What Chinese sword formats are represented in the tang sword collection?
Updated Feb 2026
The Chinese tang sword collection represents the primary blade formats of the Chinese martial tradition across their most historically significant configurations. The dao broadsword - the curved single-edged cutting blade that was the standard military sidearm of Chinese soldiers from the Han through Qing periods - appears in multiple formats including the Qing dynasty broadsword, the oxtail dao with its distinctive flared tip geometry, and the straight-blade war dao configuration. The jian straight sword - the double-edged straight blade associated with Chinese scholarly culture, Taoist martial arts, and the literary archetype of the wandering swordsman - appears in Han dynasty jian configuration in 1095 carbon steel. The Han dynasty short sword provides the compact single-edged format of the early imperial period. The Chinese overlord spear in Manganese Steel extends the collection into the polearm category. This range of formats means the collection covers the primary axes of Chinese blade design: cutting blade versus thrusting straight sword, standard versus extended length, and sidearm versus polearm configurations.