Dao

Origin

The dao took its place as the standard weapon of the Chinese army when it developed in the Han dynasty into the form of the huandao, the ring-pommel saber, a straight single-edged blade with a ring at the end of the grip. It replaced the double-edged straight jian, until then the mainstay, because a blade with its edge on one side and a thick spine was sturdier for the downward chop and for use from horseback, and being sharpened on one face only it was cheap and quick to make and easy to learn. Having become the military standard in this way, the dao was gradually refined into a curved saber through the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing, giving rise to many variants suited to the use of each era.

Features

• A gently curved single edge (about 70 to 85 cm)
• A ring pommel, the huandao, the emblematic trait of the Han dao
• The marshal of all weapons, the representative Chinese weapon of war and of the people
• Variants by era, such as the liuyedao, the dadao, and the niuweidao
• Simple and sturdy, suited to mass production
• A weight of about 700 g to 1.2 kg

Stories

As the standard weapon of the Chinese infantry for some two thousand years, the dao was strong in the heavy downward chop on the battlefield. The thick spine braced the blade so it would not easily break even when hacked roughly against armor or a shield, and it was common to use the dao in one hand with a shield in the other. The dao is also a basic weapon of Chinese martial arts, and its method, the daofa, is marked by bold cuts drawn in large, swift circles, using the spine and the empty hand together. It was often said that the saber is like a fierce tiger, and it was held to be a vigorous, practical weapon in contrast to the elegant jian.

Weakness

The weakness of the dao arises from its being a single-edged curved saber. With its edge on one side only and a curved blade, it is at a disadvantage compared with the double-edged straight jian in the straight thrust and in precise control of the point. The curved blade, strong for the cut, is inferior to a straight blade in the penetration that drives straight into the gaps of armor. Leaning by nature toward being a cutting weapon, it is narrower on one side of its use than the jian, which has both thrust and cut.

Cultural Significance

The dao is a symbol that pairs with the jian in Chinese weapon culture. If the dao is the marshal of all weapons, the jian is called the gentleman of all weapons (bai bing zhi jun), the dao standing for the vigorous, practical weapon of the battlefield and the people, the jian for the elegant, lofty weapon of the scholar and the Daoist. In martial arts too the daofa represents a bold and robust spirit, while the swordsmanship of the jian represents a flowing, precise beauty. The dao also remained in the hands of the Chinese army into the 1930s: at the defense of the Great Wall in 1933 and elsewhere the two-handed dadao, the great saber, was used in close combat, and the Dadao March that celebrated it was widely sung.

In Popular Culture

The dao is a weapon never missing from works dealing with Chinese wuxia and history. It appears as the bold cutting weapon of the knight-errant and the warrior in wuxia films and dramas, and as a commander's representative weapon in games such as Dynasty Warriors. The two-handed dadao in particular is drawn as a symbol of close combat in works depicting the war against Japan. In fiction, though, Chinese blades are often lumped together as the Chinese sword, so the clear difference between the single-edged curved dao and the double-edged straight jian tends to be blurred.

Trivia

• The dao is called the marshal of all weapons and the double-edged straight jian the gentleman of all weapons, a contrast in which the dao stands for the vigorous, practical weapon of the battlefield and the people and the jian for the elegant weapon of the scholar.
• In the Han dynasty the dao, in the form of the ring-pommel huandao, replaced the double-edged straight jian as the military standard, because a blade with its edge on one side and a thick spine was sturdier for the cut and for mounted use and cheaper and easier to make and to learn.
• Into the 1930s the Chinese army still carried the two-handed dadao, the great saber, into close combat, famously at the defense of the Great Wall in 1933, and the Dadao March that celebrated it was widely sung, a striking survival of the saber on the modern battlefield.