Wobbly guards on Jians and Daos

[Philip]

Wushu is choreography with practically no real martial content. Its modern incarnation is a creation of the communist government's sports ministry as a sugar-coated mishmosh of traditional martial arts forms to be promoted as exercise and entertainment. Hand-to-hand combat techniques were to be reserved for the military and police. Hence the insubstantial nature of wushu "weapons" whose thin blades make a nice noise as they are swung about.

Wushu does have antecedents in the flashy martial arts displays that were often part of the lowbrow entertainment of the marketplace in imperial China. These acts were sometimes paired with strongmen pulling massive bows or heaving large stone blocks, or boxers who would invite the wannabe pugilists in the audience to join them in a bout. Enterprising medicine pitchmen would often hire these guys as a "testimonial", and secret societies sometimes used the shows to attract young ne'er-do-wells as potential members.

The weapons used for such shtiks were often of exaggerated proportions, and more importantly, designed to make noise. An example is the broad falchion with 9 loose-rings on the dorsal side of the blade. Tridents would often have several large iron washers mounted on the shank between the tines and the socket that would jingle as the devices were brandished. The difference is that such show-weapons of the past were sometimes of considerable size and heft (although their blades of course were mostly unsharpened) whereas today's wushu weapons are almost all extremely light and flimsy.

[Atlantia]

Well, I'd have thought that they indeed DID fit tightly originally, but here is my old Dao, a proper old warrior and the guard is an atrocious fit:

[Philip]

I recognize that peidao as a mass produced pattern that was cranked out in large numbers at the end of the 19th cent., probably to arm hastily-recruited militias. They are quite common since many were brough back by foreign troops sent to quell the Boxer rebellion. Nothing about them indicates any sort of quality control, it seems that the components were made more or less to some sort of standard but without much care for fit and finish. When the saber was new, the pressure of the grip assembly kept the guard tight enough but as the wood shrank, the looseness was inevitable considering the oversized tang aperture.

One pattern of military saber of the 18th and early 19th cent., probably issued to the jianruiying or elite assault troops, had a solid brass guard peened to the blade via little spurs of metal raised from the tang's corners with a cold-chisel. The pommels and grips can be dismounted if necessary but those guards are on for good unless you get through the peening first.

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Philip

I recognize that peidao as a mass produced pattern that was cranked out in large numbers at the end of the 19th cent., probably to arm hastily-recruited militias. They are quite common since many were brough back by foreign troops sent to quell the Boxer rebellion. Nothing about them indicates any sort of quality control, it seems that the components were made more or less to some sort of standard but without much care for fit and finish. When the saber was new, the pressure of the grip assembly kept the guard tight enough but as the wood shrank, the looseness was inevitable considering the oversized tang aperture.

One pattern of military saber of the 18th and early 19th cent., probably issued to the jianruiying or elite assault troops, had a solid brass guard peened to the blade via little spurs of metal raised from the tang's corners with a cold-chisel. The pommels and grips can be dismounted if necessary but those guards are on for good unless you get through the peening first.

LOL, my poor old Dao! Not exactly a glowing review!

[Neil]

Many of the "village smith" ring pommel dao I have seen have significant play and gap-page in the guard. I am wondering if there are examples of period shimming or something of that nature that others have seen. Could a certain amount of play just have been the norm for the time as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

[fearn]

Since one major point of a guard is to guard your hand, I don't think a loose guard is a good thing. Since the other point of a guard is to keep rain out of the scabbard, a loose guard isn't very useful in that context either.

My personal guess is that anyone who really cared about the state of their dao probably shimmed and sealed it into utility.

Best,

F

[Philip]

I've seen a fair number of the village smith and late military daos with attempts to stabilize the disc guard when it got loose. One way of doing it was to drive thin wood wedges into the gap on either side, trimming the tag ends flush with the frontal surface of the guard. I've also seen small-diameter cord wrapped and tied behind the guard, the ferrule then being driven forward to cover it. The ring-pommel hilted dadao or falchions were kept in leather scabbards which were split at the dorsal side to allow easy withdrawal, so weatherproofing was not in the cards here. In fact, the Vietnamese often dispensed with scabbards completely with these knives, instead slinging them over the back like a carbine via a thick cord knotted through the ring, the other end having an iron hook that went through a small hole drilled in the dorsal peak of the blade. When worn in this way, the blade tended to rotate outward so that the edge faced away from the owner's body.

At least these guards, if not carefully fitted-up, merely loosen instead of falling off. I've had to restore the hilts on several Ottoman shamshirs and kilijs over the years, and because of the bulbous pommels the guards don't slide forward onto the tang to lock up against the blade shoulders as with most other swords. They are put on from the front, and an adhesive resin holds the langets into recesses in the grip. When the mastic gives way, these things can loosen or become detached.