The podao is a Chinese polearm carrying a single-edged blade shaped like a Chinese broadsword on a long haft, typically one to two meters, distinguishing it from a hand-held dao. It resembles the Japanese nagamaki and the Korean hyeopdo and is related to the Chinese guandao, and it is thought to have been used by Song dynasty infantry to cut the legs from under cavalry horses in battle. Today the weapon survives mainly as a training form within Chinese martial arts, and its precise early history is less well documented than that of other Chinese polearms.
Facts
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)Sword / Polearm / Bladed 1 Classification
Service Status Weapon ClassSingle-edged infantry weapon 1 Sources
1. Podao, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph
a Chinese single-edged infantry weapon that is still used primarily for training in various Chinese martial arts.
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
- Weapon class (sword-polearm-blade) is a pre-industrial/melee weapon type by its own nature per the entity's own sourced description text; not carried in current active military service.
View the SourceWikidata: Podao (Chinese Polearm)
Wikidata Q2227496, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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