Famous Chinese Shopping City Books

Miao dao Wikipedia

A Miao dao was a type of anti-cavalry sword that was used in China during the Ming Dynasty. Also called changdao in old Chinese, the blade greatly resembles a Japanese odachi|ōdachi in form. Indeed some feel that the design of the miao dao was drawn from exposure to the long swords of Japanese pirates along China's south-eastern coast. This weapon was adopted by General Qi Jiguang and used against enemies on the Mongolia|Mongol border circa 1560. It replaced the zhanmadao|zhǎn mǎ dāo as a 'horse slaying' weapon; it is interesting to note that as the Japanese blades may have been derivatives of the zhan man dao, the miao dao would effectively be a third-generation replacement of the original sword. At the time of General Qi it had a specified length of 1.95 meters, which made it rival the ōdachi in length. Its handle was long, apparently slightly more than one third of its total length, and its curve more shallow than that of Japanese swords. Commanding up to 100,000 troops on the Mongol border, General Qi found this so effective that up to 40% of his commandos had it as a weapon; it stayed in service throughout the late Ming dynasty.

----

Unfortunately, the Miao dao is often mistaken for the large dao described above. The description above is correctly termed chang dao (long sword). A Miao dao has dimensions closer to 1.2 meters.

As a side note, the Japanese swords had originally been influenced by the Chinese. Import of both bronze and steel swords into Japan from China dated as far back as the period between 0 CE - 210 CE (late Han Dynasty). During the Chinese Tang dynasty (Japanese Yamato - Nara period) many Chinese and Korean swordsmiths were commissioned to Japan (along with large imports of Chinese swords). The Japanese perfected the craft commonly represented in the katana. The style introduced into Japan however lost popularity in China during the Yuan dynasty. The style appeared to regain popularity in the Ming dynasty. The Miao dao is perhaps a very interesting reversion of influence due to the preservation of its style in Japanese swordsmithing.

----

It is also possible that this Japanese-influenced sword eventually lead to the Qing Dynasty wodao sword.

Last Modified:   2005-11-04