Hanwei Yang Saber - Based on Historical Design?
Jul 6, 2011 16:38:50 GMT
Post by Vincent Dolan on Jul 6, 2011 16:38:50 GMT
A little background for those unfamiliar with the sword: the Hanwei Yang Saber is a production sword based on a variation of the dao used (as far as I can tell) exclusively in Yang Taiji. Though I don't follow such things, from what I've gathered, there's a bit of controversy in the martial arts world as to whether or not it is a historical design or something new designed solely for Yang Taiji (with the rather heavy implications that this makes it inferior). This is an image of the sword below:
It's not hard to see why people think it's an ahistorical design, though that's part of what attracted me to it in the first place, but this isn't about that. This next bit's a bit long, so bear with me: I was reading the manga Rurouni Kenshin for, I don't know, the 12th time or so, and once more came across the character Yukishiro Enishi's Wato. Seeing as this sword was the inspiration for my Ithin design, I always take notice of it, particularly since it's a pseudo-Chinese sword in a manga devoted to Japanese swordsmanship (if in a fantastical way).
While reading, I took note of one particular scene in Chapter 204 where he holds it similar to the way one would hold a jian at the start of a form (grasping the guard, two fingers on the hilt with the blade pointing up) and was struck by the length. Considering the character is a Japanese man of roughly 22 years (his age is never explicitly mentioned that I recall), he'd be of unusual height to be 5'8", yet the sword is almost as tall as him; scaled to 58% on my screen, Enishi is 4" tall while his wato is 3.5" long over all. Even without doing the math, that's quite a blade. So, doing a bit of research, I found it was based, size wise, on a changdao, the predecessor of the more commonly known miaodao. The changdao was modified from an odachi (itself possibly based on the much earlier zhanmadao) after having it used against them by Japanese pirates.
Despite it fitting with both the depicted length (overall only; the changdao had a hilt roughly 1/3 its length whereas Enishi's wato has more of a katana length hilt, including jian style guard and pommel), as well as the basic history, I couldn't picture such a large sword being flicked around one handed the way Enishi does. Before you say it, yes, I know it's a manga and therefore, not really historical, particularly since it has the monstrous zanbato that makes Cloud's Buster Blade from FFVII look like a tooth pick, but I'm OCD like that. Then I took notice of something called a wodao, which I'd read about several times before, but never really paid much attention given the severe lack of information about them.
Wikipedia lists it as bearing a great resemblance to the zhanmadao, tachi, and odachi in form, but that extant examples have a 25.5cm hilt with a gently curving 80cm blade (making for a total of 105.5cm). Granted, since there are no depictions of any of these examples and my Google-fu is incapable of finding any images, I can't verify the truth of it. However, the measurements of the Hanwei Yang Saber are 105.5cm overall, 77.5cm, and a 28cm hilt. Its blade is gently curving and resembles a wide hira-zukuri style katana more than many other styles of dao.
I know it's a longshot, particularly considering the lack of information, but it seems to me the wodao could be the basis for the Yang saber. Thoughts or any extra info that could support or contradict the theory would be welcome.
*And yes, I am fully aware that was a lot to read; I apologize, but if I don't explain things fully, I feel like I sound air-headed, coming up with things out of the blue.
It's not hard to see why people think it's an ahistorical design, though that's part of what attracted me to it in the first place, but this isn't about that. This next bit's a bit long, so bear with me: I was reading the manga Rurouni Kenshin for, I don't know, the 12th time or so, and once more came across the character Yukishiro Enishi's Wato. Seeing as this sword was the inspiration for my Ithin design, I always take notice of it, particularly since it's a pseudo-Chinese sword in a manga devoted to Japanese swordsmanship (if in a fantastical way).
While reading, I took note of one particular scene in Chapter 204 where he holds it similar to the way one would hold a jian at the start of a form (grasping the guard, two fingers on the hilt with the blade pointing up) and was struck by the length. Considering the character is a Japanese man of roughly 22 years (his age is never explicitly mentioned that I recall), he'd be of unusual height to be 5'8", yet the sword is almost as tall as him; scaled to 58% on my screen, Enishi is 4" tall while his wato is 3.5" long over all. Even without doing the math, that's quite a blade. So, doing a bit of research, I found it was based, size wise, on a changdao, the predecessor of the more commonly known miaodao. The changdao was modified from an odachi (itself possibly based on the much earlier zhanmadao) after having it used against them by Japanese pirates.
Despite it fitting with both the depicted length (overall only; the changdao had a hilt roughly 1/3 its length whereas Enishi's wato has more of a katana length hilt, including jian style guard and pommel), as well as the basic history, I couldn't picture such a large sword being flicked around one handed the way Enishi does. Before you say it, yes, I know it's a manga and therefore, not really historical, particularly since it has the monstrous zanbato that makes Cloud's Buster Blade from FFVII look like a tooth pick, but I'm OCD like that. Then I took notice of something called a wodao, which I'd read about several times before, but never really paid much attention given the severe lack of information about them.
Wikipedia lists it as bearing a great resemblance to the zhanmadao, tachi, and odachi in form, but that extant examples have a 25.5cm hilt with a gently curving 80cm blade (making for a total of 105.5cm). Granted, since there are no depictions of any of these examples and my Google-fu is incapable of finding any images, I can't verify the truth of it. However, the measurements of the Hanwei Yang Saber are 105.5cm overall, 77.5cm, and a 28cm hilt. Its blade is gently curving and resembles a wide hira-zukuri style katana more than many other styles of dao.
I know it's a longshot, particularly considering the lack of information, but it seems to me the wodao could be the basis for the Yang saber. Thoughts or any extra info that could support or contradict the theory would be welcome.
*And yes, I am fully aware that was a lot to read; I apologize, but if I don't explain things fully, I feel like I sound air-headed, coming up with things out of the blue.
He's one of mine, too, especially for his watoujutsu, even if it is based almost entirely in fantasy (interestingly, the opposite of Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, which, except for the Doryuusen and Hiryuusen, is mostly realistic, if a bit exaggerated; in the case of his favorite move, Ryuutsuisen, the height of his jump is exaggerated while in Ryuukansen ~ Arashi, the somersault would probably be impossible to execute in battle).
