纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 058日本铜镜（9）（在线收听）

"There was a belief among the Japanese people that in order to be re-born [it depended on] how much good . . . you can do. So it was probably a similar idea, that these exquisitely made and very expensive mirrors... to offer in order to be re-born... to entrust to a Buddhist priest to dedicate to the god, so that they could come back to the world again."

So now we can pretty confidently guess at the entire life story of our mirror. It was made in the sophisticated bronze casting workshops of Kyoto around 1100, to be used in the rarefied world of courtly ritual and display, an indispensable tool for any lady or gentleman to prepare themselves for an aesthetic public appearance. At some point, its owner decided to dispatch it in the care of a priest on a long journey to the northern shrine, and there it was thrown into the sacred pond, still holding within it the likeness of its owner and carrying a message to the other world. What neither owner nor priest could ever have guessed was that it would one day be a message to us. And like the mirror we heard speaking at the beginning of the programme, it tells to a modern audience a chronicle of Old Japan.

In the next programme we move away from the deliberate isolation of Japan, back to the great trade routes. We'll be on the sea lanes around south Asia, from China to India, with, in the middle, the Indonesian island of Java... and one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world, Borobudur.

日本人相信，如果后世还想投胎为人，这一世就得多积德。大概正是基于这种想法，人们才向僧人献上如此贵重精美的镜子以示虔诚；将供品献给神，以期轮回转世。

基于这些信息，我们可以推测镜子的来龙去脉。它于公元一千一百年打造于京都的一家青铜作坊，之后进入高高在上的宫廷，用于仪式与展示活动。对于想要以完美形象示众的贵族男女，它们是不可或缺的道具。某天，它的主人突然决定将它献出，在僧侣的护送下走过漫长的路途，最终到达北方的庙宇。它被扔进圣池中，?带着主人的形象，将信息送往另一个世界。主人和僧侣都不曾想过，它有朝一日会将这些信息传达给我们。这些铜像就像《大镜》一样，向现代观众述说着古日本的故事。