Yes the katana is based on the Tang dao during the Japanese "The Taika Reforms" era. It is basically an movement to transform the whole country into a better, stronger one. At the time the Japanese consider the Tang Dynasty as the strongest nation there is so they tried to learn everything from the Chinese at the time including this blade from the video. The Japanese did a reform again based on western powers before the world wars which made them the dominant Asian country during world war ll.
Not exactly modern day Japan, but after the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the Manchus, both Joseon Korea and Tokugawa Japan consider themselves to be the successors of Han civilization.
What you say is correct - Japanese swords did take inspiration from Tang Dynasty straight sabers. Pre-Modern/Meiji Japan is actually mostly miniature Tang Dynasty China.
Japanese and Chinese culture are indeed different, but your misunderstanding toward Tianming Zhao's post when he's only pointing out an example of *where* Chinese civilization influenced Japan i.e swords, isn't helping with getting your whole point across. It doesn't pay to be ignorant when China is rising after a century of humiliation. We get it. Japan used to surpass China during the 20th century, and they have every reason to feel afraid seeing China catching up on their economy because when that happens, China will obviously be in the spotlight again in Asia and that means people will be exposed to their culture and history. Which might make Japanese culture and history "feel" somewhat redundant compared to the rich civilization China was before Western and Japanese imperialism tore it apart. Especially when people once exposed, will begin to see where Chinese culture had played its development in shaping Japanese culture that it is today. Being isolated doesn't mean said countries should ignore or even outright ignore their foreign influences. Nor does acknowledging inspirations necessarily make said countries mere copies of another culture. For example, Osamu Tezuka aka The God of Manga, admitted that he was inspired deeply by Walt Disney. Which also leads to my argument that post-war Japan's culture was also shaped by American pop culture to some extent, yet it doesn't mean Japan is a copy off of America despite these influences. So I assure you in regards to the influences America and China have respectively on Korea and Japan, they are their own unique culture and society despite being a product to various degrees from said outside influences. What makes them stand out is how they combined the best of those outside influences with their indigenous cultures in order to further distinguish it. *And they succeeded where other cultures couldn't or wouldn't.* Now whether you're a troll or an actual Japan or Korean, it does not matter. I typed this post up so that others may not need to consider responding to your xenophobic post.
I get it, maybe when I called Pre-Meiji Japan a miniature Tang Dynasty China, it comes off as arrogance and insulting to Japanese people and culture. I have absolutely no problem if the reverse is true, and in many cases it is. A lot of what you see in China is a carbon copy of Western culture.
I wasn't criticizing your post, OP. It was for Jacky Chew's unintelligent post. Despite his supposedly "Chinese" surname "Chew," he is either a troll that hates China (I blame CNN and Fox for spoon-feeding him), or a Japanese with a superiority complex toward anyone or anything from China.
Thank you for clarifying, Looking back I am still somewhat amazed that I typed what I typed. Calling Japan a miniature China was a tad insulting. I could have just said Japan was in many ways China, considering the vast influences in all manners of life learned from China. Even today we see some Chinese culture persist in Japan that has become unpopular in China. For example, the tea ceremony.
Ah, no worries. Just give it time as the economic improves, because then we'll be seeing more teahouse being established along with the cultural tradition from it. China is right on focusing on the economy first and cultural heritage second. Just as long as another cultural revolution doesn't occur, I am happy for China.
@@familyman5670 tang sword is absolutely stright because it means a man must be stright（nothing about sexual orientation） and honest.instead，japanese changed it to easier pull out the sword.
I really like the aesthetics of Chinese swords. There's just something about the reddish wood used in a lot of the handles and scabbards with the aged brass and silk ropes/tassels.
Traditional Chinese Swords do not have pummels as they hold true to the legend of the twin dragon gods who battled and the victory was had by a simple unscrewing of a pummel which ended the duel rightly.
I am sure you are not serious of that pummel thing. Traditional Chinese Swords are equally equipped with and without pummel. Example, Han dynasty cavalry sword, being the ultimate ancestor of Tang dynasty single-blade sword, has a ring pummel. Han double-blade sword does not have pummel like its ancestors. Later Tang dynasty single-blade sword has no pummel just like Katana. Later Chinese double-blade sword in Ming and Qing (1300s to 1910) all have pummels, but many single-blade swords do not have pummel.
Tang Dao. Almost literally Tang Dynasty Sword. Iirc, these things were exported to korea and japan at the time, and you can see a line of evolution from their swords back to this design. Most Tang Dao's I've seen though are a lot straighter than this one. Same edge geometry though, especially near the tip of the blade.
+Moist Von Lipwig Yeah. There are actually various types of swords used by the Tang Dynasty military for different purposes. The historical book records describe at least four, but lack any depiction or real archaeological finding to verify their exact designs. This particular pattern, historians know it did exist, but no one is sure which particular type it belongs to.
9SS94Cr I'm actually quite amused/attracted to the Tang Dao design that Skall got. As I said, I'm used to seeing them as really straight single edged blades. The one skall has has a slight curve to it making it more katana-esque.
Even before Tang Dao, there was Huan Shou Dao (环首刀), literally cyclic handled Dao from Han Dyansty, which was around 200 BC. You can see it has a similar shape but more primitive design. At that time Chinese were among the first who discovered iron casting technologies. Those Huan Shou Dao were like nuclear weapons against northern nomads people who wears only leather armors.
Tang Dao is the ancestor of katana. Japanese learn the making technology of Tang Dao and bring it back to Japan. But Tang Dao is mainly used to deal with enemies with armour.
And then there's also The Naginata which is the ancestor to The Guandao. Both weapons of which we're used for the same purpose. That being to attack cavalry based infantry while the Katana and Dao we're used mainly for ground infantry.
@@whitelichmage7004 Naginata is ancestors to guandao?! Guandao literally means GuanYu's dao, who was a three kingdom's figure that was few hundred years even before tang dynasty came into existence, although in reality Guanyu never used such a blade but the origin of this kind weapon daying back to Shang dynasty at which point I believe Japan was still in stone age.
This sword is better than the Katana because it doesn't have the baggage of a fanbase who believe the Katana could cut through adamantium steel armour and demon-dragon skin, folded a million times, 10,000yrs ago, and touching it instantly making its wielder the greatest swordsman ever lived!
Im Chinese, I agree with you, and that's why our ancestors eliminate Tang dao in Song dynasty; just like you said. it could not cut through armor. and it was very easy to break off when it face to plate/chainmail; also its really expensive. in is situation axe and spear did better job than Tangdao, and they r much more cheaper. Katana has same problems
+Sir Stewie fancy guards doesn't make a good weapon. In case of a cutting sword, having little guard is not exactly a bad thing as you'd spend most of the time using it by swinging it in overhead motion, deflecting or parrying other swords with the curve. it would be a problem if the user is going against a weapon that's more refined in thrusting such as the rapier
Wait, I am chinese , but pls do not ruin our moral: Katana is come out earlier than Tang Dao , do you know this? Tang Dao and Katana has no connection. 想显摆，得说事实，自己查查去，咱国家历史文化研究早就说了唐刀和日本武士刀没关系了。别自己不知道还傻不呵呵的丢人。中国冷兵器的锻造技术在外族入侵占地为王后就不行了，再加上各个时代的禁武禁刀令，最后明朝后面还学了日本刀的法子弄了苗刀。自谦自谦，书读哪里去了
There is a Tangdao in the exhibition in Japan. It was sent as a gift to the Japanese emissary back then, and I believe that one exhibited a curved edge.
tang dynasty was one of the greatest dynasties in china. during its peak, its cultural spread across the entire eastern asia. tang dao is divided into 4 categories. Due to the cost, the way Chinese fight and size of tang armies, it nearly bancrupt the tang dynasty. after tang dynasty double hand saber kinda went out of style. it wasnt until a few hundred years later, a refine version called maio doa was use to fight off the Japanese pirate.
Right on point Skall, the katana was created by the Japanese after this one; it replaced their older straight model (it too heavily inspired on an even older Chinese blade) because they thought it was advantageous for it's added cutting power.
The ancient Japanese came to various cities in China and took away a large number of Chinese products, technology and book borrowing, and copied a large number of Chinese culture (including etiquette and system ...), completely transforming the original country of Japan. Chinese -style clothes , use chopsticks, build a large number of Chinese architecture (Tang style), imitate the Chinese kneeling and wait ..........., Imitation like a Chinese, it means that they are more civilized. They once called themselves " Chinese".
+Beremor This type of guard grew out of popularity though. Even before the fall of the Song dynasty the chinese started using disc guards and by the time of the Mongol conquest these types of guard were absolutely out of fashion (Maybe a few mongols used a cross guard though, not sure). The Chinese started using disc guards and kept using them until the Qing dynasty. Only in the final years of the Qing dynasty people started to create European style S shaped guards and knuckle bows.
***** No idea. This type of guard didn't disappear completely though, the Big Knife used in the second world war against the Japanese still used these minimal guards.
My conclusion: Well, considering the Japanese took inspiration of this sword to create the Katana this sword is actually pretty good. Although it has been probably been made for light targets due to the things he says about striking heavy targets it's good an elegant. Maybe that's why the Japanese took inspiration from this sword.
I am not sure if someone already pointed out to you (I didnt read all the comments), The crafting Technic for Tang Dao is in fact long lost, most of the forging technic we have now is merely a trace back from the Katana techic and some losing documents have been found. One of the major aspects of Tang Dao is the handle of the blade can be formed with the scabbard, because it was one of the major weapon for the Royal guards man of the emperor, the weapon is designed to used both on house and foot combat with ranged aspect. Because of this aspect Tang Dao is a straight blade rather an curved one as the Katana. Another major aspect is the forging steel of the blade as far as I know is completely lost, but i think the new methods might be better since the knowledge of steel forging are a lot better now days Without the above aspects, Tang Dao might not be as good as a Katana in my opinion, since the forging of a Katana has been widely used and improved by Japanese for decades if not centres.
Really love to see ppl love chinese culture! Just say i dont really know about the tangdao, just refer some comments from some chinese fans of tangdao that this type of tangdao(it seems tangdao itself is a big genre of chinese swords with few sub-types) is supposed to stab armors so that's probably why it is hand-shakening when you cut the wood. And since the one in the video is more for gift, so the handle is decorated with a ornamental texture, not really for battlefields, which adds on the roughness of the handle. Anyway, this is a great video! And love ur style and keep going!!!
The ray skin handle is supposed to be wrapped by ropes. The ray skin is supposed to be the underlayer. Clearly the seller didn't really study into this.
This is the ancestor of the Japanese sword, because when the ancient Japanese fought, few of soldiers had metal armor, so the Japanese Just need a sharper sword to kill the enemy more easily. SO,Katana is sharper But Chinese soldiers need to break armor all the time during the war, which is the purpose of Tang Dao's design.
Skall, most soldiers have calloused hands. Calloused hands can withstand the coarseness of rayskin. Most people's hands today are baby soft by comparison. Remember that rayskin provides an excellent grip to sword handles. Retaining your sword is rather important. So if your hands are on the soft side, use gloves. P.S. that line on the handle you were referring to is called a demarcation line.
+jediflamaster It doesn't have one in the first place. Though it's not a katana, it might be enough to split a small mountain because of the similarities.
Katana and Tang Dao have totally different purposes. Tang Dao was designed for war and Katana was designed for a fight. In a war, riders and heavy armor were necessary, the Tand Dao had strong blade point but not sharp. Katana has very sharp and shape for a great sword, but in a war, it would easily to be turned.Another reason was katana was the primary weapon for Japanese weapon to a warrior, but Tang Dao was a secondary weapon to a Chinese soldier. Think about it, in today, which army will use a pistol as a primary weapon in a war?
The katana was a secondary weapon, archers and some spearmen would carry it as well as there occasionally being infantry only equipped with a katana, most likely a nodachi. The main weapon of the Japanese solder (Not samurai, samurai were hired guards) was a naginata,bow or some kind of horseback archer/pikeman.
No, don't say that! Katana is a sidearm. There is nothing to speculate. Katana wasn't used on the battlefield other then just hanging at the hip Think about it. Katana is terribly short and is pretty crappy at combating armor of that time. There is no point in using one as primary weapon
Well they treat katana as sidearm as well, in a full blown war they also utilize a range of weaponry, such as nodachi, literally means field sword, sword that is purposely forged to be used against armored unit or horseman, as it got large size, long blade and heavy weight, much like a halberd or any polearm, just handled a bit differently
If you own a katana, I'd highly recommend adding this beauty to your collection, you won't regret it. With its stylish design and outstanding craftsmanship, the positives far surpass the negatives on this.
Historically a self defence sword, for untrained common folks(excluding students and scholars). One of the most iconic Tang Dynasty creation that died out as Tang fall. Yet another evidence for the prosperity and peacefulness of Tang.
+Bowen Chen Not true. The majority of the Tang soldiery carried a sword of a similar style as a side arm, namely shorter and single-handed. This modern replica is historically inaccurate.
+山中（montwithin） that's larger than his, some can be used with 2 hand, his sword is obviously much smaller than the soldier's side arm, in fact, some of those so called soldier's side arm edition of Tang Dao are more like pole arms, the handles are slightly shorter or roughly the same size as the blade.
+Bowen Chen You were thinking about Yi Dao, the ceremonial sword carried by elite guards for mostly ceremonial/parade purposes. Skall's sword didn't exist historically. What I was talking about was the Heng Dao, a single-handed sword carried by the majority of the soldiers at that time. The pole arm like one is call Mo Dao, which shape nobody knows for sure because there is no archaeological sample and pictorial depictions. It could either be the precursor of the naginata type weapon or nagamaki, but nobody knows for sure.
To my knowledge, yes, the japanese katana is based on the chinese backsword, as is the turko-mongol saber. But you could also say that each culture took the backsword idea and did something different with it. @Skallagrim, I remember you like bronze swords too, you should really check out chinese bronze swords sometime, they were incredible.
It's funny. The swords of the Tang are believed to have inspired the Japanese tachi, and the tachi is later believed to have inspired the Ming Wo Dao (literally "Japanese Sword"). The Wo Dao was the basis for a few other Chinese swords over the years, such as the Miao Dao of the twentieth century.
Wo Dao means dwarf knife, dwarf倭 is the old name of Japan given by China, later changed to 和 because of Japanese's request for a better name(倭 and 和 are homophones in some cases).
it's impressive how well you managed your shoulder injury, it's nice to see someone recovering that well, anyway, nice review, keep rocking, best wishes, and that sorta stuff...
+kiba BG check out this real Tang Dao piece from the Japanese Imperial Household Treasury shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/ja-JP/Treasure?id=0000010088 from those Chinese imperial gifts Japanese developed Katana over time.
My old Wing Chun master also told us how the Chinese invented the Katana style sword first, and the Japanese took the design and refined it, although he said the Chinese regarded it as an unbalanced and heavy blade and preferred single handed swords to suit the style of martial arts...He also mentioned that the Kissaki was reversed (the edge of the tip of the sword curved down from the back) for some reason, he didn't know why though.
+Outamyhead The Japanese were all originally migrants from China and Korea looking for new land for their leaders. They decided not to come back. Then they invaded China.
***** You know you haven't done your research right? Present to me citations that prove that they're native to the islands of Japan. Because it's common knowledge that they're migrants from China and Korea.
+zeiitgeist Not sure on the whole terminology besides what I am seeing from the google search, the way my teacher described it was the Kissaki, and the boshi were reversed, so they curved down from the mune, or yokote.
It's apparently true that Katana started off as a copy of tangdao. The Chinese experimented with it for a while but abandoned it soon after because it's too thin; once it's damaged in battle, it's difficult to resharpen and repair. The Japanese stuck with it because unlike China, Japan lacked iron ore, so the Katana/Tangdao is represents the best bang for the steel, so to speak.
Hi Skallagrim! Have you got a flamberge sword, or have you maked a video about it? Cause i can't find it. I can't speak English well, so... Sorry, and regards from Poland!
Any sword with REAL ray skin on the handle is going to seem a little pricey. Not only is it an expensive raw material, It is an absolute pain the ass to work with.
I would agree to an earlier comment that this looks like a katana fitted with Tang Dynasty fittings. Although there are exceptions, Tang Dao is generally straight, not to mention they are very long, based on Tang Dynasty art, the height of the swords would reach the neck of the user. These would be swords that are double handled and carried from the back, not from the waist like a katana. The length of these swords would have aided fighting against spear or pole arm wielders and horse riders.
I know your not a fan of asian swords but I have to say I liked this video. im a fan of the European swords myself. but this is something new and welcome. very well done.
Calling it the “Ronin Elite” is just stupid in general. A Ronin is a Japanese title given to samurai without a lord not an elite soldier. Giving a Chinese sword a Japanese name that was meant to show dishonour is just straight up disrespectful.
This was invented in the Tang dynasty, wow, it must have been invented before Wu Zetian even took the throne. Its pretty cool they have been able to recreate it.
+Ater Boreal ? What's wrong with his statement? If it were a Roman sword and I said This was invented in the Classical age, wow, it must have been invented before Augustus even took the throne. It's pretty cool they have been able to recreate it. Would I be exhibiting Plinian bigotry?
+Alexander Salt There is a certain ''doctrine'' in China according to which historical facts should be ''evaluated'' with a moralizing intention ... ex. X did something morally wrong so he got punished by the heavens, nothing good ever happened during his reign... Your example doesn't fit because as of today nobody(optimistically) in the western culture is so apparently biased... But hey, maybe it's just simply an assessment on the time of the conception(invented before 690) and i was wrong all along, and if that's the case, i apologize.
Ater Boreal Oh you read his statement like that. Let me see if I get you correctly. "Wu Zetian's rule sucked and therefore this blade must have been invented before her reign." And you say that's a bias. Right, I totally didn't get that out of his post though. I just thought he was amazed by how old this design was.
+Ater Boreal Not really, I only said the sword was ancient and that its cool that they were able to preserve the specifics to the current day and reproduce it, nothing more and nothing less.
I believe the original design of katana is from China; Japanese are very smart people, they always grab things from others and change and improve them to be their own things, that's y they are succeeded; we shall learn from them^^
le shrug - the whole convex-curved sabre design traces back to about 5th-6th century Pontic steppe nomads. Because it was a great design for some purposes (mostly involving horses) it spread rapidly.
***** Source or GTFO, because literally everything I've read on the history of Japanese warfare and weaponry flatly disagrees with your dates. You're also welcome to go fight the Wiki article on the topic over this. You're *further* welcome to explain how your claims mesh with the Mongol Invasion Scrolls, commissioned by one of the participating _samurai_, clearly depicting _tachi_ on the hips of the Japanese...
to snap back or put back the blade stright again grab 2 planks, and get not extreamly heavy, just heavy enough for you carry amd hit it down to flat it back.
They didn't, they threw the whole sword. They did this because pommels are so dangerous and with vintage pommels the blast radius is so gigantic that the thrower would die anyway so it wouldn't matter if they still had their sword.
Well....As someone pointed out already, Tang Dao is actually straight, no curves. Also... "Ronin" is a Japanese terminology, so the name of the sword is kinda weird.
Ronin is a sword company, it may be a sword of that company, the sword also appears to have a fake hamon, which is pretty much a trademark for a cheap, factory katana.
Skall, if you don't mind my asking seeing as you're a vegetarian I'm surprised to see you with a sword with a handle made from ray skin and come to think of it you do tests on leather on occasion. I wouldn't have thought after your previous videos describing how animals are sentient and you take issue with their slaughter for meat that you'd own leather products and the ray skin grip as per mentioned. Anyway, keep up the awesome videos and I'm very happy to see your recovery is coming along so well. Many regards :)
+Skallagrim you remarked on the handle, I don't know if you have experience with Rayskin (I don't), but it could be that it's so rough because the rayskin is still fresh as it were, perhaps it will smoothe down over time? Though since you will likely return the blade after reviewing, I guess that's not a factor you'd be likely to test. Other than that, it could be helpful, since the sword has no real guard to speak of, if you stab at something, the high friction would keep the hand in place a bit more than a normal guard would. (I'm not even touching on the fact that the sword likely isn't even designed for thrusting, but oh well :P )
+Locahaskatexu With a sword like that, I doubt that the complaints he made would be of any importance. This kind of blade is generally used to kill in one cut. That usually means belly, throat, or rarely, armpit. All soft targets. The rayskin is indeed designed to provide a lot of friction, which is to make light grips better, since manoeverability is more important than power.
+Locahaskatexu That's interesting actually I wonder if Skall buys swords like some game reviewers buy review copies of games or if he buys them as a consumer.
MrBombastic799 Skall has remarked more than once that he is sent stuff to review, Albion has even sent him a get well present, so he's quite likely known (at least to Albion) as someone who reviews swords. I would not be surprised to find that he has more than a few contacts with either intermediaries tied into the various companies, if not contacts with the companies themselves. I can surmise from previous vids that quite a few companies look favourably on his reviews. I mean, Zombie tools sent him a replacement zombie cleaver (I can't recall whether he paid for the replacement, but the vid where he receives the gift is likely still in the archives on his channel) after he shot up the last one. They even stamped it with gun and a circle and cross around it, to indicate that he shouldn't shoot that one. Make of it what you will, but if he had to buy every sword he reviews, he would have been bankrupted many times over :P Not to mention that he would need a massive hall to store all the swords he'd possess if that were the case :P The only way to know for sure is to ask Skall, though I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not that far from the truth, I do believe he has made more than one vid about what actually happens with the swords he reviews, though I don't know whether it's still on his channel
ScoptOriginal aye, like I said, the blade isn't really designed for thrusting, swords like that generally work best with a slicing motion. But yeah, my point was mainly about the rayskin and it providing traction and friction
Locahaskatexu Yeah, I've been watching definitely long enough to have seen that video but I can only remember him commenting that if he is sent something for free he will mention it either in the video or the description.
back in china I remember my history teacher told me the reason katana is made differently is because of the resources at the time was rare to mass produce the same type of weapon for those material, so bamboo and wood are the massively used into katana, also theres a longer type of sword but its not katana, katana is shorter is more like self defense weapon not the longer one ( forgot the name of it) that one was made for battles due to its size, and yeah it looks very similar to katana just longer
Well, when actually used, people should polish the ray skin a little bit. Not entirely, just until it reaches a level that is not too rough nor too slippery. Ray skins are also used on Chinese bows on the part where arrows are placed to resist the abrasion between bow and arrows.
In fact, Japanese sword handles were also made of ray skin... but it had lace-wrappings on top of the ray-skin... In my opinion, that means this sword is missing the lace-wrapping.
I must add that the construction and characteristics of this sword are most definitely similar to that of a Japanese katana. The Samurai indeed chose an exquisite design for their swords.
Devsyn How's the PC though today? I'm talking about a hidden origin of a popular weapon, like the quality of Damascus originating from India. Do you mean European cultural intrigue needs to be acknowledged to appreciate Asian culture? >.>
The great majority of Tang swords were straight, not curved like the katana. In fact, Japanese (that is, Yamato swords, not including Emishi) swords were straight until the end of the 10th Century, and the katana (which in Japanese refers to all types of swords, not just _katanas_) didn't come into existence until the 14th Century. There was a massive fad in Japan about everything Chinese since the reforms of the Prince Shotoku and the Taika reforms, but it ended in 894 due to the fact that China was again descending into chaos.
Tangdao （唐刀）is actually a made-up terminology which has been wrongfully re defined by many Chinese sword dealers and blacksmiths. What is Tang? Tang refers to Tang Dynasty. Dao, however, means blade. Tang Dao, if translated properly, actually means blade in Tang Dynasty, or blade made in Tang. Tang Dao, originally refers to any kind of sword, blade made in Tang, during Tang's period. Therefore, if there is a sword looks exactly the same way as the one in the video, but terms out it's from Song Dynasty, then you cant call it Tang Dao, should be called Song Dao. Tang Dao only refers to time, nothing more. （BTW there are four kinds of "Tang Dao" at that time, each of them has a unique name, historically, they are well classified and very rarely ancient Chinese call them Tang Dao instead of calling their real names) So, what exactly should we call this thing? In a proper way? The most general name for sword like that (by the way, the sword in video is still a little bit curved, it supposed to be straight) is Huan Shou Dao （环首刀）, interesting thing is, this name has nothing to do with the blade, but the shape of handle. Huan Shou literally means there is a ring at the end of the handle. The history of Huan Shou Dao, however, is much longer. It originated in Han Dynasty （202 BC to 220 AD). Are they the prototype of Japanese swords? Possible, cuz Japanese sword that discovered from that time looks quite close to Huan Shou Dao, yet their shapes are different than the samurai swords we see nowadays. But is no direct evidence says that Japanese sword was created based the technique from China, at least not from "Tang Dao", cuz as early as 7th century, Japanese sword was already an independent family of cold weapons.
Very pretty, liked it. I think the handle thing is probably the reason why the japanese used the cord wrap around for the handle on the katana, and also to absorb some impact I think it does that a bit as well.
here are some fun facts,there are actually no one specific Sabre are called Tang Dao in China.Tang Dao is just a general term for describing all kinds of official Sabres in Tang Dynasty. According to the Tang's Six Constitutions,there are 4 kind of Tang Daos, the one for rite, the one for close combat and self-defense, the standard combat one and , the one for cutting horse ( leg I guess). PS: For any fact checking, all those information can be found in wiki in Chinese.
"proto-Katana" is a good way to describe that weapon's history. It was a lot sharper and sturdier than the Japanese weapons of the time, so it was emulated for years to come.
Saying it was sharper is being dumb, the sharpness of a blade does not at all depend on the design but on how much the owner sharpens it, that piece alone makes me think that that "fact" is BS.
+Derry O' Connor the iron sand was only impure if it was recklessly selected, a decently ranked samurai would have hand-chosen iron sand which would be really quite pure, the yari and swords of ji samurai and ashigaru would not. And even if you take the metal quality of a poor farmer who mounted his spearhead on a bamboo stick(not as this would have effect on metal quality but this is just to show on how poor he is) it would not matter for how sharp the sword is, that completely relies on how much you sharpen it.
+Lapiz Bouchaut He is talking about Japanese swords of the time I think. And the Tang dynasty was from 618-907, before the Japanese developed their famed metallurgical skills.
Tang dao development since the han ring-pommel dao,According to the different purposes and occasions is divided into four styles.Tang dao is usually straight blade,There are a lot of tang dao shoso-in save
the guard and grip seemed fine, edge sharpening seemed also fine, but the blade should be straight. Tang Dao is straight back single edge sword, should not curve like a katana.
+Alexander Salt The only ones calling it Zhidao are the Japanese, the Chinese never called the Tang dao straight but they may have describe them as such, neither was the Tang Dao called Tang Dao (modern term like medieval and the renaissance.
zeiitgeist the Chinese called them Zhibeidao, literally means straight back single edged sword. Chinese categorized double edged sword Jian and single edged sword Dao and name them based on their functionality: Yidao/Yijian (ceremonial sword), Wudao/ Wujian (martial sword), etc. Neither was the Medieval sword called Medieval sword, they are just called sword. (Again categorized by their size and functionality: arming sword, longsword, federschwert (fencing sword), two handed sword, etc.). So yeah, people in Tang dynasty may not called them Tang Dao, but you'll be damn sure people in the dynasties after Tang called them Tang Dao.
Defan Chen Don't mind me asking but could you give me a source that says it is a 直背刀 because from what I have read before there were a few types and one was called 横刀 which was the standard issue 佩刀.
+zeiitgeist 横刀 described how it's carried - horizontally on the waist instead of conventional vertical suspension. 佩刀 means equipped sword, same way as how a medieval single handed sword called Arming Sword. Maybe I didn't say it before, but the swords are named/categorized based on its blade profile/size/functionality and carrying style, all the names are true but each dynasty has a predominant sword type hence calling them by the dynasty. For example, Qin sword is at the end of bronze age and beginning of iron age, while there are nations in China already equip their army with mass produced iron weapon, Qin mastered their bronze weapon manufacturing and made superior quality bronze sword (wide and thick blade) but much longer than other nations. On the other hand, Qing dynasty (the last dynasty) equipped broad sword (single edged) in the army but only used Jian (double edged) for decoration and ceremonial purposes (looked like Taichi sword - narrow, thin and long blade).
Unfortunately, treatises of Tang Dao was lost and no one knows how people used them back in Tang dynasty...But later, Qi, Ji-guang （戚继光） revived the use of these oversized great swords in Ming dynasty against Japan invasions, and his treatises successfully survived till now lol
I'm not him but I've seen quite a few of his videos so I can guess. I would say he likes that it introduces people into hema but in battle of the nations because you can not flat out stab a man the battles seem to end when a man falls, the swords and axes seem to take a back seat and appear to be used in giant groups when you don't want 20 people running into one guy. My opinion is it looks really fun while not historically accurate I see the lure and would totally be down for participating in it.
This sword seems to be a "Wodao." Here's a quotation from wiki. The Chinese word "wo" literally means "Japanese", so "wodao" literally means Japanese sword. It is commonly believed that the term came into usage in China during the Ming dynasty as the renowned general Qi Jiguang (1528-1588 AD), forced the wokou pirates, which included rogue Japanese samurai and ronin, out of coastal China. General Qi also wrote a military book named Jixiao Xinshu which depicted, among other things, the detailed usage of the wodao. He also included a wodao branch in his army alongside branches of other weapons. Another Ming general Li Chengxun (李承勋), in his own revised edition of Jixiao Xinshu of 1588, quoted General Qi as saying that the long sword (believed to be referring to the Wodao) was introduced into China during the wokou invasion of the Ming Dynasty.
purit tamaneki wodao is from the 1500s ad during the Japanese pirate invasions of Korea n China and the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late 1500s... This sword here is a recreation from the tang and duo dynasty of the 6-8 century ad. Japan during the 7th century ad is known for the TAIKA reforms were Chinese or Tang Dynasty form of government, weapons, and culture like tea ceremony’s and Buddhism was adopted into Japanese society by order of the Japanese emperor n the soga clan. It’s well recorded in Japanese records where the katana originally came from. Some Tang Dynasty dao(Wodao is from the 1500s some 800 years LATER. Btw) Tang swords www.sinosword.com/Tang-dynasty-Jian.html
purit tamaneki the word Wo means midget or dwarf in Chinese and the characters used were used just for the similar sound. The Chinese use the word yahtbun or Riben for japan n Japanese people while Wo was there attempt to transcribe the Japanese ethnic self name of “Wa” or in modern Japanese YA as in Yamato. Still used as a archaic or poetic name for Japan.
No, it is Wo Dao In Chinese “倭刀“ The term “倭“ is part of a bigger term "倭国" which at that time was the common name for Japan as Japanese pirates terrorised the seas of China. This blade however is not a 倭刀, as the handle does not seem to have a curve. Typical 倭刀 has a curved handle, guard placed at a horizontal position and blade that follows the curve from the handle to the tip. I think that the blade we see here seems to be a hybrid of the handle of a 唐横刀 and maybe the blade of a 倭刀. I'm not too sure.
As early as the Han Dynasty, China had a dao of this shape called a ring-head dao。To the Tang Dynasty，Because the war needs，This dao is mainly used to armor.AD 663 years,The Tang Dynasty and Japan fought a war,Japan is still used in the Han Dynasty pasting cast dao way.japan losed the war ,After Japan sent a large number of personnel to the Tang Dynasty to learn politics, economy, culture.Including casting dao technology.Tang tombs do not allow weapons to be buried.So now no tombs found in the Tang Dynasty weapons.But now can be seen in the Japanese Museum.Katana is main used to fight.even Even the civil war in Japan's history,Almost only generals have armors.the Soldiers just with bamboo armor,or rattan armor.so the Katana were Common used because Because it is sharp but can help to Heavy armor.
+RuSosan Actually, it has a cap, which is basically a pommel. it is designed to add a small amount of weight and provide something more solid to 'pommel strike' with. Most can be removed fairly easily, but Skall said the construction on this one was fairly tight, so I guess it would be more difficult with this model.
Hellow sir, by my research there is not any 'Tang Dao' was discovered in Tang dynasty. The mainstream view about 'Tang Dao' in Chinese folk says that the 'Tang Dao' is a fabricated weapon. So I realy want to know is 'Tang Dao' really exist. Please, this question is very important to me.
Hey just one fact about tang dao. Actually this blade is mainly used as a side arm of an officer and for armor punctuation. So the edge is only about 1/4 of the sword. When Japanese learned from Chinese since the war in ancient Japan is quite different and the armor is mainly made from bamboo so katana will be better cutting through these armor instead of tang dao. So the katana will have a curve and the edge will be half of the sword. And these was a varies types of tang dao also.
They are used for different purposes Katana is made as a perfect sword for a fight Tangdao is widely equipped by the army as a weapon to penetrate armor
燕慕若 the Katana is a partially heated soft metal sword that bends if you use it once. Tangdao is a fully heated flexible blade that stays straight and can be used forever.
actually guarded weapons were popular in china 2000 years ago in han dynasty, but during the long course of history, chinese warfare evolved into ranged battles with most of the technologies invested in bows，crossbows and later on guns, if not, spears would be the first choice for melee, which resulted other types of melee weapons becoming more simplified and standardized, using only as an secondary choice,which resulted in becoming less guarded. and unlike civilian's martial arts development with melee weapons. warfare formations focus more on cooperation than individual techniques
