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Post by alientude on Dec 7, 2020 5:07:55 GMT
I'm working on a review of a Chinese sword (the Imperial Kiangxi Horsebane), and I want to use the correct terminology for the different parts of the sword. I've found some references online, but I'm not finding everything I want to reference, so figured I'd ask here.
First off, my thought is to refer to this sword as a dao. Is that correct?
The picture I'm referencing
There's some parts of the specific sword I'm looking at that aren't covered in the picture:
1) Where the sword sharply narrows towards the tip. Is that part of the sword called anything in particular? Does the exact spot where the angle starts have a name?
2) This sword appears to have what on a katana would be called a seppa between the hushou and the blade. Is there a word for that piece?
3) What about the blade itself? Is it the gu? Or is that specifically about the area between the bei and ren?
4) In the picture above, the tiliang is specifically said to be a suspension bar. In the sword I'm looking at, there's no bar, but two rings with a spot for the tiliang'gu. Would these still be called tiliang? Is there a specific name for this type of ring wrapped around the scabbard?
Thanks for any help you can provide!
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Dec 7, 2020 5:28:46 GMT
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Post by alientude on Dec 7, 2020 5:45:53 GMT
That's a great resource, thanks. If I do get the correct terms, I'll include translations/my descriptions of the parts to make sure it's understandable (and for my own sake when writing it, honestly).
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Dec 7, 2020 9:58:13 GMT
The already-linked www.mandarinmansion.com/article/glossary-chinese-saber-terminology gives you 3 different choices of name for the suspension bands. AFAIK, 刃 (ren) can be used for both the edge and the blade in general. Since it isn't a Chinese type of sword, I don't see it being so important to try to use Chinese terminology. The description of the sword isn't entirely accurate. First, it isn't a "horse chopping sword". It has a similar blade profile to Song horse chopping swords, but it's much smaller. Second, it's misleading to say that this type of sword was most popular during the reign of Kangxi, and therefore it's named after him - the sword is unique, and he owned it. The sword has more in common with SE Asian dha than with Chinese swords. Might have come from Yunnan.
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