Bronze Ring Weight Discovered in Japan

RITTO, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that a bronze ring discovered in a dry riverbed in the south-central region of Japan’s main island of Honshu has been identified as a balance scale weight dating to the late second century A.D. by Ryo Wauchi of Fukuoka University. Similar objects have previously been unearthed in tombs in China and Korea. The weight measures about five inches across, weighs about three ounces, and is flat on one side, making it easy to stack with other rings, Wauchi explained. The ring may have been brought to Japan from China or Korea to measure raw materials for bronzeware or to weigh vermilion, a valuable brilliant red pigment. Bronze mirrors imported from China have also been found in the region, according to Tomoyuki Nakao of the Museum of Yayoi Culture of the Osaka prefectural government. “It appears the ring weight was brought in as part of those interactions,” Nakao said. For more, go to “Japan’s Early Anglers.”