New Member/S.E. Asian Sword Comments
 

Hello all,

I've been coming to this forum for a while now, enjoying the discussions and sword pictures very much. I teach martial arts in New Orleans, LA, with a significant emphasis on Filipino martial arts in general, and do a good bit of stick/sword training. I wanted to post pictures of a couple of swords I picked up in South East Asia, and am hoping some of you might have some information about one in particular.

Edited...the pictures are out of order due to the file names...

The first pictures are of a Parang/Mandau I found in Sarawak. The second group are of a dagger my in-laws got me somewhere in Laos, and the third set are of a sword I bought in Vientianne. I was told this was a Laotian sword, but have seen a number of pictures of similar swords on this formum that were described as a Burmese Dha. In Vientianne there were straight swords with a similar blade/handle ratio, with "silver" handles/scabbords in abundance...most new, but some older. I purchased the sword in the pictures below because the balance is excellent, and it is a solid, well made sword. Any thoughts you guys have on this would be appreciated. Thanks,

David

Welcome to the Forum, David. Very nice blades. I'm ignorant about mandau (other than being able to recognize them), so I can only comment on the dha.

The first is of a type I have never seen before. Laotian is plausible. I think the handle is too long for it to be Burman, though it could be Shan.

The dagger is a Shan dha-hmyaung, eastern Burma or northern Thailand.

Thanks Mark,

The handle on the dha is 12 inches long, and the blade is just at 20 inches. I bought it at an antique shop, which had high quality txtiles and tribal artifacts. In Vientianne there were tourist shops everywhere selling cheap reproductions of every sort...swords, textiles, statues, that you can find in most larger cities in Laos, Vietnam, and Malaysia. My wife and I happened to find just a couple though, that seemed to have higher quality items. The owner of the shop told me that the sword was from the 1920's and was commonly carried by soldiers that protected the king.

I don't know much about this type of sword, and don't know whether the guy was being honest or not, although he did seem knowledgable and honest regarding textiles I knew more about. Regardless, I liked the design, balance, and quality of the sword, so I would have purchased it anyway. Thanks again,

David