Lead isotope analysis was carried out on two copper artifacts recently unearthed in Japan. One is a copper epitaph of Yasumaro Ohno, famous biographer in the Nara Period, dated 723 AD, and the other a copper Buddha image from the Asuka Period (latter half of the 7th century AD), excavated at the site of Musashi-Kokubun-ji temple, Tokyo. Lead isotope ratios of objects indicated Japanese origin of the metal ores. These materials seem to date from the earliest stage of mining and metallurgy in Japan. The results of the x-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption and neutron activation analyses for the Buddha image are: copper 88.8 ± 2.6, tin 0.34 ± 0.01, lead 0.096 ± 0.003, arsenic 0.99 ± 0.07, antimony 0.058 ± 0.004, and gold 0.0097 ± 0.0007%.