LK Chen Royal Arsenal Han Dao Review 

Great video. I think you add a lot to the conversation.

I love that sword. Excellent cutter and precursor to the katana. Great review.

The Han Dao was purportedly the first straight-back sabre or zhibeidao that was Military-issued in China. It started an uninterrupted lineage of standard-issue straight-back sabres all the way up till the Qing and ended with the Yanmaodao.

Nice vid! I haven't handled this blade yet. It was interesting to hear your thoughts on the similarities between these early Han Dao and the contemporary jian.

I really like this video. Can't wait for tang dao review

Awesome video as always. I especially appreciate the comparisons between the Dao and smaller knives, as well as jian. Interesting conjecture about how they were used with shields. I know you speak with Thomas Chen as well; he and I have recently been poring over Han art for period depictions of swords. If you are looking for a specific type of reference, let me know!

Hungarian are practiceing this kind of sabre like Cosak sword in Ukraine They used to spar after they shoot arrows on the horse and get off horse. There are a lot of this kind of Sabre Three kingdoms in Korea. Wall paintings in ancient tomb has this straight one side blade. Round hand is for string on the horse. But they used this after get off horse as I mentioned it. Hungarian still demonstrate this now.

cool fam keep going👌👌

This kind of dao didn't exactly replace the jian - it did become more common, but, from memory, the royal arsenal record in question says there were still about 1/3 the number of jian as dao in that arsenal, so the jian still had very widespread use during the period that this replica represents. This isn't counting the likelihood that wealthy people would have their own private jian, not using something from an arsenal, while the sword-length dao, as a commoner's weapon, was less likely to be privately owned. I think you're right though that this dao was designed to be a similar alternative to the contemporary jian. Earlier dao were very different - either small knives or heavy chopping weapons, but this type suddenly showed up with more or less the same function and elegance as a jian, which can't be an accident. Personally I think the shape is best suited for striking out and cutting with the very tip, which really demands a lot of skill and is no crude way to fight. I think it makes sense that these dao had a crude reputation regardless, because they came from a common tool and were used by common soldiers, rather than people from warrior families, who were considered higher in society and would carry jian. A butcher used a dao and the same butcher could join the army and still use a dao, while I suspect no commoner had any business using any kind of jian, so it makes sense for the dao to be the target of elitism from scholars who belonged to the same "warrior class" and didn't want to be replaced or diluted in their role or status, but had a strong contrary motivation to employ commoners in the army and to arm them as well as possible. Perhaps because the jian was so much associated with nobility, it couldn't be used to equip common soldiers, but this kind of dao could achieve the same thing, but without the same social upheaval, because it shared a name and a stigma with other tools that really were crude, heavy and associated with the lower classes. The sword-lengthed knives of medieval Germany have a similar story to this, also being invented to bypass a societal demand that only nobles should have access to swords, while the class boundaries were being reduced.

Totally get what you mean when you say it feels like a long dagger. Feels almost like a dirk at times. Both make a killer pairing with shields.

if you ever get a chance i would love for you to do a video on what ming dynasty warriors wore under their armor and perhaps on the LK Chen silver swallow?

It looks so simple yet elegant. But I want a bigger blade. And my usual silver fittings preferred. Or steel.

It looks like a long machete.

There are so many interesting daos and jians. Why pick this uninteresting one to review? Is LK Chen giving out free stuffs in exchange for RU-vid reviews?