# Communities > Antique Arms & Armour Community > Chinese, South-East Asia (CSEA) >  pudao/podao

## josh stout

I have recently began to straighten out some confusion in terms, and wanted to help others avoid the same problems.  

Here is a Republican podao often also called a pudao.  It can be defined as a non-regulation late Qing to Republican dadao with a handle and blade of roughly the same proportions.  "Podao" referring to this kind of weapon is a term used by martial artists and the collecting community and may be similar to the way they say guandao when more scholarly sources prefer the term "crescent moon knife".  However, I have yet to find a better term.

http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...rent=dadao.jpg

And here is a pudao, sometimes called a podao that was a regulation weapon of the Green Standard Army.  The Green Banner forces were Han rather than Manchu and organized from the old Ming Armies.  The pudao may be a direct descendent of the similar Ming yanchidao (phoenix wing saber).  The usual name for this form of chopper is guitoedao, or Demon Head Knife, and some think they are remounted pole arm heads, but in fact they are regulation single-handed choppers called pudao according to the Huangchao Liqi Tushi.

http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...LoGrH1o-To.jpg

If anyone has anything to add on terminology, pronunciation, usage or history of these weapons I would greatly appreciate it.
Josh

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## Klas Larsson

Hi Josh, You may have seen this on Klas Larsson Tomas Chens ever so useful website http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com/photo4.html

Nice pics of a Qing militia group with Pudao/Huyadao, the later translating Tiger tooth dao. This term is also used by him to describe the Painting that you find if you click on this picture, of the Ming Emperors guard, wielding these 1:1 shafted dao. There is a little hook on them like on the yanyuedao, but not its long shaft.

Good pics worth a peak, but the names are maybe not so clear a matter. But I feel we be stuck if we just recognize the manuals names, we should explore the other different names, some times it may be names that change over time, historical variations, and sometimes from regions, geographical variations, or different groups, as civilian versus military terminology, social variations, or different martial schools, the variations that lore, legend and literature give rise to.

I my self tend to think of the clip tip dao as a dadao, a dao with the type of blade you have in your first pic as a pudao, and one with a hook as in the Ming illustrations as a huyadao. Not well based though, just what I picked up here and there over the years.

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## josh stout

> Hi Josh, You may have seen this on Klas Larsson Tomas Chens ever so useful website http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com/photo4.html
> 
> Nice pics of a Qing militia group with Pudao/Huyadao, the later translating Tiger tooth dao. This term is also used by him to describe the Painting that you find if you click on this picture, of the Ming Emperors guard, wielding these 1:1 shafted dao. There is a little hook on them like on the yanyuedao, but not its long shaft.
> 
> Good pics worth a peak, but the names are maybe not so clear a matter. But I feel we be stuck if we just recognize the manuals names, we should explore the other different names, some times it may be names that change over time, historical variations, and sometimes from regions, geographical variations, or different groups, as civilian versus military terminology, social variations, or different martial schools, the variations that lore, legend and literature give rise to.
> 
> I my self tend to think of the clip tip dao as a dadao, a dao with the type of blade you have in your first pic as a pudao, and one with a hook as in the Ming illustrations as a huyadao. Not well based though, just what I picked up here and there over the years.


Clearly these weapons are all related, but to me the huyadao is not the same thing as the podao because of the hook you mentioned.  I would also define the podao as non-regulation and very late.  The dadao can be similarly hard to define.  Here is one without a clipped tip, but dadao is the closest I have gotten to a definition.

http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation359.jpg

What is it?
Josh

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## Landau Lau

Mr. Josh Stout

Following is a link of dictionary of Chinese word (朴).

http://xh.5156edu.com/show.php?id=11413

Following is the extract of Chinese words (朴刀)

朴刀 
pōdāo 
〖aswordwithalongbladeandashorthiltwieldedwithbothh  ands〗旧式武器,一种刀身窄长、刀柄比大刀柄短的刀,双手使用 
杨志提了朴刀,拿了藤条,自去赶那担子。《水浒传》

I break down/translate the extract as follow

pōdāo 
〖a sword with a long blade and a short hilt wielded with both hands〗ancient weapon, a kind of narrow/long blade,handle comparatively shorter than that of (polearm)dadao( 大刀   ) but also wielded with both hands.
(example from the fiction 《Outlaws of The Marsh)》)   Yangtze picked up Podao, grabbed the rattan stick, ------.

So, Podao is the proper translation of  朴刀, the one shown in the first picture by you.  Podao and spears are the two weapons popularly used by many of the 108 nos. outlaws described in 《Outlaws of The Marsh)》- the background is late Sung dynasty. The book is used by many Chinese as reference book for study of history of cold weapons/martial arts. Recently I saw an English translation available. Inside the book, there is a description that this weapon is kind of demountable into a dao and a stick for ease of carry/hiding because of the probation of weapons in the surveillance level. However, I will skip this part to avoid complication of this thread.

However, I must point out that there are other names such as (雙手帶),bandit knife(I saw this translation in a Kung Fu magazine many years ago), (斬馬刀)Zhamadao etc..  in Sothern China. This is common phenomenon in the field of cold weapons/martial arts in China, with consideration the time , geographical scope, dialect, education of the practioners etc..

Following is the link of (斬馬刀)Zhamadao in a Taiwan web site. I would classify it as podao. The Qing dynasty (斬馬刀)Zhamadao always seen looks different. So, same name, different thing  to me.

http://sword.tacomall.com.tw/product/index.htm


Regarding Pudao, I am very interested to know the Chinese writing. I listed another link of Chinese dictionary. When 朴 is pronounced as pu, it is used as verb. Would it be possible that some people is not aware of this and incorrectly pronounced 朴刀 as pu dao? I had come across a web page mentioning 朴刀 is also named Xdao, Ydao and 潑刀. The lattest might be pronounced as pudao and that is the reason I am very interested to know the Chinese writing of your Pudao. No matter what the result might be, I am afraid that the suggestion of using pudao for the dao shown in the 2nd picture is questionable.

http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE6Zdic9CZdicB4.htm

砍刀 
kǎndāo   
Following is a book published in 1933  by a Bagua martial artist. He called the dao as 砍刀(chopping sabre). Picture and specification in the book is the 29th Army Dadao.

http://www.lionbooks.com.tw/Detail.a...oductID=A-C037



Following is the link to confirm the name of kǎndāo 

http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/15442.html

Extract

砍刀 
kǎndāo 
〖choppingknife〗∶一种通常带月牙形刀身的刀,用于砍或剁(如肉和蔬菜)

I trust the book provides a base to call the 2nd picture as kandao.

Following is a link when I search 砍刀.  Nowadays, 砍刀  in PRC  covers kitchen chopper, big Podao  and even machete! The Chinese authority does not clarify the confusion; can we set up a regulation/understanding in this forum?  When many people also call this as Dadao  confusing with the polearm Dadao, we also need to elaborate our communication.

As a side thought, I think the old Chinese created many  designnames of  weapons belonging to same category to facilitate the communication. When we say Demon Head Sabre, 29th Army Dadao, Nine Ring Sabre etc. people immediately know the outlook/purpose(fighting but not cooking).

I am sorry to mix Chinese into this reply but I find it impossible to avoid. Relying solely on pronounction is not always possible.

P.S.   Phoenix and eagle are two species. Yan in yanchidao sounds like eagle but not phoenix.

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## josh stout

> Mr. Josh Stout
> 
> Following is a link of dictionary of Chinese word (朴).
> 
> http://xh.5156edu.com/show.php?id=11413
> 
> Following is the extract of Chinese words (朴刀)
> 
> 朴刀 
> ...


Thank you for your scholarly reply.  I don't know Chinese so it is a bit hard to follow, and I will have to read your post a few times to understand everything you are saying.  I will start by addressing your thoughts on the zhanmadao (horse cutting knife).  Usually the zhanmadao is a narrow bladed two-handed sword with blade to handle proportions similar to that of a regular dadao.  Early ones I think were straight, later ones as listed in Qing regulations were curved.  For some reason they have been confused with the podao, which I see as a dadao with a longer handle.

And while we are at it, what would you call this?
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...nt=0e79_12.jpg

And again, sincere thanks for working on this topic with me.  As you say, names are often specific to a particular context, and making them hold still is not so easy.

As an example, see my problem with yanchidao. I meant, goose wing knife, but phoenix wing knife is another name for the same thing I think.
Josh

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## Landau Lau

Mr.Josh Stout

I am sorry that my material is scholarly to understand. Please understand that your aim/suggestion to differentiate the two kinds of dao is scholarly and it is difficult not to discuss with documentary (if not scholarly) materials (including some simple Chinese).

Since you do not know Chinese, can you at least tell me the meaning of pu in your suggested term pudao?

Regarding yanlingdao(phoenix wing knife), thank you for your clarification of yan as goose. I must admit that my Manadrian sucks. Here comes another question which I would appreciate your answer.

Where did you get the translation of phoenix wing knife for yanlingdao?

Since you know yan is goose, did you ask why it is translated to phoenix? If you did, what is the answer?

Hereby, I request any forum members knowing the following proper name to provide me the correct name in English.

What is the proper name of the wild goose flying between north/south periodically according to the weather temperature? Until then, I will call it wild goose.

So, we have three Chinese pronunciations/translations as follow:
a-yanlingdao(wild goose feather knife/sabre)
b-fenglingdao(phoenix feather knife)
c- yanlingdao(phoenix wing knife)
d-elingdao(goose feather knife)

Unfortunately, I cannot avoid providing some documents containing Chinese. However, this time, the documents contain some interesting pictures.

Following is a link studying the yanlingdao. The name appears in Ming dynasty when an emperor read a poem to the general during the ceremony sending the troops to a war. The emperor praise the generals dao at his waist is fast/light as the feather of the wild goose.

In the same link, it describe the history/evolution of the waist knife since then to Qings yanlingdao(with some difference to Mings),(willow leaf sabre),(ox tail sabre).

http://www.bqduba.cn/Article/ShowArt...ArticleID=1257

Understanding the source of name of yanlingdao, I leave it to forum members to pick a/b/c/d from above. I also list a link of yanmaodao. mao means feather.

http://www.chinesearms.com/display/y...yanmao2825.htm


Regarding the picture provided, I will take it as podao or Zhamadao . I will not take it as (polearm) dadao as the blade to handle is 1:1.5 and the overall length is 5feet plus and not longer than my head if held in upright position. Following is link of two podao.

http://www.zhengzong.cn/html/71/n-571.html

http://blog.yinsha.com/index.php/441...ace_11601.html

It is very easy to identify podao in Chinese from above and they are similar in size to the one shown.

Landau

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## josh stout

> Mr.Josh Stout
> 
> I am sorry that my material is scholarly to understand. Please understand that your aim/suggestion to differentiate the two kinds of dao is scholarly and it is difficult not to discuss with documentary (if not scholarly) materials (including some simple Chinese).
> 
> Since you do not know Chinese, can you at least tell me the meaning of pu in your suggested term pudao?
> 
> Regarding yanlingdao(phoenix wing knife), thank you for your clarification of yan as goose. I must admit that my Manadrian sucks. Here comes another question which I would appreciate your answer.
> 
> Where did you get the translation of phoenix wing knife for yanlingdao?
> ...


I agree that the weapons in the last two links are podao, at least by the usual understanding.  Here is a link to a lengthy discussion on the topic in another forum (http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/ind...howtopic=18335) where the characters are given for the names, and where one of the posters roundly criticized me at the end for calling these weapons "podao".  They insist with apparently some evidence that the podao in Qing regulations applies to the "demon head chopper" I posted and not the long handled dadao like weapon we have been discussing.  That was why I was proposing the name "podao" for late and post-Qing weapons while "pudao" for the shorter Qing weapons.  I would be interested in your conclusions if you are able to sort through the lengthy discussion.

Please do not apologies for the scholarly approach you are taking, I applaud it as desperately needed, it just takes a little longer to sort through.

Regarding my confusing post on goose wing and phoenix wing shaped dao, I was merely trying to present the two names, but put one in English and the other in Chinese, so it looked like I was mistranslating the English.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  :Embarrassment: 

Sorry about that.

I think in relation to the discussion of yan=goose, yanmaodao and yanlingdao would be synonymous, please let me know if that is your understanding.  

So I think we are in agreement that podao is a useful and proper name for the longer weapons and later weapons we have been discussing, while zhanmadao would also include a broader range of similarly long handled dao. 

Thank you for your help.
Josh

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## Landau Lau

Thank you for the link you provided. Some of the Chinese materials trans-posted is very good. The author of one article had researched into so many old Chinese books as supporting documents and I can only say my deepest respect. Unfortunately, when I trace further the link to find out the original author, the link is no longer existing.

Yanlingdao
Ling in Chinese refers to the feather from the head and tail portion of a bird. It is a more specific and older word. Mao in Chinese is hair without specific implication of the object (human or bird or dog etc.), nor the portion of the object. 

Using yanmaodao will make the general people easy to understand but in long run, the historic aspect (source) of the name will evade. Right now, arent we facing the same problems?

朴刀
You are persistent on this subject, against which, according to my knowledge, a consensus is still not fully agreed in China (especially in a2 below). The present situation is still confusing. I can only provide you the following I learnt from the books and how I perceive/treat this subject. Unless I specified, Chinese characters are traditional Chinese.

(a). Followings are the set of books (2 per set) by Professor Ma Ming Tat collecting his various articles published in various locations/magazines in the past years. There is an article on 朴刀 and it includes various convincing references that I personally accepted.

http://www.lionbooks.com.tw/Detail.a...oductID=A-A113
http://www.lionbooks.com.tw/Detail.a...oductID=A-A114

 I accepted the followings:
(a1)  朴刀  is literally described to appear in Song dynasty.
(a2)  朴刀  in Song dynasty should be differentiated from 撲刀 in Qing dynasty.
(a3) In <<The Outlaws of Marsh>>, 朴刀 consists of a blade with a short handle and a stick. In some portion of the book, the blade with a short handle is written as 朴刀. In some portions of the book, the written 朴刀 refers to the combined blade and stick (i.e. the long version). I take the following extracted from Chapter 2 as example.
attach one Yanlingdao; shouldered the pack behind the back; hand carrying 朴刀; farewell the bandits, -----go down hill. Note that there is no mention of stick. If 朴刀 in this description refers to blade with short handle only, what made it necessary for the person to hand carry the 朴刀 and attach the Yanlingdao at the waist?
Another example from the last two paragraph of Chapter 1. The flames outside(the house) enables people to see a jungle of steel fork, 朴刀, five spike fork, ----. If 朴刀 is not the assembled version, how can it form a jungle with the other long weapons? Chinese literature is very demanding on vocabulary and the word jungle implies tall.
(a4) In the reserved historic books, Eighteen Weapons is intuitively implying official weapons recognized by government. The above mentioned steel fork, five spike fork etc. does not belong to The Eighteen Weapons also mentioned in Chapter 1 of <<The Outlaws of Marsh>>. Inclusion of 朴刀 into the above description implies it is civil weapon.

(b)Unfortunately, Professor Ma Ming Tat had not clarified the meaning and source of 撲刀 in Qing dynasty. I cannot find other materials of this 撲刀 and I presume he meant those 朴刀(simplified Chinese) we are now encountering, namely:
-    Overall length is maximum level to top of head.
-    Blade to hilt in 1:1.
-    Blade/hilt(internal portion)/ring in metal and constructed together.(difference from the 朴刀 of Song dynasty.
- Blade shape is broad with the front wider than the bottom portion. The front does not have point for effective thrusting. (polearm dadao is front point, narrow than the bottom portion).
-    Alias names as 雙手帶 (two hands weilder), (non Qing regulation) zhanmadao.

撲刀 is what I can remember as I loaned the books to others. I hope my memory is correct.

If you accept the above clarification, please accept my correction of my statement last time. The last picture you show to me is 撲刀. I will explain separately on my guess of the 朴刀 (simplified Chinese). 


Based on the above, I like to reflect my personal view/conclusion as follow:

(c) There is some confusion in the lengthly thread you provided. One cause of confusion is from the sole use of pronunciation of podao for communciation(without the symbols of vowels). Another cause of confusion is partly due to the lack of introduction of (a2) and partly due to the prevailing usage of 朴刀 (simplified Chinese) for the Qing/post Qing 雙手帶 (two hands weilder)  a grey (if not black) hole to me yet if (a2) is not accepted.

Narrow down to Podao (朴刀) in Song dynasty, my personal conclusion of podao is:
-    demountable
-    the blade with short handle is handy to carry and hide, and is farming tool.
-    The shape of the blade is still lack of picture and antique for validation.
-    朴刀 in this period of time refers to both the blade with short handle and also the fully assembled verson polearm.

I will separately write on the 朴刀 (simplified Chinese) as I find it very complicated to include traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese and pronounciation in Mandarian and English together into a writing.

Landau

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## josh stout

Once again, thank you for your help.  I think this is the best discussion to appear on this forum in a while.  

First a slightly off topic note: You say "ling" refers to the head or tail feather, which is a bit funny because the yanlingdao is exactly the shape of a primary wing feather.  Head feathers are short, and tail feathers are straight while most wing feathers have that distinctive upturned tip.  Just a note as a biologist, linguistically I am sure you are correct, and now I am much better informed.  

Your use of "Outlaws of the marsh" is quite interesting.  It was written in the Ming about the Song period, so the weapons are probably closer to Ming styles, but on the other hand, the Ming styles were copying the Song styles in the particular weapons we are talking about, so I think it is very appropriate.  I am suddenly gaining many insights into the design of these weapons.

I have seen questions before about the weapon with a removable handle, but they had always been dismissed as specialty martial arts weapons.  However, if one thinks of the pole arm type head seen on the Song shoudao (hand knife) and similar Ming phoenix wing dao, the similarities are quite apparent.  Also I think your relation of these weapons to agricultural tools is quite apt.  Hear is a quote from noted Chinese sword expert Phillip Tom:

"I think that the Song Dynasty shoudao, and its successors of "phoenix wing" shape seen on the numerous variations of the LONG HANDLED FALCHION (dadao, podao, and the various types in the HCLQTS), may well have an agricultural origin. Chinese farmers have been using large heavy knives of virtually identical shape to cut hay and other materials for centuries. They are still in use, judging from what I saw for sale in tool and farm supply shops on my trips to China. 

The only substantial differences between the farm and fighting versions are: 
1. The tools have short cylindrical handles, not the long grips that you see on the weapons. 
2. The tools have handles which are offset and oriented along the axis of the spine (like kitchen knives), not centered on the blade as in the case of weapons. 
3. The farm knives don't have guards."

So it seems that the origin of these weapons would be obvious to those living in China, and the confusion over the name podao stems from the idea that it is essentially the same weapon with various handle lengths. 

Can you give a transliteration of the last weapon I posted?   One name I have seen for a 3:1 handle: blade ratio is a Kanmadao, but I am still looking for what to call something with a 1.5:1 ratio.  

I am sure you have seen these pictures:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j65/pekhopai/newq.jpg

I am sorry to push so hard for names on weapons where the definitions are vague, but you have been so helpful, and there is really nothing useful written in English.  

Thank you for your help.
Josh

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## Landau Lau

Mr. Josh Stout

Can you provide any clue or picture of  the so called "phoenix wing" shape --- of the LONG HANDLED FALCHION mentioned in Philips Tom's quote?

Landau

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## josh stout

Well he was referencing Qing regulations, and there are two examples in the picture I posted a link to.  By phoenix wing shape, I think he is merely referencing the general shape of a clipped tip dadao.  I think I can also provide pictures of the phoenix wing Ming choppers with the short handles.
Josh

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## Thom R.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...umo/dadao1.jpg

This one I am still calling a dadao. what do you guys think? This dao has all of the classic attributes of a 20th century dadao except for the tip. Could be anywhere from late Qing to 1940s.  Most likely a KMT weapon, but the pommel is very crudely shaped.  It has a small original iron guard.  The edge looks to be inserted.

I am polishing this now and am finding some battle damage.  The pitting is not too deep. Tip has been rehammered. Blade may have been hit by a bullet. Overall though its one tough piece of steel and is eating up the stones.  tr

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## josh stout

I would agree that what you have is a dadao. 

A Chinese collector friend showed me a picture of something similar once that was a bit smaller than the typical dadao but still had the ring pommel.  She called it a torch head chopper.  

Regular dadao that have a bit more of a curve and show a flamboyant tip like yours are sometimes associated with ethnic Moslems from the north and west.

Many pieces seem to be coming in from the edges of China these days.
Josh

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## Thom R.

its all so interesting isn't it.  the communists were camped out in the nw after the long march so maybe its a PLA sword? Some minor forging flaws are coming out with the 220 stone, that, along with the crudely shaped ring and the flourishy tip - i think you are correct, a piece from the edge of the empire.  tr

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## Landau Lau

Mr. Josh Stout
I chased back the following book from my friend:

-   <<中國武術百科全書>>    (Encyclopedia of Chinese Wushu)
     ISBN 7  5000 6087  4, published  in Oct./1998, 723 pages

This book was compiled after 4 years under the Governments authorization and used a lot of professionals in  fields of history/wushu etc.. Page 314 to 317 recorded the pictures and drills of 扑刀(simplified Chinese).  It matches Professor Ma Ming Tats specific note to use 撲刀 for the Qing Greens Camp and post Qings equivalent. It is obvious that the two simplified Chinese words 朴 and 扑 are not used correctly in the public.

I attached two links of the pronunciation of 撲.(pu) and 扑(pu) which can mean beat/strike.

http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/7530.html

I summarized three pronounciations/traditional Chinese/simplified Chinese for comparision;

Podao/朴刀/朴刀

Pudao/撲刀/扑刀
Pudao/扑刀/扑刀  

So, summarise as follow:

Podao/朴刀/朴刀   -   For the ancient, sometimes in single handed version and sometimes                   in polearm version weapon firstly recorded in Song dynasty.

Pudao/撲刀/扑刀
Pudao/扑刀/扑刀  -  For the polearm version used in the Qing Green Camp and thereafter( the toppest 2 of http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j65/pekhopai/newq.jpg)
. Your picture http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...rent=dadao.jpg 
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...nt=0e79_12.jpg

I hope the above answered the first and original question (podao versus pudao)

 The following is answering your question regarding <<Outlaws of the Marsh>>(abbreviated as OOM hereafter).

Yuan dynasty lasted only 80 years. Weapons are prohibited. However, telling verbal story is very popular during this period and podao is 1 of the 18 categories used in the stories. There are many short stories recorded in Yuan dynasty. OOM is the book consolidating some of these short stories and polished in better writing/plotting etc..The degree of true reflection of Song dynasty is quite high. However, we have to research into other available documents to counter verify. In the lengthly Chinese article trans-posted by Yun, many  books of the short stories are listed.  Moreover, some books recording the communication between the Songs district officer and central government  related to podao is listed out. Many of those books are antique. So, OOM is the available material for easier and preliminary study of the Song dynasty.

I am sorry for my last mistake. I will categorize the following dandao(單刀). Dandao is short term of 單手刀 (single handed knife). Or 彎刀.
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...LoGrH1o-To.jpg
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation357.jpg
yanglingdao/willow leaf knife/ox tail knife.
When I use Dandao for the Kanata style knife while discussing Mings Shaolin monk( )Cheng Chun Dao, I am using it as similar as using Yanlingdao, paying respect to his naming it in his book. Otherwise, I will simply call it wodao(倭刀). In a book written by a Japanese on Chinese cold weapon, he has no problem to use this. People in Ming dynasty had to avoid using it because it may annoy the emporers facing the problems of Japanese pirates.

I will use 砍刀(kandao) as category
 for the short hilt, double-handed broad knife associated with the wars again Japanese in World War 2. Abbreviated usage of dadao from anti-Japanese dadao/29th army dadao creates confusion with long polearm dadao officially called dadao in the encyclopedia I mentioned above.

I am sorry for some mistake on the 2nd picture.

Best wishes

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## josh stout

Thank you are being a big help.  Isn't a dandao just a single knife as apposed to a shuangdao?  I usually see it in a martial arts context where movements may be done with one or two blades.  I forget what the translation of wodao is, but I think it is another general term.  I am a little confused by references I have seen connecting wodao to the Ming fight against the Japanese/Chinese pirates.  Is it the same thing that collectors call a qijiadao, a variant on the liuyedao?

I am sorry to not help in pinning down the names, but I appreciate your good work.
Josh

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## Landau Lau

Mr. Josh Stout

I attached link for pronounciation of 倭 (wo)- a not friendly  name for Japanese.

http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/3044.htm

So 倭寇  (wokou) means Japanese pirates.

I attached a link for wodao;

http://www.answers.com/topic/wodao

Please refer my previous thread for details of Mings Cheng Zongyou and his books.

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=78203

His book/manual about 倭刀 (Japanese knife) was originally named 單刀法選 (Selection of methods of Dandao). This name of book is clearly stated on the page 1 of the text. Thorough out the book, 單刀 (Dandao) is the name used after his noting of source/history/specification etc.. of this 單刀 (Dandao), modified from 倭刀 (Japanese knife). Dimensions specified by him is shorter than the equivalent 雙手刀 (Shuangsoudao) used by General Qi in his manual"Ji Xiao Xin Shu", although both are related to Japanese knife they encountered. Cheng Zongyou compiled this book for equipping/training infantry to carry his bow too. His other book introduces the bow. 單刀法選 (Selection of methods of Dandao) is one of the two books detailing the stances/usage tactics/movements of Japanese knife adopted/altered by Chinese. General Qis manual "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" contains drawings but not much words and explanation. The other (i.e. the third book is "The Collection of Hands and Arms" of which the details is seldom discussed in this forum.) I attached a link showing the drawings extracted from "The Collection of Hands and Arms".
http://www.cd.org.tw/becute/big5/arm/arm1.htm
http://www.cd.org.tw/becute/big5/arm/arm2.htm

So, 單刀 (Dandao) is a design name instead of category name when we discuss 單刀法選 (Selection of methods of Dandao). Please note the capital letter D. Nowadays, we use the name of Miaodao. When I discuss Cheng Zongyou, I use Dandao to preserve the original word/name as a respect. It is too bad that he becomes a Shaolin monk in this forum and some web page, :Confused: 

I attached a pronunciation of 窩 (wo). 窩刀 (wodao) is the design name of a polearm belonging to category of pudao. Please check Thomas Chens web site (Qings regulation weapons, the comparison chart). So, hereby, we have another example of confusion to rely solely on pinyin without the vowel symbols and Chinese. Even in verbal, Chinese conversation, there are situations that further clarification is necessary.

窩刀 (wodao) versus 倭刀 (wodao)

單刀 (Dandao) in<<單刀法選 (Selection of methods of Dandao)>>of Mings dynasty versus 單刀 (dandao) nowadays (abbreviated name of single handed dao).

單刀 (dandao) nowadays (single piece of dao) versus 雙刀 (pair or double dao).

(Qings Regulation) Zhamadao versus (non regulation) Zhamadao. Differentiating by hilt, the former is more appropriately classified to short arm while the latter is long arm. By category, the former is sabre and the latter is polearm. 

Pudao versus podao is not the only confusion in the field of Chinese cold weapons.

Please explore further from answers.com for the various weapon name. It is quite informative.

http://www.answers.com/topic/pudao

Regards
Landau

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