlaid with turquoise. The disc-shaped sword head is cast with a circle pattern at the bottom, which is the most exquisitely cast, the most decorated and the best preserved Chinese bronze sword found so far.
It is often seen from newspapers and television that someone has successfully copied the Yue Wang's sword, and experts assess how much similarity there is. Whenever this happens, there is always a sigh in their hearts, if they can have the opportunity to witness the style of this king's sword, they will feel ashamed of their ignorance. The author had the privilege of having close contact with the sword, and had the privilege of consulting with the excavator of the sword, Teacher Tan Weisi (former director of the Hubei Provincial Museum), about the details of the sword casting process (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Group photo of the author with Mr. Tan Weisi
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
From a close look, the sword consists of 5 parts: 1. sword body; 2. sword grid; 3. two hoop rings; 4. sword handle; 5. sword head.
Reason for decision:
1. The difference between the oxidation color of the sword body and the sword grid indicates that the alloy ratio of the two parts is different (see Figure 2).
2. There is a clear pin position in the sword grid inlay glass, which is exactly the same as the processing traces we see in the mechanical assembly, and it also shows that there may be iron tools and drilling tools at that time, this pin hole is used in the assembly after the parts are processed, this assembly method must be equipped with drilling, this process has an example in the sword production (see Figure 3).
3. The hoop ring on the hilt of the sword should be fitted with a red sleeve technique, because there is no conforming line (sub-mold line) in the binding position between it and the hilt.
4. The circle at the center of the sword head is riveted, the recessed part may also have glued spherical ornaments, in the ancient Yue descendants of the Zhuang people have 11 as the most respected number, then these 11 concentric circles may also be the same as the decoration on the Guangxi copper drum, and the early sun worship is related, as for the rope pattern at the interval of the concentric circle, it should be the vibrating knife pattern during lathe processing (see Figure 4). The ratio of multi-alloys does not have absolute controllability, so the gate position and the placement of the casting mold will affect the metal proportion of each part of the entire casting, and the most direct way for the craftsman to fix the general state with experience is to quench. Therefore, the place where the sword is cast must be close to the natural cooling place such as the deep pool, and after the model is injected with copper liquid, the whole is put into cold water for quenching to ensure that the sword body does not deform and warp after cooling. Because loose sand holes can be seen in the middle of the sword, it means that this is the injection gate (see Figure 5).
The author was entrusted by the Hubei Provincial Museum to personally grind more than 30 imitation Yue Wang Gou jian swords (see figure 6), of which only 6 were relatively hard, but each one could easily cut more than 20 layers of paper after opening (see figure 7), which shows that the sharpness of the sword has nothing to do with the alloy ratio and hardness, but is related to the grinding method of the sword.