The Sword of Heaven is
now on permanent public display for the first time at the Chiba Institute of
Technology at the Tokyo Skytree tower. It sits alongside a piece of the Gibeon
meteorite.
"It is thought
that the first human encounters with iron were with iron meteorites, and the
Sword of Heaven truly symbolizes the relationship between human technology and
space," the Chiba Institute notes.
The sword joins a
select group of modern weapons made from meteorites. The material isn't cheap.
Master swordsmith Tony Swatton from the online series "Man at Arms"
forged an "Avatar: The Last Airbender" replica sword by mixing a $1,652
chunk of meteorite with steel to create the blade.
Sword of Heaven
The lovely katana blade
has a beyond-Earth origin.
Chiba Institute of
Technology
There are some famous
space-related weapons in the world of fiction, including lightsabers and
Sokka's meteorite sword from the animated television series "Avatar: The
Last Airbender." Now there's a real sword that could give Thor's hammer
Mjölnir some competition when it comes to space cred.
Tentetsutou
("Sword of Heaven") is a katana created by Japanese master swordsmith
Yoshindo Yoshiwara. Any well-crafted katana, or traditional Japanese sword, is
a blade of beauty, but the Sword of Heaven is extraordinary due to its materials.
The blade is forged from a fragment of the massive Gibeon iron meteorite that
landed in Namibia in prehistoric times. The meteorite is estimated to have
formed around 4 billion years ago.
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