long chinese dadao execution ''sword'' ?

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

My Viet Truong Dao for comparison.Mine is quite well balanced and feels light and nimble, 85cm. overall, 55cm. blade, grip is wound with a twisted fibrous green cord. I've been told the viet ones frequently have engraved decorations like mine.

Vietnamese blades are often distinguishable from Chinese ones by the simplistic vegetal scrollwork engraved on them. The motif is inspired by the inlaid floral mother of pearl inlays on the hardwood scabbards. Oof military and civil officials swords. Chinese falchion blades are mostly devoid of designs of marks except for military unit marks or slogans

[Ren Ren]

Originally Posted by Philip

Vietnamese blades are often distinguishable from Chinese ones by the simplistic vegetal scrollwork engraved on them. The motif is inspired by the inlaid floral mother of pearl inlays on the hardwood scabbards.

I agree that the motif of the climbing plant shoots is a very distinctive mark of the blades of the Vietnamese people.
This symbol has a rather complex origin. For the Chinese, the wavy lines mean mystical power flowing along the blade, they often come from magical Taoist objects. For the Vietnamese, the tenacious young shoots of climbing plants, such as creepers, grapes, and pumpkins, reaching for sunlight, symbolize the "struggle for a place in the sun." Four-petalled creeper flowers and pumpkin fruits filled with numerous seeds in folklore are associated with the origin of some peoples of Vietnam. Therefore, we can see images of shoots of climbing plants, creeper flowers, grape and pumpkin fruits and on the scabbards of ceremonial sabers of Vietnamese officials and on the most simple and modest blades.