22.08.2024
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
In the course of excavations carried out at the Molkenmarkt, archaeologists from the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin unearthed a short sword that was initially believed to be a parade sabre. The artefact was found amidst the backfill of an old 20th-century cellar. During its restoration at the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the sword was identified as a wakizashi, a Japanese short sword dating back to the 17th century.
During excavations at the Molkenmarkt in the Berlin district of Mitte, sections of Stralauer Straße were also archaeologically surveyed by the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. Until the mid-20th century, Stralauer Straße was narrower than modern-day building developments might suggest. At the time, the facades of the buildings extended to what is today the kerb. The destruction wrought by the Second World War and the redevelopment of the southern part of Berlin’s centre in the 1960s to better adapt it for road traffic have left barely any trace of the once high-density area. It therefore comes as no surprise that the cellars of the former residential and commercial buildings remained buried undisturbed beneath today’s road surface, only to come to light during the excavations of winter 2022.
The old cellars were backfilled with rubble left by the war. In several of these, the excavation of the cellar floor revealed a variety of artillery militaria such as snaffles, stirrups, bits and bridles, which had evidently been hastily disposed of during the final throes of the Second World War. A severely corroded sword was found among the rubble in the cellars of the former residential buildings of Stralauer Straße 7–9. When it was first retrieved, the sword was believed to be a military ceremonial sword, which would have been consistent with the other artefacts found in the cellars. Since all archaeological artefacts unearthed in Berlin are conserved and held in trust by the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, the sword was also taken to the museum’s restoration workshop.
Restoring the Sword at the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
The restoration process led to a surprising discovery: the severely corroded sword was found to be a Japanese short sword, a wakizashi, which had been preserved in fragments. One side of the sword’s hilt had been severely damaged due to heat exposure. However, the wood of the grip was still intact, as were sections of the fabric and shagreen wrapping. Once the oxidised one-centimetre-wide sword hilt ferrule had been exposed and restored, the motif of Daikoku was revealed. Daikoku is one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japanese mythology, identifiable by his symbols of the hammer and sack of rice. Furthermore, enamelled ornamentation featuring chrysanthemum and waterline motifs was also revealed on the guard. Judging by the motifs and style, it was possible to date the hilt to the Edo period (17th to 19th century).
The sword was also X-rayed prior to the commencement of restoration work in a bid to locate any potential smith’s mark. Although no such signature was identified, the X-ray images of the sword yielded yet another surprising discovery: they clearly showed that the blade was originally longer and had been shortened; the grip was also likely not part of the original sword and was fitted later. Two holes could be discerned in the tang, which were used to fasten the grip to the sword using two wooden pins. However, the existing grip was only secured using one of these two holes. This would suggest that the shortened sword had a secondary use as a shorter wakizashi. The sword is therefore significantly older than the grip and may even date back to the 16th century.
Matthias Wemhoff, Berlin State Archaeologist and Director of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin:
This discovery is yet another example of the surprising artefacts that are waiting to be unearthed beneath the soil of Berlin. Who could have imagined that such a well-used and ornately decorated weapon would make its way to Berlin at a time when Japan was effectively shut off to the outside world and barely any European travellers visited the country?
At this stage, we can only speculate as to how the wakizashi, a weapon once reserved exclusively for dignitaries, found its way into the backfilled cellar of a residential and commercial building in Berlin. It is possible that the sword was a gift from the First Japanese Embassy to Europe in 1862, or the Iwakura Mission of Japanese statesmen who visited Europe and the broader West eleven years later in a bid to forge relations with and gather impressions of the Western world. The physical proximity of the Molkenmarkt and its neighbouring aristocratic palaces to the Berliner Schloss would support this hypothesis. It was in the Berliner Schloss that Wilhelm I received the Japanese legation of the Takenochi Mission when he was king, and later the legation of the Iwakura Mission as emperor in 1873. However, it has not been possible to connect the sword’s provenance to the biographies of the former owners of the Stralauer Straße building at the Molkenmarkt.
The discovery of this Japanese short sword in the heart of Berlin has revealed yet again what treasures remain hidden beneath the streets of our metropolis and how important it is that all artefacts are subject to a detailed examination in the restoration workshops of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte.