I kinda love that the Chinese Tang Dao inspired the current design of Katana’s (historical meaning not current meaning), which later in itself reinspired Chinese and Korean swords. It’s poetic in a sense.
Japanese swords have been industrialized. So it's not long since you can't find the corresponding cultural relics unearthed. But Tang swords were found in the imperial collection.
Thank you for including the tactical context and comparing it to a relevant example in Europe: the reality of archers in combat is very different to the way they are often portrayed, even in military histories.
Great overview Matt! I'm long overdue to do a formal review of the LKChen Crossbowman's dao (I do have a video comparing it to 3 of the other Long Dao's cutting power if you'd like to check it out ;) I'm in the middle of putting together a video talking about the very thing you're discussing, with the trade of swords between Japan and China during the Ming, so just to add to what you already discussed, as far as "official" trade is concerned, we have the ledgers from the Japanese side showing that a total of 128,000 swords across 10 different missions from 1432 to 1539. This is a preview of what I will discuss in detail but note that while both Tachi and Katana and Wakizashi are mentioned, Tachi are overwhelmingly represented in the inventories (think on the order of 3000:1) and that over the century or so as the Japanese kept trying to sneak past the import restrictions being controlled by the Imperial Ming Court, the buying price started to come way down, to the point that it seemed like it wouldn't be very profitable a trade for "normal' quality Tachi, suggesting that later trades were low quality swords (which may explain why so few survive on the continent now). Cheers Matt!
Don’t forget that the Ming Army fought the Japanese alongside the Koreans during the Imjin War (Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea toward the end of the 1500’s). Would be curious to know whether this adaptation of a Japanese blade style was from that period of fighting the Japanese in an actual land battle rather than naval warfare against pirates.
The Ming solution to the Japanese on land involved pike formations, cannons, and mass recruitment of aboriginal mercenaries from their southern territories. The combination left the Japanese outranged and outreached by the artillery and pikelines, while the native troops were kept ready for deployment into close combat if the samurai broke through. Most of the cqc infantry I'm familiar with from that conflict are rocking polearms or sword and board, though since this is apparently a secondary weapon I'm not shocked I haven't heard of it.
@@KartarNighthawk One key thing about Ming pike advantage, mentioned by one of the Japanese commanders was that Chinese soldier held their pikes more towards the end of the shaft so they had more range even if the pikes were about the same length. Plus Chinese solders were taller.
This blade types was introduced as part of the Ming military arsenal not from the Imjin War period, but from the period when Japanese plus Chinese pirates were intensely raid the Chinese coast line, roughly around 1553-1567, around 30 years before Imjin War.
From what I learned, Japan have been paying tributes to the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the Ming Admin always gives gifts back to anyone who come to pay tribute, so that's effectively a form of trading. The Japanese thus, particularly Ouchi clan, benefited a lot from selling lesser grade quality katana to Ming for silks. Nevertheless, Ming were still very impressed by the katanas and there exist several poems to praise them.
I always feel showing Aikidoka footage is not a great help ^^' The man is so *superb* at cutting - I swear, he could cut double tatamis with a sharpened spoon - that, as an amateur, it's almost impossible to parse wether the sword was actually difficult to cut with.
@@fitemeirlm8069 probably the longer the sword the bigger the hand guard. I do notice the Chinese tend keep their hand guards a bit bigger for their one handed daos compared to the katana though.
@@MarkMiller304 You would think so, but it doesn't quite track. Shorter weapons often had similarly large-ish hand guards, and most of these weapons have been refitted with smaller ones as those came in vogue. Newer koshirae tend to be more ornate than the older ones as well. Of course, there are exceptions, but just a sorta general observation.
Captain Context does it again! Fascinating video, thank you. I know it's not your area of expertise but I would love a follow-up video on Chinese Crossbows and their use (especially the repeating crossbow).
@@HistoricalWeapons yeah but the range will still be abysmal, unless you use a static turret. You can barely aim the thing and you will only kill directly if the enemy isn't even wearing any thick clothing. Pretty much all the Japanese recorded casualities from the repeater involved poision, and also ambush(low range). The thing was popular during the Ming as a self defense weapon for women against small animals.
Definitely search for 戚繼光 for the ming history fighting against Japanese pirate. He is also the author of 辛酉刀法. One of the very few manuals that still preserves until now
Nice video. Here is a fun trivia for those of you who don't know: katana or dao are both written by the same kanji or chinese character 刀。In other words, they are conceptually the same general type of weapon (one-sided blade) but with different pronounciations in these two languages.
The first Japanese swords *were* Chinese, however by the Ming Dynasty (c.1300 and the era discussed in the video) the single edged, curved tachi had been in use by the Japanese for around 400+ years
Japanese pirate: Aha! I have katana! Chinese crossbowman: Aha! But I have longer super-katana! Japanese pirate: Aha! But I have longer nodachi! Chinese crossbowman: Aha! But I have crossbow! Japanese pirate: Dammit! I left my yumi on the ship!
Id love to review the crossbowman dao but i don’t think it’s standard weapon for crossbowmen back then. The illustrations likely depict an anomaly of how crossbowmen can fight better in a melee but they were often issued with shorter melee weapons
Why not? It´s very similiar to one handed dao sabre which were often used. Sure, they probably didnt carry this specifical blades but it has been standrd to have some side arm even as archer - it could be short dao, long knife or axe probably.
@@krystofcisar469 sources of volleyfire of Ming dynasty show crossbowmen with dagger sized melee weapons and musketeers with wo Yao dao (smaller Japanese blades) the reason is such expensive large Japanese blades are a waste if given to missile troops not intended for melee combat.
I am glad I discovered your channel (thanks to Napoleon's cuirassiers!) I admire the way you present every weapon, the enormous researched you do (which shows in each presentation) and your attention to detail and historical accuracy. I am very much like that and I spent countless hours researching my subject before writing. Have a nice day. Regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
There are various treatise on fighting with these weapons in formation. So not only were they ranged unit they were to be treated almost like a section of polearms and there are numerous techniques for engaging horses at the individual and at the formation level.
from what the historical manual I read, it's mostly recommend as side arm for musketeers and archers, the size is just right, for main melee troops pike or sword&shield are more recommended, as they should
@@hanliu3707 The "Wodao" is not unique to just ming era tho and it's use and design changes slightly throughout the eras. Example this same/similar weapon system in the qing era is called a "miao dao" the blade design has changed slightly (more taper, sometimes even more length) but the purpose remained same (smash the Japanese) and many of the techniques. The archers of the tang carried "mo dao" in similar fashion to the ming described in this video. Then u have the song dy
Matt, If you ever get a chance to handle a katana made for competition cutting, I know you will fall in love with it. They are generally on the longer size for a katana. But what really makes them special is the width of the blade. They are often twice as wide as a regular version. They feel so good when you swing them and even better when actually cutting. Going through a single tatami mat feels more like cutting a small milk jug. It's almost like you didn't hit anything.
The sword reminds of Qi Jiguang. You should look up the Mandarin Duck formation against Japanese pirates. No doubt, that this sword was inspired by encounters with Japanese pirates during his time.
Hey Matt, great video! For some reason I really lile that bright yellow handle wrap, it's something different for sure. Are you planning on doing a review for the LK Chen rapier? There's a lack of good mid range rapier reproductions on the market right now
5:40 And 10:42 If you look at the nakago of many antique katana you can see that the older meguki hole is 5-6 inches below the currently used mekugi hole. Assuming the two holes had the same distance from the mune-machi, it would tell us that it was not uncommon for Japanese sword blades to be in the mid 30in range, contrary to what he says. It is when you approach a blade length of roughly 40in+ would you begin to question if it is big O-katana or a small nodachi Edit: many other nakago had the older hole cut clean off during shortening so this would also apply to nakago that have evidence of being shortened (like only seeing part of the swordsmith’s name or an unshaped end of the tang) but have no older hole
@@scholagladiatoria so this example is basically if a Chinese smith tried to recreate a muromachi period katana with Chinese fitting/construction; not trying to make a longer sword to counter the katana. I think when they mention “smashing the Japanese pirates” they refer more to the miao dao as that was their response to, or their way of competing with, the nodachi. Also did you mean to say Japan here 10:25 ? Also also correct me if I’m just seeing things, but in this illustration 11:43 it looks like the sword is just tucked into the belt like a katana would
@@outsideiskrrtinsideihurt699 - A number of sword technique menu of that period acclaimed to general Chick passed down in the kung fu circle. I learned his straight sword menu and yil do menu some 50 years ago. It was all about technique and no mentioning of the weapon itself being superior to Japanese swords, or any ability from weapon or profile design that is particularly capable of smashing Japanese sword. Dai do is said to be able to smash Japanese sword or saber. That is a matter of WW2 and not shown to be so regarded earlier than WW2.
There was a law in 1638 Feudal Japan, that limitated the lenght for a katana to 84.8 cm and wakizashi were restricted to a length of 51.5 cm , thus some longer blades were shortened to comply with the law.
My favorite part of that is how it resulted in swordsmiths starting to make absolutely huge odachi swords specifically as shrine offerings, which were exempt from that law. Very big nihontou are considerably more difficult to make, so this was a way for the smiths to show off their skills.
@@LucianoSilvaOficial True, but that's also kinda unfortunate. I have to wonder how many unaltered koto tachi would have survived if they hadn't done that. :(
Interesting. It reminds me of an example of Ming Chang Dao sold by and is recorded in the inventory of Mandrin Mansion. It looks very much like this replica but slightly shorter, somewhat lighter and with a point of balance that is way more further away from the handle (24.5cm in specific). I wonder what the “average” stats of this type of sword really is.
Rhomann Dey: Matt Eastman. He's also known as Captain Context. Nova Corps Officer: Who calls him that? Rhomann Dey: Himself, mostly. ...no disrespect intended. 😁 Just that particular thought marble pinged through the circle in unexpected directions. Love the dissertation!
I’d love to see a video on cleaning and maintenance of arms and armour both historically and a ‘how to’ for the modern collector/reenactor! Asking for a friend 😂
that smile on the Chinese fellow though, like: "check out my MASSIVE sword. It's so big that I have to grab it by the blade to be able to sheath it, lol"
Want to clear up one misconception: There are two big types: tachi and uchigatana Latter is referred to by most westerners as just "katana", which caused a confusion since I see a lot of people, even scholars think that "katana" and "uchigatana" are separate sword types. In reality, uchigatana is a katana and tachi is also a katana, gunto is a katana and even chokuto is a katana, katana being not a type of Japanese sword, but a very general term for single-edged sword (same as chinese word "dao").
Thank you for the video. I have a few things I would like to add. Chinese Ming soldiers were trained to use the long sword (chang dao in your video) after their spears were completely defeated by the Japanese long katana (tachi). However, there is no record of Ming soldiers using their long swords to defeat Japanese long swords. In fact, Japanese swordsmen were defeated by the Mandarin Duck formation. Today, many schools claim that their type of long sword is from the Ming dynasty military or Japan at the time. However, a very simple way to test their claim is to see if their long sword system can deal with long spear, as what astonished Ming troops at that time. So far, no one has been able to do this. This long sword (tachi) art has been lost in both Japan and China long time ago.
Long swords were isolated cases. Most chinese troops esp southern chinese troops were armed with single handed slightly curved swords in the Mandarin duck formation. Look at Yanmaodao. Those are native chinese curved swords.
Well in the first place Katana itself was evolving from an earlier origin " Tang dynasty " style swords, which the Japanese improved and infused with its own cultural interpretation. The habaki itself already existed as " Tunkou" in the Tang Dao. The tsuba of most katana evolved from the sword guard of Tang Dao as well plus later added native innovation of their own. The Japanese took whats best of Tang style culture and evolved from there to make it distinct their own later on including its infantry armoury. Have to credit the Japanese from what seemingly adoption into something different of their own.
"this is a crossbowman's Dao" (shows illustration of a man holding the blade by the spine in order to sheathe it) "there is also a *larger* guard's version" [One-Winged Angel increases in volume]
Interestingly enough, similiar swords were imported and manufactured in Vietnam, likewise inspired by Japanese who mainly arrived in Hoi An as well as "Japanese" Wokou pirates.
Yeah, I was about to order the tang dao then I saw this one on their site and this video sealed the deal for me, it has very similar dimensions and weight to a longsword so I did expect of it to handle the same way plus I need one 'katana' style sword I guess, so the Tang dao will have to wait my next order, I'm getting this one.
I do think it's fascinating that in roughly the same period that Genoese crossbowmen were doubling down on shields to the point of having a pavise-bearer, the Chinese went completely the other way and said "screw it, give them massive swords".
The Chinese phrase from more than 2000 years ago goes "learn the best from the enemy to defeat them" (師夷之常以制夷), which came from when a Han nation adopted Mongolian clothing and archery to fight back.
@@FistsofGodfrey Lots of issues like this; where each clause is true, but the strung together sentence doesn't follow, when it comes to stories about Chinese history. Two major issues: 1. The average Chinese person is really about as good at Chinese history as the average Englishman is about their own (which is to say, Victorian romanticization and pop-history ahoy! I'm not immune to this.). 2. Western scholarship and translation into Chinese history is often really bad, and subject to our own pop-history biases. Also conflation of ethnicities - 2300 years or so, Zhao did adopt pants and nomadic horse-riding traditions to bolster their military forces, but said nomads aren't Mongols. They're Xiongnu; which contained many ethnicities, a small amount of which may have been the ancestors to the Mongols (in the form of the Xianbei). Same problems recursively apply to every other culture through every other lens. Is why actual subject experts like Matt Easton, when talking about the aspects of history they're educated in (ex. Napoleonic era for Matt), are a breath of fresh air.
Hoi Mat - I was messing around with some alternative history designs for armour and I designed one for Celtic or Gaulish warriors - it basically looks like armour out of swirling bars : an light armour that looks like a suit of bracelets or a full body basket hilt - why didn't anybody try something like this?
Thin and light metal bends and doesn't do anything to stop crushing, heavy blows, if it's at risk of moving a slice might slip through between the movements. To say nothing of the metallurgy to bend steel into irregular shapes and having those shapes stand up to abuse. I saw a similar idea from a grid of rebar for post-apoc, it has issues but is better than nothing against slashing weapons
@@terrydavis5924 all that is true, but those things also go for a lot of ancient armour and light armour types of later eras. The question remains: why didn't they try it?
Interesting how the main difference between the crossbowman dao and the katana seems to be how they're hilted. Remind me of how falchions and messers got their hilts
1:04 Great! Another language which like German differentiates between double-edged swords and single-edged knives and sabres. The German wiki page describes the dao as a 'Chinese sabre' because it is not a sword, at least not in Chinese or German.
Differential Hardening has been seen on Chinese swords going back to the Han dynasty; it is not a stark as Japanese style, and in chinese it is called shuangxue (霜雪, frosty snow).
@@dlatrexswords Differential hardening is indeed used in China. Though the method seems to be different from that of the Japanese (for example, no clay is involved) as far as I know.
Outside I skrrt Inside I hurt - smash the Japanese refers to winning over instead of cutting or breaking their weapon. It is very hard to break any weapon to pieces or sections. Even when a katana is so hardened as to be brittle at the edge, the soft part is still tough and hard to break.
Wish we could get similarly priced quality replicas of western swords...but then I guess the the single edged blades are easier. Thankfully SOMEONE has started working with Windlass and LK Chen to get some quality replicas out there...
Go, Captain Context! Learnt as much about Japanese as Chine swords in this video! When you mimic carrying the sword in a sash, you show the blade dow. The pictures you show along with this show the edge up. I suppose the pictures are correct and this was just a mind-slip on your side?
A combination of Piracy which had been going on since the 13th century, as well as regulated trade with the Ming court starting with emperor Yǒnglè (永楽帝, r. 1402-1424) who relaxed foreign trade restrictions enough that Japan could start 'selling' swords to the imperial court.
no , it only been appear / use after the fight with the wokou end with the win of 戚 繼光 and only been use by him to against mongols but for a short time
In the Imjin War, China's primary response to Japanese swords is not to copy them but to hold them off with lines of pikemen. The only guys who ever seem to have engaged with the Japanese sword to sword with any regularity were aboriginal mercenaries equipped with swords and shields, who were used as shock troops while the Han Chinese held the line.
Matt, have you ever seen the film The Sword Identity? It's a weird martial arts film, that's not too old. I believe it's entirely fictional, I think. But it's premise is about an art developed to fight Japanese swords, resulting in a weird hybrid blade. Check it out.... it's odd but interesting. The blade is supposedly only sharp at the end. And, the art supposedly is based on pole arts instead of sword arts.
This sword, and generally historically speaking, would this have been heat treated like a Japanese sword and more like to take a bend, or more like to flex?
actually, the word dao is the same word used for katana Owo which is often referred to as knives, or any blade that only has a single edge, regardless of length you also have to consider, edo era katanas are kind of a revival of the old tradition, so a lot of them are kind of a high grade replica of the lost techniques used in the sengoku era they also standardized the length of the blade due to the implementation of laws regarding swords, unlike back in the older era where all is fair in love and war, there are no standard length and people just forge the sword to best fit them did you also know that the early japanese swords where the katana was derived from are inspired from chinese swords? the japanese didn't have swords until they were introduced by the chinese and koreans, they do have knives back then, but not swords. because warfare wasn't a necessity back then. and one of the early swords that were made (and inspired from china) are ceremonial ones. you will notice a lot of the older swords like the tachi have a different pommel design. and most of these are because the design originated from china but i did heard of these "katana busters" from the older generations. and from what i've heard, it is basically a one-upped version of the katana on the sole purpose on having an advantage against japanese pirates
It's basically like what the Romans did back then. During the late Roman Republican era, when the Romans saw Celtic Rectangular shields and short swords, they immediately drop the Greek style of fighting and adopt their enemy's equipment then developed manipular system. Then, Rome transitioned into an Empire in 1st century AD, the Romans quickly made long sleeve shirts and long trousers as standard combat uniforms as they offer better protections against weather elements. During 2nd century, when the Romans encounter German, Persian and Sarmatian way of fighting, they decided to adopt rounded/oval shields, long swords, better helmets and heavy cavalry, then they evolved into the ones seen in 3rd century crisis. In the nutshell, if you can't beat them, join them.
Something of note: the illustrations you showed had them carried blade up just like Japanese swords. Of course, the illustration at 11:45 ALSO shows the soldier seeming to draw the sword out by its blade, which makes me wonder how much the illustrator knew about swords.
In the illustration where they grab the blade is to my understanding technique to quickly draw or sheath sword so long its difficult for you to do in one motion, and can be even impossible aa the sword is fixed to your belt since you dont have long enough arms, so you first pull by the handle or just push it out using disc guard exposing some of the blade then grab the blade, and pull the rest out. The illustration is i think for using even longer blades than this, and the full manuscript is basicly all the different steps, and motion illustrated in military manual. When you look at the person compared to the sword it looks like the sword is as ling as that dude so hes using the larger version Matt also mentioned
Very roughly speaking yep! The other thing to say is that whilst in Japan, China went into 'butcher cleavers - the sword' with the Song dynasty, and then what appears to be a minor cultural apocalypse which led to the loss of most Chinese two-handed swordsmanship thanks to the Mongols, so when the 'Japanese' (read: Specific Japanese domains sponsoring what was eventually a mixture of Chinese, Japanese and Korean pirates known as the Wokou/Wako/etc.), it returned to fertile ground.
As a result of literature research, there is no evidence to prove that Japan's "Golden Silver Zhuang Tang Guang Sword" was imported from the Tang Dynasty. 考据的主要依据是日本正仓院之藏品“金银钿庄唐大刀”，不过没有证据证明该品是从大唐进口，只能说它属于中国风格。 The essence of Japanese style is obviously very different from Tang style. 但本质上的日本风格明显 和唐风是迥然不同的 Existing sword called tan dao does not exist in China, only in Japan. In China there were people doing research on the Tang Dynsaty Long Sword of China. Investigations revealed that the swords in Tang Dynsaty's paintings and ruins had only straight blades. The official name of the sword called tan dao in Japan is kin gin den kazari no kara tachi.(金銀鈿荘唐大刀). The name means tachi（大刀）, decorated in Tang Dynsaty style（鈿荘唐） with gold（金） and silver（銀）. The answer was there from the beginning. Tang Dynsaty Long Sword of China(唐大刀) is a clipped and redacted name. Mongolia imported katana from Japan after the war. China imported katana in the 10th century. There are primary sources about samurai and katana written by Mongolians. Mongolian scholar Zheng Si-xiao (1241-1318)."Japanese are brutal and not afraid of death. Even if ten Japanese people encounter 100 enemies, they will fight against them. If they don't win, they all fight until they die.katana is extremely sharp. " 鄭思肖『心史』中興集 元韃攻日本敗北歌 倭人狠不懼死，十人遇百人亦戰，不勝俱死，不战死，歸亦為倭主所殺。倭婦甚烈，不可犯。幼歲取犀角刈 小珠，种額上善水不溺，倭刀極利，地高險難入，可為戰守计。 Mongolian scholar Wang Yun (1228-1304)"Japanese soldiers are equipped with bows, katana, and armor.There was no spear. The cavalry are united.katana is long and extremely sharp. All the soldiers are brave and do not seem to be afraid of death. " 秋澗先生大全文集 (四部叢刊本)/卷第四十 而過但弓以木為之矢雖長不能逺人則勇敢視死不畏 escription of Trade between Japan and the Yuan Dynasty (日元貿易). Exported goods from Japan were gold, silver, copper, mercury, sulfur, swords, fans, raden (shell inlay) and makie (Japanese lacquer sprinkled with gold or silver powder) . Japanese swords were cherished as arms in the Yuan Dynasty and continued to be exported to the Chinese continent in the future generations.
Years ago I read a story entitled (I think) How Much Land Does A Man Need? Interesting twist at the end. How about a presentation on How Many Swords Does A Man Need? You are one of the best channels on U Toob. Cheers!
The Japanese used Tachi in the Imjin Wars against the Ming Dynasty in Korea, not Katana, which is much later in the Edo period… Imjin wars happened right after the senggukojidai… The Ming fight against Japanese ronin piracy started almost 100 years before Imjin Wars (during the sengguokojidai, where Tachi was used exclusively in combat). Ming miao dao was made therefore to match up to the much longer Tachi in combat.
Interesting that crossbow men used such a long sword, perhaps strategically similar to the way Welsh longbowmen carried a maul in battle. (Spelling corrected). You might bre interested in checking out some videos of the Chinese martial art Xin Yi (or Shin I, not to be confused with Xing Yi or Shing I). It's an odd looking art, but I have it on good authority that it's Ming dynasty military training. It has some very peculiar stances, but if you imagine those stances with a flagged spear or halberd, they make a lot more sense. Also, some of the hallmarks of the style, including aggressive forward actions, moderate lateral motions and virtually no retreating, really apply well to soldiers performing in ranks.
Hello, tried to look for that Ming dynasty military training art that you were talking about but searches drew a blank. Are you referring to the 32 Postures of Qi Family Boxing which was supposedly created by Qi Jiguang himself?
@@philipchan2466 The Qi family form looks really interesting! But tradition has it that Xin Yi was created by legendary General Yu Feh. The Full name of the style is Xin Yi Liu He. I found an old video of someone doing the kind of moves I had in mind: ua-cam.com/video/ddaidhHPra4/v-deo.html
@Braindazzled Xing Yi Quan (pronounced more like Ying Yi) is a super important martial art in Chinese history because they created the form for which every spear form even up to modern day wushu forms where based off of. All of the basic chinese spear principles come from Xing Yi. Xing yi is considered an internal martial art, like Tai Chi and Buagua Zhang, but unlike the tai chi and buagua understanding of chi, energy where the use the circle principle, Xing yi Quan is more of a straight force and forces more on rebounding and deflecting.
Didn't the Chu Dynasty give the Qin a hard time and were notorious for using halberds or pikes and 2-hand "Great Jians"? Would the Great Jian be any good against the nodachi?
The Tang Heng Dao is a straight and single-edged sword that directly influenced the creation of the Katana-style weapons in Japan. It was the top peak high-quality weapon used during the Chinese medieval golden age under the Tang Dynasty. later the Japanese created Katana after that , few hundred or thousands years later , in Ming Dynasty , created curved swords inspired by the Katana. can really say this sword was created by *"China-Japan Inc"* .
Ming were alrdy using curved sword with the broadness towards the tip before they start producing copies of katana. Heck, these kinda one and half handle slightly curved sword were used in the Song dynasty.
Ming China also fought against Hideyoshi's forces when he decided to do a massive invasion on Joseon Korea from 1592 to 1598. They would have most certainly encountered just about every kind of Japanese weapon that existed at the time. Korea later made the Hwando which is essentially a one handed Katana. Early versions of these swords were actually made from Katana that were left behind after the Hideyoshi's invasions and the Koreans would start manufacturing their own keeping to the style of Japanese blades and Korean soldiers kept using them till the end of Joseon Korea.
There is no Korean sword in history. Only Chinese weapons appeared in the ancient Korean peninsula 朝鮮 (major Chinese soldiers used or low -level Korean slaves). The ancient Koreans were " white clothes Ethnic 白衣民族". They were very poor. Traditional Korean costumes were white and women exposed nipples. They did not make curved wood and any metal technology. Therefore, ancient Korean women used their heads to move things. * ancient Korean peninsula = 朝鮮 in Chinese history
Historically. Every Korean king 朝鮮王 and noble clan claim to be the Chinese 漢人( identified by identity). They think the Chinese emperor as their parents. . The official language is Chinese and classical Chinese. Today, Korean ancestors are the indigenous "white clothes Ethnic" recorded in the ancinet Peninsula 朝鮮(today korea area) in history. Their "Ethnic" clothes are pure white (no dyes and patterns) and korean women's clothes to expose nipples. Korean women use their heads to move things. Their language is Korean. Their culture is very primitive and backward (until 1890, Westerners arrived).
The Ming military already encountered Japanese style swords during the Wokou incursions in the Jiajing era. Qi Jiguang basically took this particular design (the changdao aka copy of odachi) and used in not only on the south but took it with him when he was transferred back north. The longer blade and handle made it useful as a secondary weapon to slash at the horses legs. Similar in purpose to the zhanmadao from the Song era.
조선의 4번째 왕 세종대왕때 부터 일본에서 카타나를 만드는법을 배워온 사람들이 있었음 임진왜란이 일어나기 150년전임 조선직업 군인은 만주족과 의 접경지대 에서 복무하였는데 북방으로 가기전에 남부지방 부산에서 일본인 들에게서 카타나를 사서 개조했다는 기록이 있음 조선 환도 중 많은수가 카타나를 환도로 개조한 것임 1510년 조선에서 삼포왜란이 일어나기 전까지는 일본과의 무역하는곳 이 3군데 였음 그중에 제일 큰곳은 일본인 2500명이 거주 하였음 이들은 왜구 해적이었지만 조선에서 살면서 무역을 하고 한번씩 반란도 일으키곤 하였음 임진왜란 일어나기 최소한 150년 전에도 조선에서도 일본도를 만들고 일본인이 만든 카타나가 유통되고 있었음 임진왜란 때 이순신 장군의 칼도 일본에서 카타나를 만드는 법을 배운 조선인이 만든 카타나 이고 임진왜란 이전에 일본에 사신으로 간 군인이 일본에서 카타나를 구입하고 와서 임진왜란때 카타나를 들고 싸웠음
The hwando existed before this but were modified during the war. For example, they tended to be longer in the decades after the war whereas they were shorter before. That being said, they tended to vary in size already.
North east Asian hilts typically follow a broad straight forward overall design opposite design logic to the tight fitting restrictive hilts of Central Asian/ Indo persian swords
Most likely during the Wako period all the way to Imjin Waeran 1592 - 1598... most likely those were Tachi and Handachi ( Tachi worn with edge facing up) Han means half while dachi is synonymous with Tachi. Probably early form of Uchigatana ( similar to katana ofmodern version) might had already been around as well.
@@AveragePicker i have and he has no video on this topic... Infact as far as i can find one small youtuber from 7 years ago is the only one who has done a video on this
@@theromanorder While he might not have a video specifically about that topic, it's one he's covered several times. Just look up his videos on basket hilts and hand protection in general.
@@theromanorder Not really sure what you are looking for in this regard but he does have a lot of videos on hilts and changes. There are cases where you might have to look at a specific video for a single piece of info like hilt changes for calvary charges.
I want that katana... It's so perfect for what I been looking for.. After watching Matt Jensen sooo much lately... I just don't like the ones he been showing.. But this looks just my type
Tang technology as all things Japanese has a tang origin. Proof? Look at the Japanese castles of Japan, they still have tang engineers mark signature. Example: Katana was built based on the design of 唐刀 (Tang Dao) since Sui Dynasty when Japan sent diplomatic teams to China, the “遣隋使” (ambassadors sent to Sui) brought some of them back. The Tang Dao is a term which is invented in recent years, while in the past there was no such term, it means narrow, straight, single edged saber used in the Sui and the Tang Dynasty, it was developed from the 环首刀 (Huanshou Dao) in the Han Dynasty.
im an amateur with leathercraft, vegan leather isnt really that different from veg tan leather or otherwise in terms of being a wrap, it does keep the cost of the sword slightly lower
Taiwanese here, the Japanese pirates were called 倭寇 (woco) aka "short pirates" or "miget pirates", the average Chinese were much taller (still is) and thus their copied version of the katana here would be longer. This is one of the things that most people do wrong with katana these days, even the Japanese, is that they are all using "short" swords, the average blade length is about 2 尺 (shaku / 30.3cm) 3-4 寸 (sun / 3.03cm) back in the day but with modern Japanese heights most blade lengths should be close to 3 尺 (shaku) or 90.9cm long.
I kinda love that the Chinese Tang Dao inspired the current design of Katana’s (historical meaning not current meaning), which later in itself reinspired Chinese and Korean swords. It’s poetic in a sense.
Japanese swords have been industrialized. So it's not long since you can't find the corresponding cultural relics unearthed. But Tang swords were found in the imperial collection.
Thank you for including the tactical context and comparing it to a relevant example in Europe: the reality of archers in combat is very different to the way they are often portrayed, even in military histories.
Great overview Matt! I'm long overdue to do a formal review of the LKChen Crossbowman's dao (I do have a video comparing it to 3 of the other Long Dao's cutting power if you'd like to check it out ;)
I'm in the middle of putting together a video talking about the very thing you're discussing, with the trade of swords between Japan and China during the Ming, so just to add to what you already discussed, as far as "official" trade is concerned, we have the ledgers from the Japanese side showing that a total of 128,000 swords across 10 different missions from 1432 to 1539.
This is a preview of what I will discuss in detail but note that while both Tachi and Katana and Wakizashi are mentioned, Tachi are overwhelmingly represented in the inventories (think on the order of 3000:1) and that over the century or so as the Japanese kept trying to sneak past the import restrictions being controlled by the Imperial Ming Court, the buying price started to come way down, to the point that it seemed like it wouldn't be very profitable a trade for "normal' quality Tachi, suggesting that later trades were low quality swords (which may explain why so few survive on the continent now).
Cheers Matt!
Sounds fascinating - looking forward to the video!
Clever plug lol
Don’t forget that the Ming Army fought the Japanese alongside the Koreans during the Imjin War (Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea toward the end of the 1500’s). Would be curious to know whether this adaptation of a Japanese blade style was from that period of fighting the Japanese in an actual land battle rather than naval warfare against pirates.
The Ming solution to the Japanese on land involved pike formations, cannons, and mass recruitment of aboriginal mercenaries from their southern territories. The combination left the Japanese outranged and outreached by the artillery and pikelines, while the native troops were kept ready for deployment into close combat if the samurai broke through. Most of the cqc infantry I'm familiar with from that conflict are rocking polearms or sword and board, though since this is apparently a secondary weapon I'm not shocked I haven't heard of it.
they don`t adopt it :V
@@KartarNighthawk One key thing about Ming pike advantage, mentioned by one of the Japanese commanders was that Chinese soldier held their pikes more towards the end of the shaft so they had more range even if the pikes were about the same length. Plus Chinese solders were taller.
This blade types was introduced as part of the Ming military arsenal not from the Imjin War period, but from the period when Japanese plus Chinese pirates were intensely raid the Chinese coast line, roughly around 1553-1567, around 30 years before Imjin War.
From what I learned, Japan have been paying tributes to the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the Ming Admin always gives gifts back to anyone who come to pay tribute, so that's effectively a form of trading. The Japanese thus, particularly Ouchi clan, benefited a lot from selling lesser grade quality katana to Ming for silks. Nevertheless, Ming were still very impressed by the katanas and there exist several poems to praise them.
I always feel showing Aikidoka footage is not a great help ^^'
The man is so *superb* at cutting - I swear, he could cut double tatamis with a sharpened spoon - that, as an amateur, it's almost impossible to parse wether the sword was actually difficult to cut with.
It’s pretty much if you wanted to build a machine to cut tatami exactly the same every time, you’d end up with Phil Martin 😆
I like how the disc guard is bigger, really makes your hand feel safer behind it.
I don't know if I called that bigger but it's like those other tsubas in other Katanas that are also on the big side. And some have rectangular Tsubas
@@pauloazuela8488 it’s bigger than the katana he was comparing to
Japanese fittings from that era tend to be larger as well.
@@fitemeirlm8069 probably the longer the sword the bigger the hand guard. I do notice the Chinese tend keep their hand guards a bit bigger for their one handed daos compared to the katana though.
@@MarkMiller304 You would think so, but it doesn't quite track. Shorter weapons often had similarly large-ish hand guards, and most of these weapons have been refitted with smaller ones as those came in vogue. Newer koshirae tend to be more ornate than the older ones as well. Of course, there are exceptions, but just a sorta general observation.
Captain Context does it again! Fascinating video, thank you. I know it's not your area of expertise but I would love a follow-up video on Chinese Crossbows and their use (especially the repeating crossbow).
Repeaters are niche use in Ming dynasty
repeating crossbows need poision to kill.
@@lolasdm6959 false. Handheld portable repeaters can still be made lethal with enough powerstroke
@@HistoricalWeapons yeah but the range will still be abysmal, unless you use a static turret. You can barely aim the thing and you will only kill directly if the enemy isn't even wearing any thick clothing. Pretty much all the Japanese recorded casualities from the repeater involved poision, and also ambush(low range).
The thing was popular during the Ming as a self defense weapon for women against small animals.
Thanks! Hi Matt, gr8 review w/lots of info!
Definitely search for 戚繼光 for the ming history fighting against Japanese pirate. He is also the author of 辛酉刀法. One of the very few manuals that still preserves until now
his Hanyu pingyin name would be Qi "Jiguang" for Non chinese audience if anyone wants to know more.
Nice video. Here is a fun trivia for those of you who don't know: katana or dao are both written by the same kanji or chinese character 刀。In other words, they are conceptually the same general type of weapon (one-sided blade) but with different pronounciations in these two languages.
Its also pretty interesting that Japanese classified Katana as a To/Dao but you can see pretty much everyone calling the sword ken/jian all the time.
If I'm not mistaken the Tang dynasty sword was the influence for the katana.
It is! Tang Dao is the ancestor of katana!
@@pengwang0816wow!!! I heard China invented space travel too!! Also they are the first to discover America!! China numba 1 😂😂😂
The first Japanese swords *were* Chinese, however by the Ming Dynasty (c.1300 and the era discussed in the video) the single edged, curved tachi had been in use by the Japanese for around 400+ years
@@Ssm19494 người á châu biết rõ nhật bản lấy cắp ý tưởng đao của trung quốc, vào thế kỷ 16-17 trung quốc mạnh nhất á châu
yep, and if i remember correctly a lot of chinese blades from that periods were preserved in japan
I always love it when he references the Burgundians - as I am a Belgian
Japanese pirate: Aha! I have katana!
Chinese crossbowman: Aha! But I have longer super-katana!
Japanese pirate: Aha! But I have longer nodachi!
Chinese crossbowman: Aha! But I have crossbow!
Japanese pirate: Dammit! I left my yumi on the ship!
I have a yari in my pocket
@@phillipmargrave cash in hands and tanegashima guns in my wallet
Chinese cavalry: ayy watch this *pulls out the sanyanchong (chinese blunderbuss)
@@exudeku Chinese artillerymen starts bombarding from 800m away*
Id love to review the crossbowman dao but i don’t think it’s standard weapon for crossbowmen back then. The illustrations likely depict an anomaly of how crossbowmen can fight better in a melee but they were often issued with shorter melee weapons
Why not? It´s very similiar to one handed dao sabre which were often used. Sure, they probably didnt carry this specifical blades but it has been standrd to have some side arm even as archer - it could be short dao, long knife or axe probably.
@@krystofcisar469 sources of volleyfire of Ming dynasty show crossbowmen with dagger sized melee weapons and musketeers with wo Yao dao (smaller Japanese blades) the reason is such expensive large Japanese blades are a waste if given to missile troops not intended for melee combat.
I am glad I discovered your channel (thanks to Napoleon's cuirassiers!) I admire the way you present every weapon, the enormous researched you do (which shows in each presentation) and your attention to detail and historical accuracy. I am very much like that and I spent countless hours researching my subject before writing. Have a nice day. Regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Same here
Started with Napoleon's cuirassiers
There are various treatise on fighting with these weapons in formation. So not only were they ranged unit they were to be treated almost like a section of polearms and there are numerous techniques for engaging horses at the individual and at the formation level.
from what the historical manual I read, it's mostly recommend as side arm for musketeers and archers, the size is just right, for main melee troops pike or sword&shield are more recommended, as they should
@@hanliu3707 The "Wodao" is not unique to just ming era tho and it's use and design changes slightly throughout the eras. Example this same/similar weapon system in the qing era is called a "miao dao" the blade design has changed slightly (more taper, sometimes even more length) but the purpose remained same (smash the Japanese) and many of the techniques. The archers of the tang carried "mo dao" in similar fashion to the ming described in this video. Then u have the song dy
I don't know why but that grip looks soo good.
I have to admit that I really like the manner of 'weaving' used on Chinese sword grips, but in this case I'd prefer a different material.
@@scholagladiatoria you could probably custom order that I think
Beautiful sword! Someday, I would like an LK Chen.
Damn LK Chen is putting out some GREAT stuff.
Matt,
If you ever get a chance to handle a katana made for competition cutting, I know you will fall in love with it. They are generally on the longer size for a katana. But what really makes them special is the width of the blade. They are often twice as wide as a regular version. They feel so good when you swing them and even better when actually cutting. Going through a single tatami mat feels more like cutting a small milk jug. It's almost like you didn't hit anything.
i remember they're wider so to compensate a thinner build, right? to lessen the resistance against the mats? i think?
Brandon Sanderson recommended your channel for help writing fantasy novel fights. Looking forward to watching your past videos.
Does this means if i know Matt, I'm just one step closer to knowing Sanderson?
@@demingzhang7204 😄 This channel was mentioned in one of his lectures so it's a tenuous link, but I think we can tell everyone he's our bestie.
Haven’t seen the lecture, but I know Sanderson has worked with Shad (Shadiversity) when he was writing Rhythm of War.
@@CharlesZane_ And he worked with some fighter pilots to understand the different effects of g-force in the 3 dimensions.
@@mageprometheus what does brandon have to do with physics?
I like Matt’s cable knit sweater. I’ve thought this before, but now I’m saying it. Nice sweater.
The sword reminds of Qi Jiguang. You should look up the Mandarin Duck formation against Japanese pirates. No doubt, that this sword was inspired by encounters with Japanese pirates during his time.
Hey Matt, great video! For some reason I really lile that bright yellow handle wrap, it's something different for sure. Are you planning on doing a review for the LK Chen rapier? There's a lack of good mid range rapier reproductions on the market right now
5:40
And
10:42
If you look at the nakago of many antique katana you can see that the older meguki hole is 5-6 inches below the currently used mekugi hole. Assuming the two holes had the same distance from the mune-machi, it would tell us that it was not uncommon for Japanese sword blades to be in the mid 30in range, contrary to what he says.
It is when you approach a blade length of roughly 40in+ would you begin to question if it is big O-katana or a small nodachi
Edit: many other nakago had the older hole cut clean off during shortening so this would also apply to nakago that have evidence of being shortened (like only seeing part of the swordsmith’s name or an unshaped end of the tang) but have no older hole
Indeed, agreed.
@@scholagladiatoria so this example is basically if a Chinese smith tried to recreate a muromachi period katana with Chinese fitting/construction; not trying to make a longer sword to counter the katana.
I think when they mention “smashing the Japanese pirates” they refer more to the miao dao as that was their response to, or their way of competing with, the nodachi.
Also did you mean to say Japan here 10:25 ?
Also also correct me if I’m just seeing things, but in this illustration 11:43 it looks like the sword is just tucked into the belt like a katana would
@@outsideiskrrtinsideihurt699 - A number of sword technique menu of that period acclaimed to general Chick passed down in the kung fu circle. I learned his straight sword menu and yil do menu some 50 years ago. It was all about technique and no mentioning of the weapon itself being superior to Japanese swords, or any ability from weapon or profile design that is particularly capable of smashing Japanese sword. Dai do is said to be able to smash Japanese sword or saber. That is a matter of WW2 and not shown to be so regarded earlier than WW2.
There was a law in 1638 Feudal Japan, that limitated the lenght for a katana to 84.8 cm and wakizashi were restricted to a length of 51.5 cm , thus some longer blades were shortened to comply with the law.
My favorite part of that is how it resulted in swordsmiths starting to make absolutely huge odachi swords specifically as shrine offerings, which were exempt from that law. Very big nihontou are considerably more difficult to make, so this was a way for the smiths to show off their skills.
@@RelativelyBest also many long Tachi and katana were shortened during Kamakura jidai, it is called o-suriage.
@@LucianoSilvaOficial True, but that's also kinda unfortunate. I have to wonder how many unaltered koto tachi would have survived if they hadn't done that. :(
U probably mean blade lenght... Because 85cm katana would be just too funny - it would be for kids literally :D
@@krystofcisar469 yes, were talking about Blade lenght, just like some gun laws restric barrel lenght, not talking overall size in consideration.
Interesting. It reminds me of an example of Ming Chang Dao sold by and is recorded in the inventory of Mandrin Mansion. It looks very much like this replica but slightly shorter, somewhat lighter and with a point of balance that is way more further away from the handle (24.5cm in specific). I wonder what the “average” stats of this type of sword really is.
The sample size we have is very limited so it is very difficult to know.
As a six foot seven inch tall sword fanatic I absolutely love that weapon and I am hunting for one now. Thanks. Be safe
Rhomann Dey: Matt Eastman. He's also known as Captain Context.
Nova Corps Officer: Who calls him that?
Rhomann Dey: Himself, mostly.
...no disrespect intended. 😁 Just that particular thought marble pinged through the circle in unexpected directions. Love the dissertation!
Thank you, Captain Context! I appreciate what you pass along.
I’d love to see a video on cleaning and maintenance of arms and armour both historically and a ‘how to’ for the modern collector/reenactor! Asking for a friend 😂
that smile on the Chinese fellow though, like: "check out my MASSIVE sword. It's so big that I have to grab it by the blade to be able to sheath it, lol"
Idea for a video: Travel to china and meet with LK Chen, and get a tour in their factory.
Want to clear up one misconception:
There are two big types: tachi and uchigatana
Latter is referred to by most westerners as just "katana", which caused a confusion since I see a lot of people, even scholars think that "katana" and "uchigatana" are separate sword types. In reality, uchigatana is a katana and tachi is also a katana, gunto is a katana and even chokuto is a katana, katana being not a type of Japanese sword, but a very general term for single-edged sword (same as chinese word "dao").
Japan has a really strict criteria for what can be called a katana though don’t they?
@@AveragePickerNot at all.
Thank you for the video. I have a few things I would like to add.
Chinese Ming soldiers were trained to use the long sword (chang dao in your video) after their spears were completely defeated by the Japanese long katana (tachi). However, there is no record of Ming soldiers using their long swords to defeat Japanese long swords. In fact, Japanese swordsmen were defeated by the Mandarin Duck formation.
Today, many schools claim that their type of long sword is from the Ming dynasty military or Japan at the time. However, a very simple way to test their claim is to see if their long sword system can deal with long spear, as what astonished Ming troops at that time. So far, no one has been able to do this. This long sword (tachi) art has been lost in both Japan and China long time ago.
Long swords were isolated cases. Most chinese troops esp southern chinese troops were armed with single handed slightly curved swords in the Mandarin duck formation. Look at Yanmaodao. Those are native chinese curved swords.
Well in the first place Katana itself was evolving from an earlier origin " Tang dynasty " style swords, which the Japanese improved and infused with its own cultural interpretation. The habaki itself already existed as " Tunkou" in the Tang Dao. The tsuba of most katana evolved from the sword guard of Tang Dao as well plus later added native innovation of their own. The Japanese took whats best of Tang style culture and evolved from there to make it distinct their own later on including its infantry armoury. Have to credit the Japanese from what seemingly adoption into something different of their own.
"this is a crossbowman's Dao" (shows illustration of a man holding the blade by the spine in order to sheathe it) "there is also a *larger* guard's version" [One-Winged Angel increases in volume]
Interestingly enough, similiar swords were imported and manufactured in Vietnam, likewise inspired by Japanese who mainly arrived in Hoi An as well as "Japanese" Wokou pirates.
I think you’ve earned the title of colonel context by this point.
Yeah, I was about to order the tang dao then I saw this one on their site and this video sealed the deal for me, it has very similar dimensions and weight to a longsword so I did expect of it to handle the same way plus I need one 'katana' style sword I guess, so the Tang dao will have to wait my next order, I'm getting this one.
I do think it's fascinating that in roughly the same period that Genoese crossbowmen were doubling down on shields to the point of having a pavise-bearer, the Chinese went completely the other way and said "screw it, give them massive swords".
I like the katana. I love the longsword. I ADORE this sword!
Matt, any chance of a durability test for this sword?? 🙏👍👍
The Chinese phrase from more than 2000 years ago goes "learn the best from the enemy to defeat them" (師夷之常以制夷), which came from when a Han nation adopted Mongolian clothing and archery to fight back.
that was a 18th century idea, 师夷长技以制夷. From 海国图志
@@FistsofGodfrey Lots of issues like this; where each clause is true, but the strung together sentence doesn't follow, when it comes to stories about Chinese history. Two major issues: 1. The average Chinese person is really about as good at Chinese history as the average Englishman is about their own (which is to say, Victorian romanticization and pop-history ahoy! I'm not immune to this.). 2. Western scholarship and translation into Chinese history is often really bad, and subject to our own pop-history biases. Also conflation of ethnicities - 2300 years or so, Zhao did adopt pants and nomadic horse-riding traditions to bolster their military forces, but said nomads aren't Mongols. They're Xiongnu; which contained many ethnicities, a small amount of which may have been the ancestors to the Mongols (in the form of the Xianbei).
Same problems recursively apply to every other culture through every other lens. Is why actual subject experts like Matt Easton, when talking about the aspects of history they're educated in (ex. Napoleonic era for Matt), are a breath of fresh air.
Hoi Mat - I was messing around with some alternative history designs for armour and I designed one for Celtic or Gaulish warriors - it basically looks like armour out of swirling bars : an light armour that looks like a suit of bracelets or a full body basket hilt - why didn't anybody try something like this?
Thin and light metal bends and doesn't do anything to stop crushing, heavy blows, if it's at risk of moving a slice might slip through between the movements. To say nothing of the metallurgy to bend steel into irregular shapes and having those shapes stand up to abuse. I saw a similar idea from a grid of rebar for post-apoc, it has issues but is better than nothing against slashing weapons
Wouldn’t a blade be likely to slip into one of the gaps? A basket hilt design for a hilt would act different than having that design against a body…
@@terrydavis5924 all that is true, but those things also go for a lot of ancient armour and light armour types of later eras. The question remains: why didn't they try it?
@@AveragePicker true: but lorica segmentata is also thin and huggin the body and that lasted for 150 years or so
@coralmar5329 But that doesn't have the sort of gaps, or design, one thinks of when described as a basket hilt.
Interesting how the main difference between the crossbowman dao and the katana seems to be how they're hilted. Remind me of how falchions and messers got their hilts
Thats indeed an interesting and beautiful sword. I prefer a polished finish, especially with a nice hamon, over the pattern-welded look tho.
I love everything about this sword. If it were legal to wear swords, this Crossbowman's Dao would be my first choice
I have an LK Chen sword, they make good stuff for a decent price. this one is cool, but i prefer double edged swords as opposed to single
Huge sword as a backup to crossbows, talk about minmaxing, I like it.
1:04 Great! Another language which like German differentiates between double-edged swords and single-edged knives and sabres.
The German wiki page describes the dao as a 'Chinese sabre' because it is not a sword, at least not in Chinese or German.
Has there ever been any records of the Chinese Dao having a hamon edge like a Japanese katana or did that process stay strictly in Japan?
Differential Hardening has been seen on Chinese swords going back to the Han dynasty; it is not a stark as Japanese style, and in chinese it is called shuangxue (霜雪, frosty snow).
@@dlatrexswords Word. Thank you for that insight
differential tempering technology actually was transferred from china to japan during the tang dynasty.
@@dlatrexswords Differential hardening is indeed used in China. Though the method seems to be different from that of the Japanese (for example, no clay is involved) as far as I know.
The best weapon loadout in Mount and Blade is a two handed sword and your preferred ranged weapon
Great stuff. Can you do vids on the Imjin War please 🙏🏻
If i bought this i'd likely re-wrap the grip anyway for a darker color, i really like it will probably buy it
You can ask LKChen possibly for a different color grip wrap. They occasionally can do a selection of colors.
Do a custom order, the price increase would probably be negligable
The wrap is good quality weaving though, if you rewrapped it yourself it might turn out more crudely in terms of finish.
Without any real bias, I think this is astounding good value.
@@winsunwong5648 i redo the grip on most swords and knives i buy, i've gotten pretty good at it and i don't mind a more "crude" finnish
Outside I skrrt Inside I hurt - smash the Japanese refers to winning over instead of cutting or breaking their weapon. It is very hard to break any weapon to pieces or sections. Even when a katana is so hardened as to be brittle at the edge, the soft part is still tough and hard to break.
Wish we could get similarly priced quality replicas of western swords...but then I guess the the single edged blades are easier. Thankfully SOMEONE has started working with Windlass and LK Chen to get some quality replicas out there...
Lk is doing budget range quality western swords for balaur arms rn. Go check it out
Go, Captain Context! Learnt as much about Japanese as Chine swords in this video! When you mimic carrying the sword in a sash, you show the blade dow. The pictures you show along with this show the edge up. I suppose the pictures are correct and this was just a mind-slip on your side?
So the sword was more inspired by Japanese Wako pirates then the Japanese soldiers during the Imjin War?
A combination of Piracy which had been going on since the 13th century, as well as regulated trade with the Ming court starting with emperor Yǒnglè (永楽帝, r. 1402-1424) who relaxed foreign trade restrictions enough that Japan could start 'selling' swords to the imperial court.
no , it only been appear / use after the fight with the wokou end with the win of 戚 繼光 and only been use by him to against mongols but for a short time
In the Imjin War, China's primary response to Japanese swords is not to copy them but to hold them off with lines of pikemen. The only guys who ever seem to have engaged with the Japanese sword to sword with any regularity were aboriginal mercenaries equipped with swords and shields, who were used as shock troops while the Han Chinese held the line.
@@dlatrexswords The swords they sell are more ornamental knives 'wakizashi' than combat Tachi.
LK killing it.
Captain context is now your moniker and must be used in every video
Matt, have you ever seen the film The Sword Identity? It's a weird martial arts film, that's not too old. I believe it's entirely fictional, I think. But it's premise is about an art developed to fight Japanese swords, resulting in a weird hybrid blade. Check it out.... it's odd but interesting. The blade is supposedly only sharp at the end. And, the art supposedly is based on pole arts instead of sword arts.
@@05firen yeah, it's fiction, but still kind of interesting.
I love your videos sir I am getting this sword keep the videos coming sir
This sword, and generally historically speaking, would this have been heat treated like a Japanese sword and more like to take a bend, or more like to flex?
actually, the word dao is the same word used for katana Owo
which is often referred to as knives, or any blade that only has a single edge, regardless of length
you also have to consider, edo era katanas are kind of a revival of the old tradition, so a lot of them are kind of a high grade replica of the lost techniques used in the sengoku era
they also standardized the length of the blade due to the implementation of laws regarding swords, unlike back in the older era where all is fair in love and war, there are no standard length and people just forge the sword to best fit them
did you also know that the early japanese swords where the katana was derived from are inspired from chinese swords?
the japanese didn't have swords until they were introduced by the chinese and koreans, they do have knives back then, but not swords. because warfare wasn't a necessity back then. and one of the early swords that were made (and inspired from china) are ceremonial ones.
you will notice a lot of the older swords like the tachi have a different pommel design. and most of these are because the design originated from china
but i did heard of these "katana busters" from the older generations. and from what i've heard, it is basically a one-upped version of the katana on the sole purpose on having an advantage against japanese pirates
How does it compare to a tachi?
300 years later during WW2, the Chinese use homemade Dadao (Big Blade) to combat Japanese soldiers armed with Shin Gunto and bayonette charge
And some Mongolian soldiers were still using bows
It's basically like what the Romans did back then. During the late Roman Republican era, when the Romans saw Celtic Rectangular shields and short swords, they immediately drop the Greek style of fighting and adopt their enemy's equipment then developed manipular system. Then, Rome transitioned into an Empire in 1st century AD, the Romans quickly made long sleeve shirts and long trousers as standard combat uniforms as they offer better protections against weather elements. During 2nd century, when the Romans encounter German, Persian and Sarmatian way of fighting, they decided to adopt rounded/oval shields, long swords, better helmets and heavy cavalry, then they evolved into the ones seen in 3rd century crisis.
In the nutshell, if you can't beat them, join them.
Something of note: the illustrations you showed had them carried blade up just like Japanese swords. Of course, the illustration at 11:45 ALSO shows the soldier seeming to draw the sword out by its blade, which makes me wonder how much the illustrator knew about swords.
In the illustration where they grab the blade is to my understanding technique to quickly draw or sheath sword so long its difficult for you to do in one motion, and can be even impossible aa the sword is fixed to your belt since you dont have long enough arms, so you first pull by the handle or just push it out using disc guard exposing some of the blade then grab the blade, and pull the rest out. The illustration is i think for using even longer blades than this, and the full manuscript is basicly all the different steps, and motion illustrated in military manual. When you look at the person compared to the sword it looks like the sword is as ling as that dude so hes using the larger version Matt also mentioned
Interesting video thanks ⚔️
Definitely would struggle to get in my fiesta with that one
Great video mate , what would you say the fit and finish is like and the build quality as is looking to buy one
Matt should compare the Crossbowman's Dao with the Ronin Katana two handed medieval saber.
They're actually amazingly close in design and function.
So the Tang dao went to Japan in the 7-9th century AD, got new curves as tachi and returned to Ming China as uber-long katana?
Sword technology in China and Japan has always been a back-and-forth thing, both learning from each other and adapting it to their needs.
Very roughly speaking yep! The other thing to say is that whilst in Japan, China went into 'butcher cleavers - the sword' with the Song dynasty, and then what appears to be a minor cultural apocalypse which led to the loss of most Chinese two-handed swordsmanship thanks to the Mongols, so when the 'Japanese' (read: Specific Japanese domains sponsoring what was eventually a mixture of Chinese, Japanese and Korean pirates known as the Wokou/Wako/etc.), it returned to fertile ground.
As a result of literature research, there is no evidence to prove that Japan's "Golden Silver Zhuang Tang Guang Sword" was imported from the Tang Dynasty.
考据的主要依据是日本正仓院之藏品“金银钿庄唐大刀”，不过没有证据证明该品是从大唐进口，只能说它属于中国风格。
The essence of Japanese style is obviously very different from Tang style.
但本质上的日本风格明显 和唐风是迥然不同的
Existing sword called tan dao does not exist in China, only in Japan. In China there were people doing research on the Tang Dynsaty Long Sword of China.
Investigations revealed that the swords in Tang Dynsaty's paintings and ruins had only straight blades.
The official name of the sword called tan dao in Japan is kin gin den kazari no kara tachi.(金銀鈿荘唐大刀).
The name means tachi（大刀）, decorated in Tang Dynsaty style（鈿荘唐） with gold（金） and silver（銀）.
The answer was there from the beginning. Tang Dynsaty Long Sword of China(唐大刀) is a clipped and redacted name.
Mongolia imported katana from Japan after the war. China imported katana in the 10th century. There are primary sources about samurai and katana written by Mongolians.
Mongolian scholar Zheng Si-xiao (1241-1318)."Japanese are brutal and not afraid of death. Even if ten Japanese people encounter 100 enemies, they will fight against them. If they don't win, they all fight until they die.katana is extremely sharp. "
鄭思肖『心史』中興集 元韃攻日本敗北歌
倭人狠不懼死，十人遇百人亦戰，不勝俱死，不战死，歸亦為倭主所殺。倭婦甚烈，不可犯。幼歲取犀角刈 小珠，种額上善水不溺，倭刀極利，地高險難入，可為戰守计。
Mongolian scholar Wang Yun (1228-1304)"Japanese soldiers are equipped with bows, katana, and armor.There was no spear. The cavalry are united.katana is long and extremely sharp. All the soldiers are brave and do not seem to be afraid of death. "
秋澗先生大全文集 (四部叢刊本)/卷第四十 而過但弓以木為之矢雖長不能逺人則勇敢視死不畏
escription of Trade between Japan and the Yuan Dynasty (日元貿易).
Exported goods from Japan were gold, silver, copper, mercury, sulfur, swords, fans, raden (shell inlay) and makie (Japanese lacquer sprinkled with gold or silver powder) .
Japanese swords were cherished as arms in the Yuan Dynasty and continued to be exported to the Chinese continent in the future generations.
@@thelegendaryklobb2879 sword technology used in Japan is pretty much the same as the Chinese since the Warring Stated period to the Han dynasty...
@@dongf2618 that's not correct.
Years ago I read a story entitled (I think) How Much Land Does A Man Need? Interesting twist at the end. How about a presentation on How Many Swords Does A Man Need?
You are one of the best channels on U Toob. Cheers!
When you have enough swords, you can take all the land you want, historically speaking.
Superb sword .
The Japanese used Tachi in the Imjin Wars against the Ming Dynasty in Korea, not Katana, which is much later in the Edo period… Imjin wars happened right after the senggukojidai… The Ming fight against Japanese ronin piracy started almost 100 years before Imjin Wars (during the sengguokojidai, where Tachi was used exclusively in combat). Ming miao dao was made therefore to match up to the much longer Tachi in combat.
Looks like a wātao, the kind used by enishi in ruroni Kenshin. Except that enishi's uses a jian hilt rather then a katana's like it is here.
Interesting that crossbow men used such a long sword, perhaps strategically similar to the way Welsh longbowmen carried a maul in battle. (Spelling corrected).
You might bre interested in checking out some videos of the Chinese martial art Xin Yi (or Shin I, not to be confused with Xing Yi or Shing I). It's an odd looking art, but I have it on good authority that it's Ming dynasty military training. It has some very peculiar stances, but if you imagine those stances with a flagged spear or halberd, they make a lot more sense. Also, some of the hallmarks of the style, including aggressive forward actions, moderate lateral motions and virtually no retreating, really apply well to soldiers performing in ranks.
Hello, tried to look for that Ming dynasty military training art that you were talking about but searches drew a blank. Are you referring to the 32 Postures of Qi Family Boxing which was supposedly created by Qi Jiguang himself?
@@philipchan2466 The Qi family form looks really interesting! But tradition has it that Xin Yi was created by legendary General Yu Feh. The Full name of the style is Xin Yi Liu He. I found an old video of someone doing the kind of moves I had in mind: ua-cam.com/video/ddaidhHPra4/v-deo.html
Mail? Don't you mean flail?
@@pattonramming1988 Accursed spellcheck! The right word was "maul" which was a 25 pound mace.
@Braindazzled Xing Yi Quan (pronounced more like Ying Yi) is a super important martial art in Chinese history because they created the form for which every spear form even up to modern day wushu forms where based off of. All of the basic chinese spear principles come from Xing Yi. Xing yi is considered an internal martial art, like Tai Chi and Buagua Zhang, but unlike the tai chi and buagua understanding of chi, energy where the use the circle principle, Xing yi Quan is more of a straight force and forces more on rebounding and deflecting.
The guard is called jinyiwei 锦衣卫, who among being guards, they are also like special forces or espionage agency
They're more like CIA.
@@zetareticulan321and cia is an espionage agency, no?
Didn't the Chu Dynasty give the Qin a hard time and were notorious for using halberds or pikes and 2-hand "Great Jians"? Would the Great Jian be any good against the nodachi?
The Tang Heng Dao is a straight and single-edged sword that directly influenced the creation of the Katana-style weapons in Japan. It was the top peak high-quality weapon used during the Chinese medieval golden age under the Tang Dynasty.
later the Japanese created Katana after that , few hundred or thousands years later , in Ming Dynasty , created curved swords inspired by the Katana.
can really say this sword was created by *"China-Japan Inc"* .
Ming were alrdy using curved sword with the broadness towards the tip before they start producing copies of katana. Heck, these kinda one and half handle slightly curved sword were used in the Song dynasty.
Ming China also fought against Hideyoshi's forces when he decided to do a massive invasion on Joseon Korea from 1592 to 1598. They would have most certainly encountered just about every kind of Japanese weapon that existed at the time. Korea later made the Hwando which is essentially a one handed Katana. Early versions of these swords were actually made from Katana that were left behind after the Hideyoshi's invasions and the Koreans would start manufacturing their own keeping to the style of Japanese blades and Korean soldiers kept using them till the end of Joseon Korea.
There is no Korean sword in history. Only Chinese weapons appeared in the ancient Korean peninsula 朝鮮 (major Chinese soldiers used or low -level Korean slaves). The ancient Koreans were " white clothes Ethnic 白衣民族". They were very poor. Traditional Korean costumes were white and women exposed nipples. They did not make curved wood and any metal technology. Therefore, ancient Korean women used their heads to move things.
* ancient Korean peninsula = 朝鮮 in Chinese history
Historically. Every Korean king 朝鮮王 and noble clan claim to be the Chinese 漢人( identified by identity). They think the Chinese emperor as their parents. . The official language is Chinese and classical Chinese.
Today, Korean ancestors are the indigenous "white clothes Ethnic" recorded in the ancinet Peninsula 朝鮮(today korea area) in history. Their "Ethnic" clothes are pure white (no dyes and patterns) and korean women's clothes to expose nipples. Korean women use their heads to move things. Their language is Korean. Their culture is very primitive and backward (until 1890, Westerners arrived).
The Ming military already encountered Japanese style swords during the Wokou incursions in the Jiajing era. Qi Jiguang basically took this particular design (the changdao aka copy of odachi) and used in not only on the south but took it with him when he was transferred back north. The longer blade and handle made it useful as a secondary weapon to slash at the horses legs. Similar in purpose to the zhanmadao from the Song era.
조선의 4번째 왕 세종대왕때 부터 일본에서 카타나를 만드는법을 배워온 사람들이 있었음
임진왜란이 일어나기 150년전임 조선직업 군인은 만주족과 의 접경지대 에서 복무하였는데
북방으로 가기전에 남부지방 부산에서 일본인 들에게서 카타나를 사서 개조했다는 기록이 있음
조선 환도 중 많은수가 카타나를 환도로 개조한 것임
1510년 조선에서 삼포왜란이 일어나기 전까지는 일본과의 무역하는곳 이 3군데 였음
그중에 제일 큰곳은 일본인 2500명이 거주 하였음 이들은 왜구 해적이었지만 조선에서 살면서
무역을 하고 한번씩 반란도 일으키곤 하였음 임진왜란 일어나기 최소한 150년 전에도 조선에서도 일본도를 만들고
일본인이 만든 카타나가 유통되고 있었음
임진왜란 때 이순신 장군의 칼도 일본에서 카타나를 만드는 법을 배운 조선인이 만든 카타나 이고
임진왜란 이전에 일본에 사신으로 간 군인이 일본에서 카타나를 구입하고 와서
임진왜란때 카타나를 들고 싸웠음
The hwando existed before this but were modified during the war. For example, they tended to be longer in the decades after the war whereas they were shorter before. That being said, they tended to vary in size already.
North east Asian hilts typically follow a broad straight forward overall design opposite design logic to the tight fitting restrictive hilts of Central Asian/ Indo persian swords
Most likely during the Wako period all the way to Imjin Waeran 1592 - 1598... most likely those were Tachi and Handachi ( Tachi worn with edge facing up) Han means half while dachi is synonymous with Tachi. Probably early form of Uchigatana ( similar to katana ofmodern version) might had already been around as well.
Am I the only one who imagine Matt to be Manfred von Carstein, when watching scholagladiatoria?
Awesome sword and review. Link to cutting video is broken.
Fixed now.
Please do a video on cross gards vs basket hilt swords
Try searching his channel. He’s covered nearly everything brought up in comments including that
@@AveragePicker i have and he has no video on this topic...
Infact as far as i can find one small youtuber from 7 years ago is the only one who has done a video on this
@@theromanorder While he might not have a video specifically about that topic, it's one he's covered several times. Just look up his videos on basket hilts and hand protection in general.
@@theromanorder Not really sure what you are looking for in this regard but he does have a lot of videos on hilts and changes. There are cases where you might have to look at a specific video for a single piece of info like hilt changes for calvary charges.
@@AveragePicker yea i know...
But i have been putting these request comments on multiple UA-camrs so i hope one will reply soon
10:26 From Japan, just mis-spoke a little.
I want that katana... It's so perfect for what I been looking for..
After watching Matt Jensen sooo much lately... I just don't like the ones he been showing..
But this looks just my type
Tang technology as all things Japanese has a tang origin. Proof? Look at the Japanese castles of Japan, they still have tang engineers mark signature.
Example: Katana was built based on the design of 唐刀 (Tang Dao) since Sui Dynasty when Japan sent diplomatic teams to China, the “遣隋使” (ambassadors sent to Sui) brought some of them back.
The Tang Dao is a term which is invented in recent years, while in the past there was no such term, it means narrow, straight, single edged saber used in the Sui and the Tang Dynasty, it was developed from the 环首刀 (Huanshou Dao) in the Han Dynasty.
aww. I was hoping this was the stupendously massive royal guard version. I'd love to see that compared to a person lol.
Link to the cutting demonstrator in the dooblie doo no workie workie.
Should be fixed now.
Will also do a review of the white serpent by LK Chen?
I'm here Captain Context!
Yours Sincerely
Private Pommel
im an amateur with leathercraft, vegan leather isnt really that different from veg tan leather or otherwise in terms of being a wrap, it does keep the cost of the sword slightly lower
Only Captain?
Not Contextus Maximus Supremus?
Said with respect.
You are easily in the top 5 best history channels on YT.
6:44 What's that sound? 😁
Taiwanese here, the Japanese pirates were called 倭寇 (woco) aka "short pirates" or "miget pirates", the average Chinese were much taller (still is) and thus their copied version of the katana here would be longer. This is one of the things that most people do wrong with katana these days, even the Japanese, is that they are all using "short" swords, the average blade length is about 2 尺 (shaku / 30.3cm) 3-4 寸 (sun / 3.03cm) back in the day but with modern Japanese heights most blade lengths should be close to 3 尺 (shaku) or 90.9cm long.
Where can I find a sword (Jaspanese-Chinese hybrid) life the one displayed in this video.
Link in the description below.