Tsurugi (sword)

The tsurugi, or ken, is a Japanese straight, double-edged sword used in antiquity, distinct from later curved, single-edged swords such as the katana. Bronze tsurugi appeared around 200 BCE during the Yayoi period, while iron tsurugi were forged from the fifth-century Kofun period through the ninth-century Heian period. Early bronze tsurugi were used mainly in religious ceremonies, and after the tenth century the tsurugi disappeared as a functional weapon, surviving only as ritual offerings to shrines and Buddhist temples.