12 replies to this topic

[jebusrocks]

Post pics of swords once used by famous Generals in Asia that are available to us in the modern world.

This is a somewhat hard because most swords were buried with their generals. I was only able to find one

Here is Jangum used by the famous Korean Admiral, Yi Sun Shin; now held the 325th (?) most treasured treasure in Korea, and is viewable in a museum (dunno the name of the museum )

It was a sword used by Yi Sun Shin during his battles; not the sword in which Chen Lin gave as an honor.

[General_Zhaoyun]

Looks to be interesting

[G3-X]

nice Jingum

[jebusrocks]

Although not used by generals; it is a sword given as to Japan (there are arguements on why, as a tribute or as a present to a subject)

It is a sword I like because it describes Baekje's art very well

In any case, according to Yoon (1990: 21), this seven bra n ched swo rd
reveals the highly progressed metal industrial art in Pa e k che: “In fact, it
seemed ve ry difficult to manu fa c t u re a big iron swo rd with a delicat e
ap p e a rance by the metal fab ri c ation tech n o l ogy wh i ch was deve l o p e d
d u ring the early 4th century, simply because va rious engi n e e ring pro c e s s e s ,
i n cluding smelting of iron ore, casting of molton iron, heat - t re atment or
joining of iron and steel, carving skills in iron mat e rials, etc. we re
n e c e s s a ry so as to secure such a metal product of high standard.” Yo o n
(1990: 21) concludes that “[c]onsidering eve ry aspect of engi n e e re d
a rt i facts ab ove mentioned, the manu fa c t u ring tech n o l ogy of Ch’ilch i - d o
[the seven bra n ched swo rd] by Pa e k che ex p e rts was excellent and superi o r
to that of Le-lang, contri buting to the improvement of metal cra f t m a n s h i p
in Japanese a n .”
Hirano (1977) notes that although Nihongi, “in its main text, treats Yamato

The full translation of the inscription on the Seven-branched Sword may be
read as follow: “On May 16th, the 4th year of Tae-hwa [or on April 16th,
the 4th year of T’ai-ho], the day of Byeong-O at noon , this sevenbranched
sword was manufactured with hundred-times-wrought iron
. As this sword has a magical power to rout the enemy ( ) , it is
sent [bestowed] to the king of a vassal state . Manufactured by x
x x x. Never has there been such a swo rd . Thinking of
longevity, the king of Paekche [or the Crown Prince of Paekche who
owes his life to the august King ( )] had this sword made for the
king of Wa [or the king of vassal state] . Hope that it be transmitted
and shown to posterity .”<1> See also Kim Jeong-Hak (1986). The
year the sword was manufactured is speculated to be A.D. 369.

[Furious Ming]

wow wait, thats the actual sword used by Yi Sun Shin? I am surprised such artifacts are still around.

[SNK_1408]

wow wait, thats the actual sword used by Yi Sun Shin? I am surprised such artifacts are still around.

I am not expert on sword, but I think this Yi's sword is actually true, even some famous general's weapons are still kept on good condition from this era (Imjin war).

My family head still keeping my ancestor's belongings like sword and brush dating back at least 600 years. My family had to hide away most of our ancestor's sword and daggers during the Japanese occupation period.

[Furious Ming]

I am not expert on sword, but I think this Yi's sword is actually true, even some famous general's weapons are still kept on good condition from this era (Imjin war).

My family head still keeping my ancestor's belongings like sword and brush dating back at least 600 years. My family had to hide away most of our ancestor's sword and daggers during the Japanese occupation period.

Oh thats neat, I am glad you guys managed to kept it safe. I guess the Japanese occupation in Korean is somewhat similar the Cultural Revolution/great leap forward in China where alot of historical relics are destroyed. There seems to be a excess of Japanese samurai armor and katannas floating around, but I have a very hard time looking for Chinese and Korean weapons and armors.

[jebusrocks]

Yes, I was quite surprised by the existance of the sword, I would have thought it would have been a #1 target for the Japanese during their occupation; however, thanks to the Independance and Rebel fighters in Korea, a lot of our SMALL (artifacts, documents, etc. A lot of the palaces and monuments were destroyed, and some taken to Japan to be used as garden accessories ) possessions.

I couldn't find any on famous generals, so I'll post some relic weapons and those of great importance



Sa In Chul Sa Geum(四寅斬邪劍), made for the Imperial Family

이 검은 마(魔)를 물리치기 위해 만들어진 주술형 검인 참사검(斬邪劍)중 하나로,
12간지중 호랑이를상징하는 인년(寅年), 인월(寅月), 인일(寅日), 인시(寅時)에 제작된 것으로서
순양(純陽)의 성질을 지녔기 때문에 음(陰)한 사귀(邪鬼)를 물리칠 수 있다고 믿어졌습니다.

[stimpypacks]

what kind of sword is your ancestor's sword SNK? is it single bladed or double bladed?

Edited by stimpypacks, 10 July 2009 - 09:51 AM.

[stimpypacks]

SNK, you're soo lucky to still have your ancestor's sword. My grandfather's grandfather was a minor ranked yangban who was of the military. My grandfather says he wore a cardinal hat with two feathers sticking out it. (I wonder what kind of position he was in?) and used to carry a sword. When he heard the Japanese were coming to collect steel, he hid his sword in the thatch of a roof. He searched the roof again after some time, but it was lost. (someone must have stolen it.).


I think he would have looked something like this.

Maybe you should convince your folks to put the sword in a museum or something. (although that would mean the sword would no longer be part of the family)


There are almost no swords left in Korea. First the Japanese collected it, then the Korean war would have destroyed some, then after the war, people threw away their swords because the president told everyone to burn anything that was a reminder of the Japanese occupation so that Korea could start a new beginning. Swords were destroyed whether they were Korean or not, because people believed swords symbolized Japan.

Edited by stimpypacks, 10 July 2009 - 09:46 AM.

[polar_zen]

Anyone have some pics of old Chinese swords? Possibly from the Ming or Qing or even earlier?

[SNK_1408]

what kind of sword is your ancestor's sword SNK? is it single bladed or double bladed?

Not sure, I'm guessing double bladed and several small daggers.
I've only seen the sword when I was very little and that was almost 20 years ago.

SNK, you're soo lucky to still have your ancestor's sword. My grandfather's grandfather was a minor ranked yangban who was of the military. My grandfather says he wore a cardinal hat with two feathers sticking out it. (I wonder what kind of position he was in?) and used to carry a sword. When he heard the Japanese were coming to collect steel, he hid his sword in the thatch of a roof. He searched the roof again after some time, but it was lost. (someone must have stolen it.).


I think he would have looked something like this.

Maybe you should convince your folks to put the sword in a museum or something. (although that would mean the sword would no longer be part of the family)


There are almost no swords left in Korea. First the Japanese collected it, then the Korean war would have destroyed some, then after the war, people threw away their swords because the president told everyone to burn anything that was a reminder of the Japanese occupation so that Korea could start a new beginning. Swords were destroyed whether they were Korean or not, because people believed swords symbolized Japan.

Yes, sadly most of medieval weapons such as hwando or spear are mostly destroyed or taken away during Japanese occupation.
My mum's grand father lost their lands and houses to new Japanese owners as he was one of richest man in Kumsan, Daejon, and when they got it back right after Japanese left, communist came down during 1950 and gave it to the farmers and executed rest of my grand's family members being landlord.

My dad's family is also lost most their assets in Tuman river when Japanese over ran the area and turned it into military camp, my dad's entire family were forced to take Japanese names, and given Kirikawa surname. My dad's name became Gil-guk to Yoshi-guni.
The only reason why Japanese imperial commander liked my dad's family was because they had sizable assets and influence over Tuman river region to Jilin of China. During Joseon era, my ancestor held important military ranks from both Qing and Joseon courts, and were given rights to setup trade routes and influence over Tuman river regions. Both my dad's grand parents were from this area.

My grand mother's name is Kim Nobak, only daughter of one of richest & powerful family who held land North of Tuman river, and my grand dad was third son of the merchant family who held important position at both Qing and Joseon courts. After the marriage of two richest & powerful family, my dad's side grands inherited Chongjin region as gift from the family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongjin

This entire Chongjin was my grand father's land.
and this is where Japanese saw importance of using my grand father's influence, they wanted to turn this area into trade port.

Originally Chongjin was only a small fishing village, located in northeastern Korea. In 1908, the Japanese, in order to facilitate a sea route for the northeast Chinese and Korean resources, opened this small fishing village as a trade port.

from wikipedia.

Thus, from this my grand father became very rich and he was CEO of the resource logistic company, of course this was all Japanese trick, later they confiscated most of my grand father's wealth for supporting their army after they won the war with Russia.

My grand father's other family member fled to Jilin while my grand mother's family were stuck at Tuman river and faced extermination by Japanese military. My grand father was at Harbin at that time for his business trip, and could not reach back to Chongjin. My grand mother and her eldest child (my oldest aunt) fled the home town with several family's treasure including sword, dagger and other jewelery.

They managed to fled to China and was refuge in her cousin's place at Jilin and my grand father came down to rescue, they were living at Jilin until the communist forces from China came, so they fled again, and this time they heard Japan lost the war and was able to go back to their home town.

But sadly, they could not stay at their home for long as communists started taking their home town, so fled to South Korea and luckily my grand father tuck away family treasures when the left the home town, because they also held house in Pyongyang. Then fled to Seoul just before the Korea war and came right down to Daejon. By the time they came to South Korea and Korean war was almost over, the only family treasure they held was the sword and two daggers and brush. I was told, my uncle back in South Korea buried my grand father with the sword that he came with in 1989.

Edited by SNK_1408, 14 July 2009 - 09:39 PM.

[WangGeon]

If anyone is still curious (as this is a two-year-old thread after all), several weapons dating to the Imjinwaeran are kept in the Jinju National Museum, which is highly dedicated to maintaining artifacts of that specific time period. I got to see the swords of generals; most of them are pretty huge and were more or less ceremonial. Actual weapons were much smaller (and more practical).