Taiwanese here (Traditional Chinese is our native language.) Dao = 刀 = single edged blade/knife/sword You see, almost everything that's single edged and sharp (and NOT serrated) are considered as a ''dao''. for example: a kitchen knife is called 廚(kitchen) 刀(dao) a machete is called 山(mountain) 刀(dao) a saber is called 軍(military) 刀(dao) a Katana is called 武士(Samurai) 刀(Dao) or sometimes 日本(Japan/Japanese) 刀(dao) a curved sword is called 彎(curved) 刀(dao) a folding knife is called 折疊(folding) 刀(dao) and any knife that's about as long as a kitchen knife or fighting knife are mosly called 小(small) 刀(dao) by the general public, even today. Double edged swords however, are always called ''Jian'' (劍) for example a longsword is called 長(long) 劍(jian)
anything serrated would be a saw or ju(鋸) but a double edged short sword or a dagger is called bi-shou(匕首), where bi(匕) was originally a bladed digging tool and shou(首) means head, so I imagine someone at some point took the head off of a spade, flattened it, and called it a new weapon.
Interestingly enough 刀 (dao) when spoken in Japanese is actually pronounced "katana". In Chinese we'll call it 武士刀 (wu si dao), where the term 武士 (wusi) basically means "warrior". To be honest, the term 刀 is pretty imprecise, especially when you get into martial arts. Depending on how you modify it, it can mean a variety of things. 偃月刀 or 關刀 is a glaive, for example. On the other hand, 刮鬍刀, is a shaving razor.
Hey Mat. Thanks for covering my favorite sword of all time. I did Chinese martial arts for several years before I had to move and have never found something to replace it since, and the Dao was always my weapon of choice, so it brings back great memories. On a side note, Daos are generally meant to be front heavy, even good quality ones, and the style with which they are used (at least in the style I studied) a lot like European sabers except that you do your best to not let the weapon stop moving until the fight's over one way or another. This limits your ability to defend, and forces you to favor a highly aggressive tactic, but it's brutally simple to do and doesn't take much thought to pull off.
This is a standard issue military "liuyedao" that was carried by the Green Standard Army. Indeed, at the time of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. They represent the last stage of development of the traditional Chinese military saber. Soon, all were replaced with European style sabers. They are heavy, clunky things, compared to the better ones made up until at least the 1860's. Those are around 1000 grams and with a lot more distal taper, resulting in much better handling characteristics. Standards slipped hard by the end of the dynasty.
It reminds me somewhat of one of my super crude, (French) revolutionary era briquet: the same slight curve, same crude construction, same beefy heavy blade, same "wedge section", etc... One thing to notice is that an army of levee is an army of peasants, people used to chop down trees, dig the soil, mow, carry burdens and all other sort of very physical tasks all day long. Not only do they have the muscular power and stamina to wield such weapons, but they even are mentally accustomed to handle heavy tools, that's what is natural to them. Giving them a "flimsy" weapon would make them uncomfortable, they would feel they hold nothing and can't properly hit with. Another thing to consider is that no soldier likes to carry too much gear, it makes marching (which is the number one activity of any soldier) much more difficult, as it's already a very unpleasant duty. Yet you need tools to built the camp (at least clean the site where you'll set your tent/bivouac), chop firewood, and other everyday life tasks. And that's where this kind of heavy design may come play a role. In a book from 1817 by the comte de la Roche-Aymon, he tells that the light cavalry soldiers he was commanding were using their saber to chop wood because they didn't carry an axe, and of course the officer strongly advise against this. But it isn't a problem anymore if the saber itself is beefy and designed for heavy use. Still not as good as an axe, but better than nothing for combat. Still not as good as a proper saber, but better at doing everyday tasks than one, and lighter to carry than a saber AND an axe. One needs to remember that what are now machetes evolved from dussacks, hangers and cutlass carried by European sailors, which were actually used as tool ashore. The three very narrow fullers we often see on machetes is the vestige of that origin. Cutlass and hangers themselves were often designed to be half tool, half weapon. And this Dao seems to be of the same kind, actually more tool than weapon.
I've never managed to take a good picture of them. I'm really not good at taking pictures. The one I'm talking about is the bottom one on this picture: www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=79617520160210165331.jpg which is also the top one on this picture: www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=59028720160210165140.jpg The grip is crudely filed to shape, the blade still bears grinding or filing marks, the blade is slightly longer, wider and thicker than all other versions, and significantly stiffer. It really looks like a makeshift production. The blade is surprisingly hard though, I tested it at around 53-55 HRC, which is quite much for such a blade (one would rather expect something in the 45-48HRC range). It's not very heavy, after all it's still just a briquet, but it's got quite some authority for chopping. On the other hand, the most curved saber, with a nice broad blade with hollow side, light cavalry style, is a definite purpose-designed weapon. The regulation pattern (or what most closely resembles) is the second from top on first picture, bottom one on second picture, and the only thing I can say it it's quite plain. It's ok as a short saber, it's sort of okay to clear a path through dense vegetation, it's okay at cutting small branches, it's awful at chopping large logs (vibrations coming back to the hand). I used it for all these tasks, to see what it was worth. As a tool, I'd still pick a good billhook any day over a briquet, but it's some sort of cross-bred of a "grown up" saber and a machete.
I have CS's billhook - considering putting that one through use, though someone suggested that I replace the screws with a nail/pin. I'm also leary about scratching that nice flat black finish! Those are some handsome looking briquets; one day I'll get my hands on an original. I seem to have a thing for "crappier" 18th/19th century weapons, I note - while I like the nice things like "real" swords, I never the less am visually/conceptually fond of spadroons, briquets, and even those "gladius" type artillery swords. They're just neat.
Just a note about hand protection in Chinese swords, cross guards did exist, but they were usually reserved for the double edge jian. We see some cross guards in a similar fashion to the European ones in Song and Ming paintings, and they were usually smaller. Disc guards were usually reserved for the dao.
The one you got there is called a dan dao 單刀(single dao) it means it is designed to be a one handed weapon. There is a saying in mandarin 單刀看手(watch the hand of a dan dao user) which means if you're trying to determine whether a guy using a dan dao is a good martial artist or not, you should look at his free hand. Martial artists using dan dao have to master the usage of his/her free hand because they need to use it on many different tasks such as balancing the body, making the strikes more powerful( without holding the dao with both hands) perform close quarter strikes when gotten too close to the enemy and so on. The type you got there is very common. You can see similar ones in almost every kongfu movies. There is not a unified standard of the appearance of dan dao sometimes even in the army. And about the guard, I believe the answer is simply because the Chinese never invented a cross guard. We as modern people can compare weapons from all over the world and it would seem strange to us that why didn't some culture use some simple solution to a certain problem. I do believe the reason why the Chinese doesn't have cross guard is simply because no Chines sword smiths have invented one. Than about the other east asian races, almost all of them were heavily influenced by China, the Japanese and Korean weapons design both originally came from China. As for the Mongols, what I as a Chinese have been asked about many times as why we considers them as a Chinese dynasty is because the Mongols wanted to be Chinese. They literally conquered the Chinese and adopted the Chinese culture and bureaucracy. And the bowl shape of the guard from what I've been told by may master is to contain the blood so that it wouldn't wet your hand. Also now that I think about it, if you would put a cross guard on a dao it would seriously mess with a lot of kongfu moves when trying to use the dao.
Hello Matt, another reason for the turned up lip on the guard is to protect the weapon while in the scabbard from weather for as you say its in the scabbard for a large portion of its life while being worn. Good video again as always.
That is quite what I was going to say, back to materials and context. You can cast that piece out of bronze or iron rather than forged steel as a cheaper and quicker alternative. Having a lip gives more directional stability making a lesser material almost as robust as steel. Calipers! please measure new swords for us.
A nice sentiment, but I think there are other antique Chinese swords that are far better quality than this one. try mandarinmansion.com Peter Dekker runs the site, and his stuff is definitely worth a look.
These kind of Dao are usually used by guards(there's a rank for imperial guards that is literally called "the imperial guard armed with Dao".) soldiers and even bandits and gansters,cause it's generally cheap,easy to make,and it won't take too much training for you to be able to use it,but it's heavy,it's big,so if you want to be a skilled one with this weapon,then you need to be strong and you need to be a man of endurance.
I'd like a video on the Sword of Goujian. That thing is a beauty for something over 2500 years old, and it's a minor miracle we still have it in such a state.
The meaning of Chinese word Dao (刀) can be best sum up as "every sharp implement that's single-edged, EXCEPT AXE AND SAW". Everything from shaving razor, nail cutter, letter opener, meat cleaver, scalpel, dagger, throwing knife, sabre, and full-sized polearm can be called dao. Western sabre, cutlass, falchion, dussack and messer are generally translated to Dao in Chinese as well, So are Japanese katana, Indian tulwar, Middle Eastern kilij, Nepalese kukri and kora, Parang, machete and many other single-edged weapons.
Excellent video, as always. Hmmm, perhaps a future video series: "edged weapons of the Boxer Rebellion", featuring swords/bayonets used by all forces involved...
fantastic. I am a huge fan of the falchion and Da Dao. (I am known as a "chopper" in my group of enthusiasts) That was very well thought out and presented. I tend to use a heavy ended Da Dao or a khukuri with a small shield (which I know isn't historically accurate as far as I can tell), but it suits me well. in any case, I liked this video very much.
The Dao blade you have there reminds me of a longer version of the Cutlass I used for parade when I was a kid in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets back in the late 70's early 80's. It was most certainly an antique at that time and I am not at all certain it was a proper Cutlass or not but that was what we called them.
That's a yanmao dao (goose feather saber). It was the standard blade of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It's characterized by a blade that's straight from the grip most of the way to the tip, then the edge begins to turn up. This is a power sword for cutting armor. It can't be handled like a light cavalry saber. Artistically, I prefer the Liuye dao (willow leaf saber). It's curved the whole length which I think looks more graceful. It's based on the standard Turko-Mongol saber of Central Asia and East Europe.
Another possible reason for the turned up edge on the guard is for mechanical reinforcement. The lip would greatly increase the moment of inertia on the disc, and make it much harder to bend.
+Johan Jartelius Based on the context of that quote, I believe he was specifically referring to the absolute best examples of katanas, not standard ones.
This is as different from katana as it gets: Thicker blade by, the edge is considerably thinner in length and less sharp and the blade is heavier meaning it's somewhat effect against heavy armor. You can bash with this, but not a katana.
rinflame44 Linguistically I think yes, but historically, wasn't the Messer as far as weapons went more specific, traditionally used for a single handed single edged weapon? Though a Dao is single edged, it could be applied to a single handed, two handed, or even pole arm in some cases. Though Dao is on its own a word, it is more equivalent to a syllable in English, only being half of the full naming of the object, and then shortened back to just Dao, if that makes sense? I'm only HSK1 so certainly not an expert but that's the way I understand it.
I mean a Messer is basically a falchion/scimitar/broadsword looking monstrosity on a keyword: Knife (Messer) hilt. This dao, whilst dao might mean knife for all I know, doesn't have a knife hilt. Well, not a knife hilt in terms of Messer-knife (You might make a knife with this hilt for all I care, still not the point).
Oliver 'Ava' Meyer Lol good point. yes if you look at a Chinese vegetable or meat cleaver or other Chinese chopping knife, they are all exactly the same as this Dao (minus the guard obviously, and the end cap only appears on the more expensive knives: often the wooden handle simply has an oversized pin or split pin instead of a proper cap, but otherwise…) but you are right that in this way definitely not a European messer style handle. www.knifeplanet.net/what-is-the-best-chinese-cleaver/
As a Kung fu practitioner.... I believe it’s to help keep water out of the scabbard... and that type of dao was typically used with the second hand bracing the sword wrist
Have to love someone that has it so ingrained their minds that anything bladed weapon over a certain blade length is a sword. He hints on it, but can't accept it. A Chinese "sword" is sharpened on both sides. Just like a cooking "knife", A Chinese "Knife" has blade on one side. You could also call it a sabre as sabres have a blade on one side - unlike a sword ... so we can really even see the terminology used in the Europe, but some get stuck and want to call all bladed weapons a "sword". "Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre" as it were. I'm assuming that it is pointed out at some point on this channel that the straighter the blade, the more likely it is to be used on foot, and. the more curved a blade is, the more likely it was designed to use on horseback/camelback. This is especially true of thrusting blades versus hacking blades. With the thrusting blades for horseback/camelback use tending to the tip of the blade sharpened on both sides. Think of what happens if a rider impales someone that they are charging at. What path does a straight blade take when coming through an impaled body on a ride-by? What path would a curved blade make in the same situation. What motion must your hand, wrist, and arm go through when removing the blade from the target? Some of the same angles apply when making slashing attacks from horseback/camelback.
Just looking at the guard design it seems to me the turned up edge could have possibly helped to keep water from getting down into the scabbard if it was raining? Almost like the "rain guards" (No idea if that's the proper term) you'd see on the guards of some European swords.
Only some blades come with a guard with turned up edge. Seems many do not consider stopping blood flow that way. Europeans have seen blood flow and splash; but European swords hardly have turned up guard. For Japanese swords, they even pierced the guard. That would be hard to stop blood flow through the holes(and many of them).
Thank you, Matt, for making this video!!! You actually helped me identify a Chinese Dao in the weapons collection at one of the local historcial museums here in Hässleholm, Sweden were I help out! It is exactly the same type of Dao as you present here in your video but it lacks the wrapping on the handle. And just as yours the disc guard is a bit loose yet otherwise a big, sturdy and unwieldy weapon. So thank you again for making this video! :)
I have one of these and I'm currently training to use it. It was the first Christmas gift from my girlfriend. I named it the Mandarin for "Heaven's Gift." (Because that's what she is to me.)
In Brazil, Kung Fu people sometimes refer to the Dao as "facão chinês", meaning "big chinese knife". Outside the eastern martial arts context, the word "facão" is used for machetes in general.
I think it might be possible that the different balance point just calls for a different technique to manipulate. Possibly using the idea of circles within circles, in a manner of speaking. About the Japanese WW2 shin gunto blades: It's my understanding that a fair number of them were made with steel obtained from looting Manchuria's railways. They were tested and deemed of acceptable quality to manufacture swords from. During that time, the military blades were pretty much sourced from families, traditional manufacturing, and large factories.
Consider jian has fallen out of use in the military for the most part since circa 220 CE aka the Three Kingdoms period, it would be very difficult to find a good historical example for demonstration.
It really wasn't a popular civilian weapon. When jian fell out of use, it became a symbolic items for wealthier people and high ranking officers as an insignia. Furthermore, the imperial governments didn't want ordinary peasants to hold weapons, so the go-to weapon for the peasantry is not the sabre like dao or jian, but a machete shape blade fixed on a shaft called pu dao. When the peasantry got called up for war, they would be issued with all kinds of dao mostly, even though some paintings do depict lower ranking soldiers hold jians. 《武備志》, a treatise and encyclopedia about Ming military written at the end of the dynasty states that jian fencing method was lost in China and recorded jian methods from Korea instead.
Chinese knife :绣春刀、唐刀、苗刀、仪刀、横刀、朴刀、陌刀、障刀、环首刀、九环刀、斩马刀、蜀刀、戒刀、服刀、柳叶刀、佩刀、破风刀、雁翎刀…hundreds of species。The knives of the Japanese samurai are the imitation of the唐刀（ Tang Dao） 。
Dao is often used in street fight or duel in China that generally do not need a shield. However, what you say is definitely right because in war no body will simply uses Dao. Rather, they will uses shield in combination with it or use spear over Dao.
Considering the length of the blade, and its weight, you told. I believe it was a cavaly sword. The turn up lip of the disc guard is design to be wore comfortably on hourse back.
lol i know they are traditionally were called sabers but then yo mentioned it. but then was going to ask about falchion and you covered it! Matt you're the man! keep in mind in literature jians(?) were sword for gentlemen. Dadao were the opposite end. Cutlass cleaver types. lol like you just mentioned...
Dao (刀) is just a single-edged blade. Doesn't matter how long it is. So that includes kitchen knives, shaving blades, and even polearms (search for "guandao").
Mike loades once talked about a sword that had a similar hilt/hand guard design. He mentioned that is suspected that it's more to protect from rain getting into the sheath.
I am no expert in this, but this is what I have been told: The weapon show in the video is a dao (刀). It *can* be used for thrusting, but it is primary designed for cutting/chopping, hence the heavier weight, and the top heavy balance. A sword (劍) on the other hand is designed for thrusting, and hence are usually make longer, thinner and lighter. Also another way to look at it is that sword is usually double edged. Chinese foot solder usually carry the dao as a secondary weapon, where high rank officer may carry a sword.
The disk guars with a lip facing upwards is there to collect blood during battles and slow its movement down onto the handle of the sword, which if the case would make the handle extremely slippery and the sword out of control. Its related to the fighting techniques which are different with this sword to e.g. katana which has a flat disk.
A guy who is a practitioner of the martial arts using Miao Dao (I don't know its name) commissioned a large 9kg Miao Dao from JKOO. Extremely thick and extremely wide. Interestingly enough, they accepted his request (they were the only company who accepted it). After making 4 failed blades, the 5th blade turned out very good (he asked for a folded blade). They also made a very wide and thick handle (as he requested). The guy did not want it to be used for practice. He just wanted it for muscle training. And JKOO saw his request as an opportunity to test their own skills. It was very challenging for them. (Out of 30 or more swordmaking companies, they were the only ones who said yes.)
On your note about the turned lip of the guard, I think (coming from a background of metal working) it was probably used to make the guard itself stronger. I know that not all disc guards had turned lips, but I've noticed on images of other Dao that the ones with turned lips tended to have much thinner metal that would be much to flexible. The turned lip would stiffen it like the turned and rolled edges you find on filling cabinet draw fronts.
About the shape of the guard, it may be a way to make it more sturdy while keeping the weight down. If it was a plane thin disk it would easily bend if it was hit by a blade. With a perpendicular lip circling all the guard it would get a lot more shock resistant without having to make it thicker and heavier.
The word 刀(dāo [first tone]) actually is an umbrella term any tool with an an edge that is used for cutting. A knife would be called 小刀 (xiǎo dāo) or 刀子(dāo zi). My thoughts on the turned-up lip disk shaped hand guard was probably to redirect the blood running the word so the grip doesn't get slippery, or it simply wraps over the throat of scabbard while the sword is sheathed, granting more protection against the elements, especially rain/water damage. Anyways, great video and very good contents. I could watch your videos all day :)
From pre-history up until the Sui dynasty (ending in the 600s), daos tended to have mostly straight backs and egdes, perhaps a slightly bit of flaring. Either way they tended to feature somewhat geometric designs with mostly straight lines all around (probably to save cost and to make specs clear to relatively low skilled smiths), and favored the cut. They were heavy, durable, cheap, easy to make and use, and thus great to be issued en-mass to large armies as a sidearms and/or with a shield if possible. Chinese armies made heavy use of large scutum-like shields. In the Song dynasty and then Tang Dynasty era, this trend continued but also saw introduced the chang (meaning "long") dao, which as the name implies is a long two-handed dao, and it had a slightly or very curved blade. There was a variant, the zhanma (simply meaning "horse fighting") dao. The horse-fighting dao's name seems to imply a specialist weapon but my historical hypothesis is that despite their name and their crazy long length they were actually still a sidearm, the historical drawings in manuals I've seen of any soldiers using a dao like this tend to feature that soldier also wearing a crossbow or something on his back. If you wanted a specialist melee weapon for fighting horses you'd just use a spear or polearm/glaive sort of thing. During this era you also had higher quality daos of all existing kinds pop up in addition to the mass issue ones. The early japanese katana was based on Tang era chinese daos both visually and metallurgically, and then evolved independently from there. The Yuan Dynasty was set up by the mongolians and they brought over a slew of steppe style swords. Before this point, while chinese rank and file soldiers often had mass produced dao, the officers had the double edged straight jian. But from this point on, throughout the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, chinese officers also started using dao that were refined by hybridization with steppe style sabers. The liuye ("willow leaf") dao and the yanmao ("goose feather") dao were both such weapons, 1 handed side arms used with refined technique instead of just mass issue weapons for conscripts to hack away with. They have their differences but they mostly have relatively shallow curves with a decent cut-and-thrust balance, making them handle similarly to jian. The liuye dao also had a tapered point, making it even better for the thrust, and also making it look particularly elegant and in my opinion is the most sleek and cool looking of all the daos. In this era, the chang dao type had mostly fallen out of use but was breathed new life by japanese pirates who carried no-dachi katanas, which inspired some chinese armies to re-adapt the chang dao. The heavily flared cleaver-falchion like daos seen a lot in pop-culture originated in these eras as a civilian weapon, but was never issued in the military. Matt's sword comes from the end of the Qing dynasty. Visually it looks sort of like a large heavy yanmao dao, but functionally it clearly hearkens back to the older mass issue sort of dao. After this era, in china's turbulent 20th century, chinese armies facing a desperate fight and lacking proper firearms were issued miao ("sprout") dao and da ("large") dao. Both are long two handed weapons. the miao dao was non-flared and had a shallowly curved saber like bladed, the da dao had a big cleaver like falchion blade. The miao dao is probably a resurrection of the changdao, and the dadao an enlarged version of earlier flared falchion like daos. These two weapons, the Da dao and the Miao dao, especially the distinctive shaped Da dao, especially are potent symbols of chinese die-hard bravery and resistance against the japanese invaders, occupiers, and mass murderers. There's a patriotic song from this era called the "Da dao march", go look it up, one of it's lines translates to "cut off the [japanese] devil's head off with the da dao!".
well, in oriental blades is sword with both edges sharped, and blade is one edge sharped. so a katana is a dao, saber is a dao. so Tanto is 短刀 in traditional Han's words (where Tan is means broken or understand as a foot long and to mean single short blade). Where in westerner thinks tanto is the name of the short sword. any sword with a foot long is a tanto. Han's word is like Roman latin in oriental countries. Chinese says dao, Japanese says -To, -na, .. is same in Han's word 刀.
Hi, Matt. Coming to this discussion awfully late, but what can one do? I have a dao that is almost precisely what you have here, though mine is almost 4 pounds in weight. I've done a lot of research on this and would like to share what I have found: The greatest probability is that we both have a "Bazaar Sword", a sword like object that was mass produced in the late 1800s until after the Boxer Rebellion to sell to tourists. I have owned mine since the mid 1980s and have always meant to have the steel tested for hardness, etc, but have never quite gotten around to it. Anyhow, this is most probably not a weapon, but a souvenir. Still an interesting piece of history and an antique, but ...
I'm thinking rain guard in terms of that disc. Parts of China are extremely wet and the lip ensures water will drip off it rather than running down into the scabbard, a bit like the langets on a tulwar will, or drip rings on a paddle.
I live in Canada, and I am Chinese. I started with sword doing sport fencing before I got into HEMA style stuff. I've worked with some Eastern style of weapons, and honestly, I'd take a sabre over most swords :P
On modern Wushu we have a weapon called Nandao. It has a straight, broad, single-edged blade, has a very specific S-shaped guard, with one end going towards the blade and the other back to your hand, and the grip has the large ring at the end, like you mentioned. Now, I've never seen any images from historical sources of that particular model. Does anyone know if it may actually have existed, or if it's just another modern creation? I also think that if it were to be made a real version, it would be too heavy and cumbersome to use properly.
wow - the one I am making is for a woman, and it is supposed to be 850g at the end. It is much less wide, and likely less thick than the one you have, plus that guar weighs a ton, too. The balance point is suppose to be between 4 and 5 inches from the guard. You have a village blacksmith sword, not an Imperial Workshop sword, for sure.
The blade looks pretty much identical to Boxer Rebellion swords that I have seen but most of those have a grip that is canted forward like some European sabres have. The guard and "cheap" looking ball pomel all fit the bill of Boxer Rebellion. It could also be Taiping Rebellion but I have never personally seen any swords from then other than jian. I know that they were using all kinds of blades during that war because imperial troops came from all over the place and the rebels were using everything they could get there hands on once the war started turning against them.
About the turned lip on the guard: it might be there to prevent rain from going into the scabbard. I see no washer on the sword and considering the width of the tip and the mass production-type quality, it might have been a good way of preventing droplets from going in.
A student of mandarin right here; dà in mandarin is “big” and dao does translate to knife, so it could maybe be assumed that it just means big knife, similar to grosse messer meaning big knife right. I would think that everytime you talk about a dao as a sword you would always do it as dàdao. Idk thats my lil train of thought
I've a lot of experience with many variations of the dao. From the different historical images and manuscripts, it appears the cup shape of the guard may be some what of a rain guard, similar to older rain guards western swords that were made from leather. I personally haven't seen that directly written, but it makes sense and other more knowledgeable people on chinese blades have said this.
Hi Matt, Great video as always. A couple of clarifications, the Boxer Rebellion was not fought formally by the chinese military, Li Honzhang, Viceroy of Liangguang, former Beiyang minister, one of the finest political leaders and industrial and military reformers of the time, ordered by telegraph all troops to stand by and not engage western forces (unless they were attacked), claiming that the war declaration made by the empress was forced by rebels and reactionaries. So, the main fighting personal against foreign powers were the rebels, tens of thousands fanatical and poorly armed reactionaries supported by some imperial modernised troops led by the Prince Tuan/Duan, who support the rebellion with his own troops, famously the "Kansu Braves". Perhaps you know all of this, but in the video is not that clear. Cheers from Chile P.S: sorry if I butchered the English
I've always seen the Dao as being a basic weapon which could be made by the proverbial village blacksmith in quantity, to a rough pattern - thus accounting for the huge range of sizes and weights
It is the village blacksmiths that are the most highly-skilled ones who actually still forge the blades in the correct way. I am not saying it is better than swords made using modern day steel don't get me wrong.
I had read a long time ago that the Japanese had the old Chinese dao/ "da dao", and developed it into something called the "daito" or "daisho", or pair of long and short single-edged saber-like swords famous today as the "dachi and tanto", which became merged into the not as long katana and the not as short wakizashi. Even from your sample, I can easily see the resemblance ...
That said, what do I know? Even the Chinese themselves said that "He who speaks about the Dao does not know ..he who knows about the Dao, does not speak!" :-P
It is very low-quality weapon. It is big in size, for a few reasons: 1. Make it intimidating. Chinese soldiers in 1900 century was notoriously of low skill and morale, most of which were farmers forcibly enlisted shortly before a war. The big knife made them feel a little bit safer, and possibly scare their enemies away. The enemies, usually were also farmers forcibly recruited by some rebel army, had no military skill either. 2. More endurable. As the steel(iron, or whatever) of the knife was very bad, it would be easy to crack or bend if you made it thin. The beefy knife can be used for a longer period, which makes the total cost even lower. 3. Easier made and can bid a higher price. The smiths were also of very low skill level, who built household utensils, farm tools as well as this kind of "weapon". The qualify of a knife used in kitchen was usually of better quality, because the cook used it daily and had higher requirement of quality. Anyway, the big chunk of iron made it look worthy of the price.
The Boxers had a complex relationship with the state who worked with them and against them. They weren't conscripts like Matt implied but a patriotic society who fostered an upraising against western influence, exploration of china and particularly christian missionaries. Actually the Boxer uprising was the most spirited aggression against western powers offered by China during that period despite the humbleness of the majority of its combatants combatants.
I wanted to point something out about the specific blade that you have in your hand: A. As you said it's a Qing era weapons, and the Jurchens/Manchurians are insanely cavalry focused, and therefore their weapons are more cutting and chopping oriented. If you compare that to Ming dynasty daos, you'd find that Ming daos generally have more distal taper. B. That looks like it was made by a civilian black smith, who probably had low quality steel and didn't know how to make a proper sword. During the boxer rebellion a lot of militias and rebel groups were formed and they basically just grabbed whatever weapon they could get their hands on, and most likely didn't live long enough to figure out whatever they had in their hands weren't good weapons.
It does look like a heavy example of a dao, but even so, from what I have seen of the style of fighting used with dao (at least as demonstrated in modern wushu and so on) it is rather continuous and sweeping, that is, it seems to minimise changes in momentum of the sword. So no snap cut type stuff or even much thrusting, instead, continuous sweeping of the sword through long cutting arcs which chain together in a fluid way. Kind of difficult to combine with defense I would think, but makes good use of the weight and balance point.
ninjafruitchilled The defense is usually pretty basic static blocking with any redirection done after the block. It leans more towards offense with, as you said, the continuous heavy cuts. It's considered an entry weapon in Chinese martial arts similar to the gun/stick due to the simplicity of its techniques (cut, stab, and block).
That's not a traditional Dao that we use in Chinese Kung fu. The traditional Dao has a leaf shaped tip and is much lighter. Also the reason for the lid on the disc guard is so that when u stab an opponent the lid will prevent the blood from spraying into ur eye.
Regarding the upturned disc. If it were down to comfort alone. The disc would only have to be turned on one side (the side it is expected to be worn on). Doing more than that would be unnecessary added work. You could argue that it is also ornamental. But if that were the case why is it a consistent feature across varying build qualities? If it is practical to upturn one side for comfort. And an aesthetically pleasing plus to have that be symmetrical. Than on less expensive swords you'd expect to see the courtesy of it looking better foregone for bare minimum functionality (only upturned on one side). This notion by itself doesn't satisfactorily explain the feature. I think that when the purpose of a feature is not obvious. Or that when an explanation doesn't fully follow logically. That there are multiple reasons for including it as apposed to just one good reason. Even if the effect of each reason is minimal. Together they add up to make a feature sensible. Comfort likely is one part of it. But I can see other reasons as to why the disc is upturned. When sheathed the lip of the upturned disc guard should come to an end below where the flat of disc butts up against the mouth of the scabbard. This causes me to think that it would help keep splashed water and rain out of the scabbard. Water tends to flow to the lowest point of a surface it comes into contact with when doing so in sufficient quantities to flow. Water hitting it from any direction while worn would want to flow towards the lip of the upturned bit and away from the center where the disc is holed (and where you don't want water to go). Also a cylinder (even one that is open on one end) is stronger than a disc. A stouter cylinder is more resistant to side impacts. the wider it is compared to how tall it is the better for this shape's mechanical property. So another reason might be to reinforce the structural integrity disc. The lip might fold or kink when hit. But it would likely prevent the disc from warping, being cut into or buckling itself.
Could it be that due to the advancement of close combat weaponry combined with the increased use of firearms led to the development of the hand guard as close combat skirmishes became less and less common and therefore armour became more and more obsolete? I more or less know that more ancient civilizations that engaged in more close combat battles like the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans would use arm guards, even without shields.
Regarding the guard, Chinese have smaller hands than Europeans, so it actually provides more protection to the hand than you suppose, seeing as it was issued to Chinese or other orientals(e.g. Manchu or Mongols).
I know if you take a sheet of steel, you can increase its rigidity by bending the edge over on itself a little. Maybe the fuller in this sword goes to the same effect? To help keep it from flexing excessively? I genuinely don't know. Just a guess.
That might also be the reason that the guard has such a strong lip. It will keep the guard from flexing and if a blade came down on it, there is a bit more substance that the offending weapon would have to get through before hitting your hand. Again just a guess.
