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Old 20th October 2018, 08:09 AM   #10
Philip
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sakimori
Another one,with significant features similar to swords in Japan.
I guess there really isn't much to say about this one,except you can fell the influence from other culture in first look.I think that is the exact reason make the sword valued.
The only things remotely Japanese-looking about this saber are the disc-shaped guard, and the blade with the facets and ridges on the sides. The blade form is encountered in Korea and Vietnam as well. Blades with these features were made in all these countries (the ridges and facets are also found on Eurasian saber blades from the Middle Ages and on some Mamluk and early Ottoman blades, but that is another story -- I mention it here only to show that these features, in and of themselves, are not a Japanese monopoly).

However, the hilt and scabbard are typically Chinese, specifically the style known as fangshi (angular pattern, from the cross-section of the grip and sheath), which was adopted by the Manchus for most of their regulation-pattern military sabers from the mid-17th cent onwards for about a century or more.
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