The Dao - Martial art single edged sword
The doa is a single-edged Chinese sword used for chopping and slashing. It is
thought that this weapon, which is sometimes called a dan dao, has its origins
in ordinary Chinese kitchen knives.
Some types of doa have a wide blade, so it is often called a broadsword in
English. Although the term doa is most often used to speak about a knife, it can
properly refer to any type of cutting tool that is both broad bladed and single
edged.
Doa History
There are four major weapons in China, the saber, spear, sword, and doa, which
is known as “the courage of soldiers”. The swords of China’s history were always
either curved with a single edge blade, or straight with a double edge blade,
and almost always had a tip which could be used for thrusting. This is true of
the original swords that were constructed of bronze in the Shang dynasty, as
well as the swords of steel produced by the Qin dynasty through the Qing synasty.
The doa proved itself to be the most effective cavalry weapon and become more
popular than the jian towards the end of the Han dynasty. In the beginning the
blades of doas only had a minor curve. This was changed when the Mongols invaded
in the beginning of the 13th century. The Chinese culture was changed
considerably through this interaction with the Yuan dynasty, most especially in
the tools and techniques used during battle. The Mongrels were particularly fond
of using the saber, which had been part of their culture since its use in the
8th century by both the Turkic and Tungusic tribes of Central Asia. This weapon,
which featured a one handed curved blade, was popular throughout the complete
Mongrel Empire, and proved to be especially effective for mounted warfare. The
spread of the Mongrel Empire, as well as the effectiveness of this curved bladed
weapon, caused the popularity of curved blades across several continents. The
curved Mongrel blade can be said to be the inspiration behind the Persian
shamshir, the Afghani pulwar, the Arabian saif, the Indian tulwar, the Turkish
kilij, and the Mameluke "scimitar", not to mention the European saber.
After its complete defeat by the Mongrels, China was the birthplace of many new
blades through the years, with regional differences apparent among the various
blades. Some of the more interesting sabers are the yanmaodao ("goose quill
knife") and the liuyedao ("willow leaf knife"). Other curved bladed swords,
these with wooden hafts of different lengths, included the kwan dao and the
huyandao. Additional blades that show their Chinese saber influence include the
Siamese krabi and Burmese dha, as well as the niuweidao (oxtail knife), which
was made popular in kung fu movies and is the stereotypical Chinese broadsword
developed by the Qing dynasty.
The Chinese straight sword, jian, requires greater expense and training than the
dao. This, in part, led to the daos dominance in the Chinese infantry. The
popularity of the dao can be seen by its appearance in much of the period
artwork. It is most often worn by officers, causing it to get the nickname
“General of all Weapons”.
