Changdao

The changdao is a two handed, single edged Chinese sword that first appeared during the Tang dynasty of the seventh to tenth centuries as a weapon for elite infantry stationed at the front of a formation. Tang era examples measured roughly seven feet in total length, with a blade of about three feet and a handle of about four feet. The weapon fell out of use after the Tang period but resurfaced during the Ming dynasty as a general term for two handed single edged blades of around 1.95 meters, this time with a shallower curve than its Japanese counterparts and a handle making up slightly more than a third of the total length. Ming military commander Qi Jiguang promoted the weapon after studying Japanese swordsmanship around 1560, and it went on to equip as much as forty percent of the commando forces he raised for coastal and border defense. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/