Dha (?) nr 2 for comment please

[thomas hauschild]

I got some pieces from a friend who left germany decades ago. He forwarded some pieces that have been storaged 20 years and he thought that will fit better to my collection. But I‘m more experienced in the indonesian area

Here the first Dha approx 67 cm length. Thanks for your help.

Best thomas

[Ian]

Burmese dha, probably early to mid-20th C, with unusual brass hilt and scabbard suspension system. The inscription contained within the rather crudely forged fuller is Burmese, with an Anglicized "PAN" at the end. The brass components of the hilt seem to have been machined on a lathe rather than cast, perhaps suggesting another European influence.

The rings on the scabbard may have been intended to attach a cord for display purposes. Similar rings can be found on the more ornate "temple dha" of the early 20th C.

[Ren Ren]

I was surprised to notice that the scabbard of this dha is covered with leather. Never seen anything like it in Southeast Asia. Perhaps the author took as a model the scabbard of Japanese swords of the Second World War. Then the suspension for one ring could be borrowed there.

[kronckew]

The reason these look like Jap swords is that they were often used by the Japanese as machetes in the Japanese Burma campaign ww2, they were leather covered with the single suspension ring for belt carry, likely done by Japanese military workers, possibly By Burmese ??, bit no Japanese officer would ever have used his shingunto Katana for jungle work, so they bought and used their shorter Burmese dha, often the end of the blades of these dha were concave type and had to be re ground to suit the Japanese user, many of these were taken by British and other country's jungle warfare soldiers who served in the Burma campaign, they took them from dead and captured Jap soldiers believing them to be Japanese. These were also used by the Burmese who fought with the Japanese, conscripted Burmese men whos rank was no more than cannon fodder.


The mounts of these dha are thin sheet brass that is hammered into shape on lacquer blocks like toffee and then soldered, they are then fitted to the sword by filling the pomel with lacquer resin of the same type that is used for setting all dha blades in Burma and Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.
These dha always have the same filed finish on the mounts and the single middle forged fuller in the blade.


I have a Burmese dha that i received from a Chindit, who took it off a Japanese office who didn't need it any more, because he had gone to meet his ancestors..