纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 058日本铜镜（2）（在线收听）

"I am a plain old-fashioned mirror from a bygone age, made of good white metal that stays clear without being polished. I am going to discuss serious matters now. Pay close attention, everyone. You should think, as you listen to me, that you are hearing the 'Chronicles of Japan'."

That last quote is from a famous Japanese history called 'The Great Mirror' written around 1100, in which the mirror not only has a voice, but the power to reveal Japan to itself. I hope it's not too fanciful to make the same claim for the mirror in this programme, which was made at about the same time, although - as always with mirrors - we can't necessarily trust what we think we see. And, as we all know only too well, historical truth is a shifting thing, not least because objects are constantly yielding up new knowledge. Our mirror is no exception, it's only in the in the last year that we've found out exactly where it came from, and what that new information tells us about the Japan of eight hundred years ago. The story our mirror can now tell is about lovers and poets, court women and goddesses, priests and emperors.