the origin of the big ass chinese dao
people often say that the big ass oversized chinese dao is for decoration and opera, and wikipedia says it is never found in the military and is a civilian weapon because it is heavy and unwieldy.
i was doing some reading and found out the origin of the big ass dao. it comes from the song dynasty at the time of heavy infantry and cataphracts. song dynasty infantry wore up to 70 pound armor and bowmen wore 50 pound armor. jin cataphracts wore up to 100 pound double triple layer lamenar armor. during that time mongol heavy cavalry were descrbied by persians to take over 50 arrows to the body and suffer minor injuries.
the big ass dao was not a cheap low quality weapon due to its dumb shape but it was actually a high quality sword. the shape is for breaking through armor like the guan dao. the decoration is also related to guan dao.
the shape of the big ass dao was called "sturgeon sword" or fish head sword or big hand sword. the shape also resembles flame of a dragon's breath, and the sword guard often has a dragons mouth. this is similar to guan dao.
