Korean Sword

[David Craik]

http://www.kendo-world.com/downloads/index.php

[Easternknight]

The Rai Ha's Sword Guild in Japan orginally came from Korea for those who don't know, also for the most part Korean Swords were not stanardized each Sword was crafted for its own user so its difficult to say all Korean swords from this period were like this without mass generalizations.

Pictures:

"Rai Sword" 1200's
http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_7c.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_7a.jpg

Korean Yi Dynasty Sword ca 1500 - 1600

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_6a.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_6c.jpg

Korean Parhae Kahl Geom Sword ca 800 - 900

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_5a.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_5b.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_5e.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_5f.jpg

Korean Koryo Kahl Geom Sword ca 1000 - 1200

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_4a.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_4e.jpg

Korean Parhae Kahl Geom Sword ca 900

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_3b.jpg
http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_3d.jpg
http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_3a.jpg

[Easternknight]

Korean Court Sword ca 1700 - 1800

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_8f.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_8d.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_8e.jpg

Korean King Cheoljong Sword
ca 1861

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/king_cheoljong.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/king_sword1.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/king_sword2.jpg

Chang Po Gum Sword

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/changpogum_war.jpg

Korean Koryo Kahl Geom Sword
ca 1400 - 1600

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_2a.jpg

http://www.swordsofkorea.com/sword_2b.jpg

[Easternknight]

Sorry the pictures were not this big and I thought the forums had a auto-image resizer

[Eliz]

Great pics. Thanks for posting them.

Welcome to BudoSeek!

[Shiyotso mono]

and an odachi (line over "o" ), was a horse cleaver, and a nodachi, was a horse and half cleaver... just so you know... both were made for calvary, but could be used for cutting men. was about 7-10 shaku (roughly, 1 shaku = 1 foot [give or take]) in length and continued the original curve design of the katana.

[Shiyotso mono]

this is basically the myth i know of, that's was made during the pre-edo era, that basically tells of how the katana was made. Now in the begining it tells me that the blades were weak; because when they clashed the swords shattered... i wonder if the koreans came up with the same ideas; seeing as in the photo's above that they look freakishly close to that of a katana...

it was thought to have begun when a swordsmith was making swords for a general before a battle. After the battle, the general came back to the smith and threw all the broken swords at him and basically said, "if you don't learn how to strengthen these, then i'll kill you myself", and so the smith took the swords and found the deficencies and found that folding the metal over and over again gave the blade strength... then having two metal types, soft(blade) and hard (body), gave the blade a sharp edge that could hold, and a sword body that could take a good hit, and then he found that in order to strengthen the body of the blade without making it crack or break, he would have to put clay on the back of the blade to insulate it from the heat when in the furnace, which when taken out and water cooled, it would sharply curve and give it what we kow today as watermarks. which finally gives us the traditional shape of the Katana....
i learned this when training for welding in a blacksmith memo... sorry for the long reply.
hope it helps!

[Shiyotso mono]

You are absolutely right about not knowing the language, and yes, it very well could be "slang". But I have to say I know the language as it applies to swordsmanship and I have never heard it called "To" to describe a single sword but that's just my experience,I'm not an expert in Japanese.I just know a little bit about Japanese swords.And, sadly, not enough about Korean Swords.

Best Regards,

Paul Bladen

Then you must HAVE never heard of a sakabato*- or a reverse edge katana. which was used by rebels during the end of the bakumatsu and early edo era.... and of course was made famous by the story, rouroni kenshin: a swordsman romance story. Or even for that matter, a z/sansabato*- basically a huge ass horse cleaver of a katana, fixed with a polearm handle. event hough it was a straight sword it still carried itself in the category of katana. and was used by samurai to cleave men and their horses when swinging... hope this helps sorry if i sounded insubordinative... just trying to get the info across... *= line over the "o"

[David Craik]

this is basically the myth i know of, that's was made during the pre-edo era, that basically tells of how the katana was made. Now in the begining it tells me that the blades were weak; because when they clashed the swords shattered.

The first curved Japanese blades were technically tachi, not katana. But it was certainly 'pre-Edo'...the swordsmith in the legend was Amakuni, who lived in 700 A.D. - Nara Period. The straight ones that predate this were inferior copies of Chinese straight swords. The Chinese ones apparently worked just fine for non-mounted troops as they continued to be used for many hundreds of years in China.

Incidentally, these first Japanese straight swords (a few still exist today) are dubbed as 'tō' ("sword") by collectors to differentiate their type. They look just like Chinese gim.

and found that folding the metal over and over again gave the blade strength

Not so much the folding itself but the working out of impurities and pockets. Tamehagane is pretty dirty. So much so that Wootz steel from India was later imported and highly prized.

Then you must HAVE never heard of a sakabato*- or a reverse edge katana. which was used by rebels during the end of the bakumatsu and early edo era.... and of course was made famous by the story, rouroni kenshin: a swordsman romance story.

Actually there was no such thing, it is entirely anime nonsense. Apart from the fact that there is not a single historical example, the very way a Japanese sword is used would not be compatible with a 'sharp mune'. Try to perform noto with it; then get your saya fixed and your thumb sewn back on. Also, an edge on the concave side of a long, thin blade would render it a less efficient weapon, so there would be no conceivable reason why such a blade would be made. A katana isn't a 'chopping' weapon like a falcata or kukri.

Even with these weapons and the devastating kopis, you will see that you still are not cutting with a concave shape..all of these still have huge 'bellies' for cutting. With a true concave edge, the further you draw the blade across the target the further the edge is away from it, so it cuts progressively more shallowly. Not what you want. It would likely wind up jamming in the opponent's body.

Due to the length of the blade and construction of the saya, drawing would be problematic as well. If worn convex side up as a conventional katana, it would neccesitate somehow then turning the sword around in the hand after the draw - a dangerous gambit, it seems to me. I doubt your opponent will wait patiently while you fumble around trying to get your sword turned around the right way. If drawn so that the edge is oriented properly, you would lose a key feature of a long, curved sword in a rigid scabbard - the ability to draw and cut in a single motion. It would be very clumsy, as the curve(sori) dictates the angle at which the sword will have to be drawn.

Or even for that matter, a z/sansabato

It's zanbato, a transliteration of zhǎn mǎ dāo.

BTW, the last post to this thread was nearly three years ago. None of the original participants are even here any more. When trying to get 'info' across, such as it is, perhaps a more recent thread would be a better choice.