Podao
Podao | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 撲刀 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simplified Chinese | 朴刀 | ||||||||||||
|
Podao or pudao (simplified Chinese: 朴刀; traditional Chinese: 樸刀; pinyin: pōdāo) is a Chinese edged infantry weapon which is still used primarily for training in various Chinese martial arts. The blade of the weapon is shaped like a Chinese broadsword, but the weapon has a longer handle, usually around one and a half to two meters (about four to six feet) which is circular in cross section. It looks somewhat similar to the guandao.
The pudao is sometimes called a horse-cutter sword since it is speculated to have been used to slice the legs out from under a horse during battle {cf. zhanmadao}. It is somewhat analogous to the Japanese nagamaki, although the nagamaki sword may have been developed independently. Looking at the standards of its design, the pudao is also equivalent to the Korean hyeopdo.