Two dha, Birmese and Laotian Hmong Montagnard?

[werecow]

Originally Posted by Iain

The so-called montagnard dha is not associated with the Hmong. It is from southern Laos, northern Cambodia and the border areas of Vietnam. Commonly the style is called after Attapeu in Laos which is a major regional center for both Lao and hill tribes.

This example is a hill tribes variant, the long handle is not for two handed use but rather a reflection of the multi purpose use of this sword. The long handle serves for common tasks like harvesting hard to reach fruit etc. They are used as single handed swords in combat.

The pattern of the casting is found also on shorter hilted swords.

Thanks Iain. I was wondering whether these might double as agricultural tools but the fact that it has a (minimal) handguard of sorts threw me. I'll have a look at the forums for other forms of dha with similar decorative casting. Maybe the second from the top and bottom swords in this post of yours?



EDIT: Closeup from here



Also the swirling patterns look a lot like this post by Detlef in the first thread:



Interesting that you say the Montagnard dha swords are not associated with the Hmong. The seller mentioned that he lacked expertise on this region but that he had made the determination based on what he read on these forums. I think the Hmong association was specifically based on #3 in this post by Ian (and possibly corroborated by this post by Jim).

Originally Posted by Sajen

Here you go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cck_02cUUc8

Thanks Detlef! I feel like that guy's wrists move in ways that mine can't. If I try a moulinet with a roughly equally sized broomstick I end up hitting myself in the armpit (with the "grip" side, but still) so probably best not to try it with the actual sword lest I kill myself accidentally. Or worse, hit one of my swords! Probably doesn't help that I have maybe half a meter of space on each side of me.