Rediscovering the Chinese Longsword

First of all "broadsword" is also a misnomer. It should be just "dao". butterfly knife is "hu die shuang dao" note " hu die is butterfly and shuang means double as they are normally used together.



you're right dan means single.



pls do! after all this thread is about Chinese sword history!

the book was published before standard romanization was established so you can imagine there is a lot of variation in earlier references to Chinese language.

dao simply means any single edge blade from kitchen knife to pole arms. It doesn't have to be broad bladed. Just to cross reference, note "nihonto" to=dao. the Chinese character and kanji are one and the same.

One important note is that I am using standard Mandarin Chinese pinyin (pronunciation) just because it is now the generally accepted form internationally. "darn" would most likely be from the Cantonese dialect which is prevalent among Southern Chinese martial arts. I speak both so I understand the confusion to nonspeakers. ;D It also shows the much needed standardization that Chinese martial arts needs.

good to hear! That was the point of the thread!

I'm not familiar with that book but from the description I'd say it focuses more on the forms and movements and not so much on the sword itself.

However, here's a good site about Chinese sword history in general:

thomaschen.freewebspace.com/

The pictures worked!
This one is from Men-at-arms Series Medieval Chinese Armies 1260-1520:
Drilling with the two-handed sword, after Wu Pei Chih.


these are from the book Chinese Weapons

PREFACE
CHINESE WEAPONS was originally published in 1932 by Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch, Peking. It is interesting to note that just two days after the proof of the book had been delivered to the publisher, Japanese bombs destroyed the Commercial Press along with the author's original manuscript and the plates, which were ready for the final printing. Had delivery of the proofs been delayed two days, the book might never have been published.

Dao is used by both untrained and trained warriors throughout China, though there are more untrained warrior/bandit who use Dao more than Jian, this is simply because Jian is a mean of Class, only high class were given (pei) Jian.

Dao is more fearsome and easy to practice since it's single edged.

Unlike Dao, Jian is more for the 'good' people as it is more graceful in performance and requires strength for combat as you would have to defend yourself single handed (occasionally Jian is hold by two hands).

Arghhh...You Tube won't play the video for meeeeeeeeeeee




EDIT: Nevermind! I'm a spaz!