Southeast Asian Dha / Darb / Krabi Sword with example from Siamese Edge
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- čas přidán 16. 05. 2024
- A look at the Southeast Asian dha (AKA daab, darb, dav, dap, krabi etc ), with some observations about its proportions and design (example by / siameseedge )
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I'm Thai, and I consulted my friend who is a Thai warfare historian and sword fighting instructor that specializes in ancient Thai sword fighting (not Krabi-krabong, which is a modern interpretation), and also smiths his own blades based on museum pieces and other documented examples. Here are his comments:
First thing to note is that "dha" is the Burmese term for this type of sword, while the Thai term is "dahb". "Krabi" originally referred to Chinese straight swords (such as the jian), but the term evolved to refer to one-handed swords with hand-guards, including but not limited to rapiers, smallswords, and sabers.
For the antique dha, in terms of decoration it is most like Burmese or Lanna (an ancient kingdom related to the Burmese), with the silver and ivory fittings most likely indicate that the dha belonged to someone of high social standing. The figure on the pommel is most likely depicting a dancer with their head thrown back. The reason for this design could be anything from not wanting an easily-breakable piece if the head was straight, an imperfection in the ivory which prevented other carvings, or simply artistic license.
For the carrying, yes, it was probably because of both environment and clothing. Myanmar and northern Thailand was quite heavily forested, and wearing the sword higher helped to avoid getting tangled. In the rest of Thailand, people tended to wear a type of wrap-around cloth that was fairly baggy, which could have tangled up the sword. Swords were sometime slung on the back for traveling long distances or while performing tasks requiring 2 hands, such as climbing over rocks and trees, but rarely in a combat context. Also, in a pinch, if your non-dominant hand was occupied and you had to draw your sword, you could clamp the scabbard with your arm and draw.
For scabbard shape, no one is really sure why they were shaped that way as there are no historical records on the matter, but the most popular theory is that it was for weight reduction. One ancient Thai sword-style taught the use of scabbard in dual-wielding, treating it like an edged club.
For the lack of hand-guards, Burmese and Thai sword fighting was primarily hacking and slashing, and thrusting was very rare. As mentioned, the general lack of armor for the average foot soldier would have had little resistance against any opportunistic thrust and thus did not really require a hand guard.
As mentioned, armor did exist, but the average foot soldier almost never had any, and the heaviest armor was worn by royalty who fought on elephant-back. Any armor worn by foot soldiers would be worn by elite troops, and would almost certainly be comprised of only and helmet and a breastplate. There is evidence of armor made of leather and/or rattan, but very few examples remain.
The long hilts also play into the hacking and slashing style of fighting, as the long hilt would act as a counter-weight for the fast directional changes that exemplify Burmese and Thai sword styles. Large pommels were very rares as metal was an uncommon commodity, and would rarely be used to add weight to a weapon. Larger and heavier pommels in Thailand were traditionally made of bronze and would usually be found on sword made for people of higher social classes.
The cylindrical grips may be a holdover from older times when the grips would be made from bamboo or rattan, which would then be bound with cloth or rope. While some argue that it helps with the twirling style of Burmese and Thai fighting styles, others think it was a conservative mindset of "if it works, don't change it" (like how Japanese katana blades barely changed shape over hundreds of years). There is limited evidence that grips started to change after contact with the Japanese in the 1600's, but the introduction of gunpowder in the 1700's halted the evolution of Thai swords.
Sword and shield was the main combination for the battlefield, with the average foot soldier using a bamboo or rattan bucklers and elite troops using iron shields. Dual-wielding was actually not uncommon on the Burmese and Thai battlefield, as dual-wielding elite troops were used as shock-troops to attack and break weak formations.
I hope this information is helpful!
The dual wield battlefield part is interesting to me. Considering you said elite troops, I immediately thought of stuff like elite guards and shock infantry in other cultures. Those units pretty much universally (some exception though) are very heavily armored and use something like a two-handed ax or sword or even stuff like cleaving polearms (poleaxes, glaives and such), but the area of the world we are talking about is dense forest or jungle. I wonder if elites in a similar manner to everywhere else were heavily armored and gave up shields for more offense but didn't want a big two-handed weapon that would be difficult to use in a confined space so instead, they just picked up another weapon. In principle it's the same trend, you a letting your armor be the only defense so that you can be much more offensive with your weapon(s). Just an idea.
เป็นข้อมูลที่ดีมากขอบคุณ
@@howitzer551 The Elite Unit were primarily body guard, such as จัตุลังคบาท(idk no English translation). Dual wield were probably preferred, since there are only 4 guards(depicted mostly in drawing, probably more IRL), one on each leg for the Siamese while the Burmese equivalent usually have more.
ข้อมูลละเอียดมาก Thai sward is losting art. ความรู้เรื่องดาบไทยกำลังหายไป
I have a dahb with a bamboo hilt.
I would LOVE to see more non-Japanese Asian weapons, blades specifically, as axes and bows are fairly darned universal in form and implementation. Spears as well.
Shields aswell, the headhunting tribes of Philippines has some funky looking shields, it looks like a fork which in guessing is used for trapping and catching weapons.
Bows are very different wherever you go. That doesn't make sense. The same tribe will have different bows for hunting and for war. Materials are different and so is application. Depending on what you are doing the arrow has to be different and then there were different arrowheads for different uses. Axes are different as well.
Absolutely. You could probably create an entire channel just about weapons and armor in the subcontinent of India. But mostly in Asia we get fantasy weapons like you see on forged in fire. As if everyone was running around with blades in the shape of a cross or have ridiculous steel whips.
The Kampilan from the Philippines and the Wasay head hunting axe, gulok/golok, barong.
The Kris/Keris that can be found throughout South East Asia.
Bows are pretty hard since every tribes have their own version.
The Kalasag (shield in English) has a lot of versions as well.
Insert: Ginunting sword
(Take not that the Wasay is not the only headhunting axe that can be found, there are other variants and names for it, same goes with the Kampilan, mainly the Kapampangan Talibung, short but heavy blade.)
and if it were more japanese weapons i would like to see more of their other weapons like axes, clubs, spears over the usual katana/tachi or naginata
I'm from SEA, and our weapons are primarily multi purpose tools used equally on the battlefield or in the jungle/farm as a utility tool to clear brush, cut firewood, dress animals etc. hence the lack of a guard most of the time as it adds weight and gets in the way when for example mincing vegies on a cutting board plus most attacks are in the form of cuts and slashes due to the lack of armor for the most part, close quarters combat in tight spaces in the jungle and the short nature of the weapons to cope with the environment and enhance its utilitarian uses.
Most of our weapons follow this pattern like shorter spears or short glaives with detachable blades for use as machetes and short bows and short arrows for short ranges that is hard to draw fully but is designed for claustrophobic environments fighting between trees and vines in a hot dark sweaty humid and bug ridden jungles with uneven terrain and deadly animals plus thorny plants.
I wonder if the lack of guard and the taper to the scabbard is also due to living in/near jungles too, a guard could just get in the way and get snagged or hit things, while the taper just makes it easier to move through the jungle, i don't think it'd be a huge difference but a little difference over what could be years of carrying one would add up.
@@MrTrilbe Your probably right, as well as the shape being an aesthetic tradition it could actually be because in an emergency without a shield on hand which is usually the case the scabbard can be used as a parrying implement and as a blunt club during dual wield, the flat tip will provide a sharper edge when hitting things like a blunt axe, here in the Philippines some scabbards even have shield handles built into the design making the scabbard a buckler type of tool as well as having a strong tradition of dual wielding so designing the scabbard as a wieldable blunt weapon makes sense. The rounded part of the scabbard near the hilt is probably there to aid in holding while the flat half is to reduce weight to make carrying more comfortable.
ในรูปแบบกองทัพทำสงคราม มันมีความเชื่อมากมายเกี่ขวกับอาวุธจะไม่ใช้มั่วๆครับ หากคุณใช้อาวุธประจำตำแหน่งที่กษัติย์ประทานให้มาแบบมั่วๆคุณอาจจะถูกตัดหัวเป็นอย่างน้อย
In Krabi we use the thumb to aim the edge alignment training the thumb to be in parallel with the blade edge
I was just thinking the same, seems logical to put your thumb on the spine. That way you'd always know the way it's facing.
Yes this is what I have been taught in krabi as well.
I see darb in museums here where the hilt is not circular at all. So there is some variation. But thank you for your note about indexing with your thumb. I haven’t studied krabi.
Cool. It still won't matter. Round handles are still a problem. Even hammers don't have them. :) This is one of those situations where tradition and reality are in conflict I suppose.
Would that also help explain lack of guard, so you can finger blade better?
Compare with my collections, I think the silver cover dha is Burmese Dha. Look at short handle and the and style of silver craft. It may not old because the ivory is look like less than 20year old. However, the black is good dha from northern of Thailand. Dha in thailand are separated in four group Northern(Lanna ), Central(rattana, ayuthaya), Northeastern(Esand), and Southern(Nakorn or Pak tai). Their designs is differented by using purposes and using techniques.
The use of the daab in Thailand varies on the style used, many styles are more "dances" used to entertain in show fights and exhibitions. The relatively new sport of Daab Thai that is evolving under the KMA includes practitioners of any style and as a result those that practice the less practical styles tend to not fair as well.
I am an instructor (Kru) of Bo Tong Krabi Krabong a style that is based on very old (allegedly passed down by royal bowyers) but very practical movements. While living in Thailand myself another Kru and our Ajarn Waigoon Promsuwan (he prefers the title Kru Oh) were constantly evolving the style to match the practicalities of fighting, we all taught at Tiger Muay Thai and so were living and breathing the style on a day to day basis and would regularly receive input from practitioners of Joa Ram, Buddhai sawan, TTS (sorry if I butcher the spellings) and Bo tong practitioners from all over the world as well as input from people like myself who had experience in early medieval fighting and HEMA.
The hilt is long so the weapon can be used in two hands to hack through dense jungle if needed but also once the art is mastered it can be utilised to devastating effect to block and trap an opponents blade/limb but this does take a great deal of practice but something I would always have up my sleeve. As you pointed out it also aids in balancing the weapon so it has multiple functions.
Thrusting was a very regular occurrence and was incorporated into the "12 mai", 12 basic attacks partnered with 12 basic blocks. In the tournaments of Daab Thai thrusting was actually removed from the rule set (not a decision I agree with but have to respect) as it was so effective they didnt want to water down the traditional styles by having it turn into a simple fencing thrusting match which I personally dont beleive it would have anyway but it's not upt to me ! So thrusts are core to the martial art ofJoa Ram, TTS (tactical thai sword style) and Bo Tong atleast.
The grip is held in a similar way to a hammer grip but with the forefinger and thumb providing the main grip with the other three fingers used to control the angle and direction of the cut (keep the knuckles inline as you strike and your edge allignment will be correct), something I suggested while out there is that they experiment with a more ovate as opposed to cylindrical grip but in this regard it seems they wanted to keep the traditional grip which is understandable as the art belongs to Thais and is not for westerners to go changing things believing we know better and though it takes a great deal of practice it is very effective.
The lack of guard issue is also something I personally would like to see change on these swords but although "hard" blocks are taught to beginers and intermediates those who have mastered the art will understand that blocks should be utilised along with footwork movement to create deflections as opposed to outright hard blocking (there are some exceptions ofc) so use of a guard becomes less necessary.
The length of the weapon. Many Thai weapons are shorter than their European counterparts this is due to the practitioners generally being slightly smaller but mainly because carrying large weapons through dense jungle is wildly impractical and would only have been done when wielding the quite enormous Ngao (Glaive) from the back of an elephant in which case others will cut a path for you or the elephant itself.
Hope you found these points helpful, if I bump into you at a show at some point then I can elaborate and demonstrate some of the grip issues, thanks for making a video drawing attention to this sword and the martial art surrounding it :)
If used for thrusting would the person use one hand to push from the butt end of the handle whilst the other hand wrapped around the handle?
@@adrianjagmag No, usually in a battlefield context it would be partnered with a shield and in a dualing/sport/exhibition context it would mostly be used alongside another Daab as a paired weapon or "dual wielding" as people like to say.
it really doesnt take a great deal to penetrate flesh and as we train continously to hit target zones (side of neck, groin, throat, hands, knees, sometimes feet) these are either instant maiming target zones or relatively fast death target zones none of with require much force to acheive.
If you are stabbing into armour then you are simply wasting your time as armour is supposed to prevent this sort of thing but armour wouldnt be all that common in a climate such as SE asia (for the most part) :)
Thank you for the long answer
@@adrianjagmag - The moves are usually too fast for the mind to adjust to placing a hand at the pommel.
Lots of flicking motion. The movement is more like playing badminton using the wrist instead of squash and tennis swinging the hand wildly. Yes, it is easy to penetrate flesh. But warriors could have hard armor shells that the blade cannot poke through. In those cases the hand will slide forward onto the cutting edge. Also, some have hand guard(I saw them in Thailand almost 50 years ago) and some do not. So, people choose whatever combination and construction to their delight.
There was a Japanese town in Thailand in the 16th century, and there was a Japanese army. Yamada Nagamasa became a Thai aristocrat and became governor of the prefecture.
The Japanese became mercenaries in Southeast Asia and were in conflict with Spain and the Netherlands. In Japantown, there was a trade with Japan, and Japanese products and katana were imported. Katana was made in Japantown, and katana materials were imported from China.
The existing sword called tang dao exists only in Japan. And the sword in the picture of the Tang dynasty is different from the Japanese tang dao.
Therefore, even in China, there is a theory that Japanese tang dao is different from Chinese tang dao.
日本正仓院唐大刀（唐刀）是否为唐风
The king of Siam sent numerous embassies to Japan: in 1621, an embassy led by Khun Pichitsombat and Khun Prasert, in 1623 by Luang Thongsamut and Khun Sawat, and in 1626 by Khun Raksasittiphon. Letters from King Songtham praise the relationship between the two countries
However, merchant ships of both nations now ply regularly between our two countries, causing relations to become even closer. It is now apparent that you (the shōgun) ) have sincere affection for us, an affection even stronger than that of our immediate kin. "
- Letter by King Songtham.
The shōgun responded in similar terms:
"The cordial relations between our two countries cannot be destroyed. Since we both have mutual trust, the existence of a sea between us is not of any significance."
- Letter by the Tokugawa shōgun to King Songtham.
3:15 Really like the point you mention it. It is literally everywhere in Burmese and Thai media or art. As far as I have seen about swords at the back is more of holding the sword by the string over the shoulder while carrying a spear or musket. Period art general show the swords are all carried under the armpit. At least for Burmese ones.
The extensive hilt used for balance is found on messers in Europe, too, of course. You've got messers with pommels too, but a lot of them didn't, just a relatively long and thick tang with handle scales, and the length of that grip is there to do your standard counterbalancing.
IMO Burmese hilt-to-blade ratio for length is 1:3 and the Siamese one is 1:2. Dha is a general term for swords, daggers, and machetes in our language, Burma. The one from your video is called Nghat Kyi Taung (Translation to English is the feather of a giant bird) aka Nghat (Bird as a nickname). The two swords have different purposes and I believe that the Thai sword is lightweight and the Burmese sword has more chopping power. Shapes are quite different from each other. The purpose of the Burmese sword is to thrust, chop, slice, and throw. Yes, we love throwing our weapons. For those specific purposes, we made our sword tip heavier and thicker so that more chopping power and is good for throwing.
Some notes I might add as a thai and one that has visited thai blacksmiths, it seems that some dhas were peened, but maybe it was just the way that those blacksmiths made them, and it is a modern thing. It was a swordsmithing workshop in some corner of a suburb outside of Chiang Mai (search lampang sword on youtube).
Very simple and shitty workshop, but the blades they made seemed pretty good. They made swords in a northern style, and they seem to be longer and pointier. They also had very strong distal taper going from about 7-9 milimeters thick, tapering to about 2-3 milimeters.
Also, it seems that thumb up the spine of the blade is the way to go when cutting
Ssounds like Boontan Sittipaisal, a Thai mastersmith sword maker!
@@SiamBlades yeah, thats him. Super nice guy. I was actually gonna do a swordsmithing course with him but covid got in the way.
I trained Krabi Krabong in Thailand. It was interesting, It felt like Muay Thai with weapons. What is interesting is that when blocking they use the edge often.
I think most martial arts use the edge to block, but I’ve heard krabi krabong is especially rough on weapons
Common to find big chips on used blades. And in shows it is spectacular to see sparks of metal flying off the edges as the demonstrators cross blades. Since the blades are expected to have thin/shallow hardened edge with a large portion being unhardened soft metal there is not much point grinding the chips out after battles.
Darb was design with idea that "blade is disposable and could be replaced" in mind and shaft to be reused (this is why the most decorated and well-made part of darb always its shaft and hilt) as you might already know that fighting style of darb is similar to stick fight and this would be quite burden for its blade. Method of swordsmithing is similar to chinese dao and japanese katana but cruder than how japanese want to portray the same process. Traditional darb smithing seem to emphasis on practicality and not treat it much different from any other tools with sharp blade. Locally made blade in Thailand during medieval time is quite poor in quality as our elite seem to acknowledging this themselves as story about how Ayutthaya elite prefer to use imported blade part from Japan with local made hilt/shaft is quite common although we known that japanese did not export high quality katana aboard.
As other comment have already said so, darb is as much a weapon as fieldcraft tools for terrain like jungle and swamp of Southeast Asia which in essence this is not different from chinese soldiers' dao.
There is much less common type of weapon in Thailand which have special cultural treatment as sword (skanda/kand) which is two edge sword but more of elite's ritual weapon and have bigger place in religion and myth than darb (as much of those myth imported from southern India) as they have more connection to elite class.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Victory
This was an informative comment, thank you for sharing
Very important statement that Japanese did not export high quality katana aboard. There are lots and lots of liars loving Japanese Art swords claiming Japanese swords are always of high quality. There are lots of poor quality Japanese swords in the antique market.
That way of wearing the scabbard so close to the armpit is certainly interesting. I never imagined something like this existed.
Definitely worth adding to homebrews.
You're right on many things with a few things off the mark. According to my teacher, Darb is designed to be a nimble and fast cutting instrument. Each part was made for a specific purpose. The tip is design to piece flesh to around 2-3 inch, no more, to prevent stuck. The cutting portion is made to be thin, flat, and light for fast cutting. The cone of the blade is meant to be thicker with wedge shape cross section for blocking, while moving the blade center of gravity nearer to the grip so that it will be nimble when use. The hilt is long to counterbalance and can be grip with two hands when needed. The reason that the hilt is round is because when we start learning “krabi krabong”, we use a round half meter long stick as training media. So, when we move to Darb, the hilt is made in the same fashion that we used to. And, frankly, after been trained for so long, edge aliment wasn’t any of an issue.
Almost forgot, Siamese warrior do ware sword on their back when going on a long march, going through jungle, or carrying two swords. Since the blade of Darb is not long, it can be unsheathe quite easily even wearing on the back. But for normal circumstances, we would hold it in are left hand. I’m not sure about hanging under our left shoulder, cause that’s we normally where are “yarm” would be (yarm is a bag similar to messenger style bag).
As I have said recently in other channel I love how you casually move a sword lightning fast while commenting its nimbleness or lack of it. I suppose it's the joy of seeing someone doing something he is really good at
Thai sword (Darb), the balancing for 360 degree rotation is the most importance factor. That is why it is in cylindrical shape and no handle protection.
The technique is we use sword like ‘Whip’ for fast movement and cutting. The handle is quite long for protecting your arm; this meant to be use by the traditional martial art style.
I've seen Vietmamese and Thai blades a lot, my wife collects South East Asian, Chinese and Korean weapons because she loves them, i've handled Dha and they're quite nice to use long handles are a prefference and they are quick and nimble with surprising cutting power for size
You're wife sounds awesome. Is she single? (Please understand it's a joke). I love the military history of Thailand but I mostly read about how they resisted colonization. What is the name of signature Thai weapons? I've read about there elephants and early use of artillery
@@nickdarr7328 I guess the 'Dha' or as we called it in Thai 'Daab' (ดาบ) as seen in the video is the most well known Thai weapons.
@@Tul7a lol. I guess I thought it was more Vietnam and Cambodian but of course there's so much trade due to proximity. I was wondering if they had personal dagger types like karambits for Malay and kukri for Nepal and all the different Afghan and Arab tribal daggers. And Scottish dirk and European bullock daggers
@@nickdarr7328 There is a daggerlike short dha and thais more south used kris daggers
@@atom8248 I forgot about the kris. For a long time I thought that was just a fantasy weapon and not real or even old. I figured it was a late 19th or early 20th century souvenir for dumb tourist. But it's definitely real. As are examples of a dha dagger. I also found something called a bade bade dagger from the same area. It looks nasty and so does the dha dagger version. I'm sure you've seen those Italian daggers that are almost swords, meaning 5 fingers and is 5 fingers wide at the hilt. You also have that Saudi Arabia dagger with a handle in a "J" shape and wide at the hilt. I love these, what I would call every day carry knives/weapons/tool. I always heard that the Franks were named for the small throwing ax they carried. Despite what we have on this channel I wonder if vikings did the same and that's why we have the axe wielding viking stereotype from. Certainly the native Americans carried tomahawks. And in more modern times an American carried a hunting knife or later a Bowie knife. Whereas Europeans were less likely to skin a bear and carried swords until it was illegal. So what does a kukri say about the people of Nepal and Burma? That they need powerful choppers for dense vines. But a kris must be wavy to open wicked wounds and possibly has the strength to chop. But a dha and bade bade dagger look like a wicked spike for nothing but shanking. That wide Italian dagger exist to decorate. These South East Asian blades exist to kill. I want to look more about every day carry by culture
Thank you for this Matt, very informative.
You mentioned Burmese Dha fewer than others. In our language, we say Dha a little bit longer like Dhaa. We have different types of Dhas, one is called Ham hgai Dha which you can balance it on your finger without falling to any direction. Another is called Nghat Kyee Taung, in other words wing of big bird.
Feel very sorry that we, Burmese, are not covered that much. But love the channel anyway.
Matt as an history nerd and a fantasy writter I love your videos keep up the amazing work
Finally!!! I've been looking for a good dha that I can fantasize about buying for a long time!
Okay Matt, you are the MAN! I purchased a sword at auction some years back. I've unsuccessfully spent a bit of time trying to figure out what kind of sword it was. Today I find this video and realize I have a Dha! Thank you for this video, it helped me a lot.
I've seen swords very much like that non-antique dha, used by or against SE Asian pirates in the 19th century. I have a vague recollection that the end of the scabbard is so shaped to enable it to be thrust into the ground (e.g. a sandy beach). I'll send you an email with some more info.
Wow, you must be old.
That makes sense, similar to rifles having stacking rods to keep them off the (wet) ground.
I would prefer a sharper end for thrusting into the ground. Chinese scabbard usually have metal end piece to prevent water travelling up the scabbard. Very common for S Asian scabbard to be bare wood throughout.
Welcome back! I hope you're doing well.
Hell Dha! (Hell ya! Pun)
I've been waiting on you to more on these swords for a long time!
For edge alignment try a thumb-locked grip with the thumb on top of the ferrule, alongside the blade. I think you'll find it does a nice job of preventing rotation in the hand, as well as eliminating the possibility of slipping off the pommel end of the grip.
Thanks for the very interesting video! I've got one antique dha, unknown origin (found in Brittany on top of a trash pile by my mother in law!). I guess it could be from French Indochina since that town on the coast was full of retired naval officers. The blade is 18" (45.5cm), the hilt 11" (28cm). The tang was loose and I've been surprised by its shortness : it wasn't longer than a file tang (~4" / 10cm). The hilt is also cylindrical and the sheath also round, then flat but it's pointy at the end, like the tail of a moray eel.
My theory for round near the top and tappered at the end for the scabbard is for handeling and carrying reasons. The Dha is also carried ih hand by the scabbard. also can be carried by putting through the sash around the waist. Slipping through the sash it would be easier to put a flater tip through and prevent it from falling through by the round upper section. Usually Burmese Dha's have a little bit more of a curve possibly for edge alignment. Some does have a slight flared larger grip at the top of the handle before the blade to act as a "guard". Some of the Kachin Dhas don't even have a point so I don't think it is used as a stabbing weapon primarily but just having an option to do so.
I think that scabbard shape is the product of using bamboo to make them. If you were to soak bamboo and split it almost fully, but leave the end intact and then clamp the split end down until it dried, it would result in a very similar shape.
Normally these are hard wood usally teak and hand tooled to fit whatever shape customer want. round scabbard is heavy considering you have to carry it allday.
Their shadows or outline would merge with bamboo and other cut plants in the jungle.
A few probable reasons for the high baldric carry. Easier to draw with one hand, unless the sheath was really loose you'd need to draw the blade a long ways to take up the slack of the baldric or need to hold the sheath with your left hand while drawing it, a high baldric stops this. Another is with a low baldric, unless is was attached with a third point to keep it in place, it'll swing too far forward when you bend over, a high position keeps it place better and a third attachment point undoes the ease at which you can take it on and off. Finally it stays out of the way of your belt and whatever your belt carrying and from getting its grip caught on high brush. I used to go out in the woods a lot and carried a machete of similar size to that dha and I found that a high baldric was the most comfortable way to carry it, it just keeps a big blade more under control and out of the way while still being easy to take on and off.
I enjoy watching a lot of SEA bush crafters, and what these boys/men and girls/women can accomplish with JUST a golok/parang/bolo/machete/big knife is nothing short of AMAZING. Tremendous skills, and these blades “flow”, for lack of a better word, regardless of the chore or manner of hold. No wasted motion. Seen them go into the bush with a naked, unhafted blade and use it to fabricate a handle, scabbard and belt (cordage) before going on the build a small homestead.
Bigtime Respect 🫡.
I'm not experienced with swords like this, but a thought that comes to my mind regarding edge alignment and the overall design is that there seems to be a lot of space next to the blade when it transitions into the handle because the handle is so round. I would try to grip it far up on the handle and to place the thumb on this space right next to the blade to help with edge alignment, although this makes the thrust riskier.
I tried that with a long seax once and it kinda worked. just a thought tho
The dha/daab is a very interesting weapon. Subtle variety of blade shapes and forms. Some from the 17th century are even heavily inspired by Japanese swords, with daab blade forms and Japanese-style fittings.
I love the look of these blades.
Hey folks! I'm someone who can answer your question regarding whether Southeast Asian martial arts cut more than thrust (24 years of experience in several FMA arts, as well as some exposure to Krabi-Krabong, and a few years of practice in Silat).
Yes, cuts are far more prevalent than thrusts in these systems.
This can be due to a variety of reasons.
1. Most of these arts are highly influenced by cut centric systems (Chinese martial arts and Indian martial arts).
2. The main agricultural tool in these societies historically (and to this very day) are machete like blades, where people use them to cut things day in and day out for years (starting when they're big enough to swing it essentially). Therefore, proper cutting mechanics are already dialed in, and cutting with these blades is second nature for these folks.
3. Due to the rarity of armor in these areas (armor was around historically, but was usually reserved for the ultra wealthy or important members of society, as Matt keenly pointed out) cuts were the name of the game.
4. The style of warfare that was common in these areas, tribal warfare with an emphasis on raiding (and fighting off raiders) dictated they you'd likely be fighting multiple opponents. Due to this, the cuts ability to simultaneously offend and defend made it pretty prominent.
5. Many FMA systems put a MASSIVE emphasis on striking while moving dynamically (Pekiti Tirsia, Kalis Ilustrisimo, etc). To accommodate that preferred style of fighting, cuts tend to be favored.
There are a number of other reasons as to why cuts are far more common in Southeast Asian arts (and probably a great many other reasons that I don't know about) but I decided to list 5 for brevity sake.
Feel free to comment and discuss folks! I'd love to get feedback and hopefully learn more about these arts in the process!
Southeast Asian Dha and Katana are distant relatives both were designed inspired by a type of classical era Chinese sword
I am Thai and learned basic Darb class when in high school. I don’t recall having to stab with Darb. And we can use the hilt as a kind of forearm protection (you can block the blow using hilt) aside from gaining balance. And what often taught in class is Darb Song Mue (using 2 Darb, one in each hand).
Oddly I never had problem about edge alignment. I don’ recall anyone complained about this as well.
Krabi on the other hand is like rapier and use with one hand and thrust a lot.
Would love to see more reviews of SE Asian weapons, as they're relatively unheard of. From my very limited knowledge, they had some interesting looking polearms like the Ngao which resembled a slender version of Guandao or the Mak which also somewhat resembled a Guandao or Naginata but with the blade curved towards one side. And they also had some weird-looking and highly decorated shields.
3:15 Shad: WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN
7:50 Dha and Vietnamese Guom can have tsuba or similarly styled disc gaurds due to Chinese and Japanese influence
Certain makers even add a copper habaki in honor of that Japanese influence!
It is always interesting to see unusual swords/Knives/daggers/spears/etc....Especially being a novice collector, and history buff. I MUST have a least 4 ancient arms and armor books in the bookcase.All THEM with full color photos of each weapon, etc. At least 2 of my books were written by a British Arms and Armor experts.
I have seen hooking done frequently with the extended hilt. I'm not sure how common it was historically, but in modern krabi I see a good amount of hooking.
Definitely a Filipino technique.
Re: scabbard shape, if you wear it under your arm and leave a lot of wood around the tip, would that cause the sword to tend to orient vertically due to the excess weight at the tip? The distal taper might promote a better balance, putting more weight toward the handle, that makes it easier to wear the sword more horizontally or at an angle?
I can't speak to the edge alignment issue, but when I was training in Arnis, there are a lot of grappling techniques that involve leverage with the part of the hilt that is behind the hand.
Hey Matt, good video, thanks.
Awesome brother...i wait for 'Mandau' traditional sword from Borneo Indonesia
from Kali and similar martial arts the butt is used as a hook for disarms, grappling controlling the sword arm. a lot of dual wielding that also use the length of the hilt as hook.
Amazing! Great video!
To answer your question, how to do blade alignment properly?
the answer is there is no magic method.
only through practice in tradition krabi-krabong (and we still find it hard to do blade alignment )
or you can make the handle into "oval shape"
the dha is made specifically to users, it's a tool afterall.
The flat end of the scabbard might make it easier to stick the weapon behind a belt/ sash.
Thanks for the video ⚔️
Greetings from Thailand (formerly known as Siam). Just want to point out that from almost every old pictures from early 1900s I've seen, people didn't wear the cord over their heads. If you're right-handed, you'd wear the cord over the left shoulder, not as secure, but much easier to draw the sword with either right or left hand. I personally make two knots and use my belt to loops over the two knots whenever I take the sword into the jungle.
In modern period movies, you'd see soldiers wear two swords on their back so they can draw both swords over the back of their heads safely, given that the blade length is pretty short. I do not know if this is historically accurate though. I'm certain actual common soldiers didn't go to war with two swords, but only one and with a shield. Otherwise how could he protect himself from massive volley fire of arrows.
Regarding the hilt, beside counter balancing weigh of the sword you can also use the pommel to strike an opponent should an opportunity presents itself. You could also grab it with your weak hand and use it like a two-handed sword to extend the reach. Actually this type of sword vary in length. A soldier guarding the general's elephant would use a very long one (34 inches blade) and with two hands.
I can't think of any practical reason why the end of the scabbard is flat, other than it is aesthetically pleasing.
I agree with you regarding the edge alignment. It's quite tough to make a clean cut with it. Maybe historically it wasn't important in this part of the world.
Your Burmese antique was obviously a status symbol of someone very rich which never meant to be used in combat. No ordinary functional sword is decorated that way (and the hilt is too short).
There is another master smith in Lampang province who still craft this type of swords for very affordable price. I bought mine from him and it was pretty decent (functional but no mirror finish); see th-th.facebook.com/KnifeLampang/
You’re crazy good with that thing
Jesus..
My two cents on "longer than needed hilt": in kali escrima you don't hold the stick at the bottom, but you have to leave a "free space" as big as your fist. You already noted some of the advantages. But that becomes useful also fo other things: at close range you can use the bottom of the stick to hit like with an ice pick (or a roman pugio, for example). It is also used for some disarming techniques. Other than that, it makes grapling possible even when holding the weapon, if the situation requires it. For example you can hook the adversary behind the head and pull, to make him lose balance. I don't know if all of this is possible when blades are involved, but it's a theory.
S & mid Asian blades are usually used in the hand for chopping and slicing. They do not swing much as used by Matt. The hand connects with the blade by eye sight and familiarity and the grip is fixed as soon as in contact with the handle. The sharp point is used when the blade is used as a throwing knife or spear. Common to throw weapon in combat.
On the scabbard ..
For me the reason for the oven bit at the scabbard is for comfort in the hand (oval slightly more comfortable than the flat part and indicates which way is up)
When putting your weapon away under your arm.. idk
And for the flat part (that is under your arm)
It stops the scabbard rotting under the arm .. a little..
These are fine features that provide that little bit of advantage ..
I think i don't know just a thought..
What do u think?🤔
Also in regards to a two handed grip on a single handed sword.. for balance..but also it's and adventure to be able to use to hands if advantages.. 🤔
I'd be pretty krabi if I'd lost a limb from one of those things too.
Might it be possible that the 'distal tapering' of the scabbard relates to the extended period when the wearing of sashes may have preceded the use of belts in every day or formal attire. The narrowing at the closed end would assist inserting the Dha through a sash/obi style method of securing garments ?
I also wondered whether there may have ever been a shift in patterning,or even specifically deep or protruding indentations on the hilt-work to assist and determine the indexing and alignment of the blade ??
Similarly, I wondered whether the tapering of the scabbard may also have had a function of preventing the scabbard following through a sash and becoming entangled in the fabric, or even accidentally discarded/dropped at inopportune moments..
Thankyou for this vid. I have always loved this style/form of sword...
(if this is a repost , my aplogies.
My connection to y'tube has gone batsh*t.
8:49 even though MOST Dha don't have gaurds/tsuba, several do, and some even have habaki.
Because of Japanese influence most likely, many antique Dha will also have visible hamon lines and laminations, too
There is a 'tradition' or 'trend' of sort where Thai swords smith would make 'Japanese-style-Thai-sword' that still going on today.
Supposedly starts from Ayutthaya kingdom period when there were samurai refugees come to live and serves in the army back then.
There were even some made for the king that existed still in the royal regalia collection today.
Matt, think of a modern military. Our melee weapons are tools first, then we weaponize the tool. Knives, tomahawks, *machetes,* rifles as clubs. These are preexisting on the battlefield and so the philosophy is that weaponizing them took advantage of that which you already carried.
Dha *are* machetes first and swords second. The Southeast Asians, with the same ideas as any other humans, adapted their necessary tool (in this case the machete that they already needed for navigating the dense forest-jungle if you will-of places like Thailand) into a lethal sword. All it took was just to make it slightly more durable.
Btw all of your comments help me understand it better. And I hope my comment helps you understand it just a little better.
Hello Matt. The Thai use a vertical figure 8 motion in Krabi krabong. The lack of a guard is often for grappling purposes. It also makes it easier to pass the blade from the right hand to the left. Best wishes.
My thought on the tapered ended scabbard is simply to help ensure a tight lasting fit. If only the base of the blade is pinched tight inside a wooden scabbard its inevitable it would wear out its tight fit at the top simply thru usage. Metal vs wood….
Having the scabbard pinch the blade inside a flattened tip would give u a solid fit at both ends of the scabbard and would help reduce twist when drawn both of which would make a wooden scabbard hold its fit much longer.
I assume hardwoods were used, and a well built scabbard would hold its fit a very longtime.
My guess is they would hold their hand a bit farther back on the handle, keep the blade moving, and thrust only when trying to convince the opponent to back off a bit
I was watching this video and I was wondering when you said it felt like swinging a stick do you think that the martial arts of the Philippines that use a wooden stick would have the key to using the sword like Arnis Kali or escrima
My experience comes from the krabi krabong and usually the thumb is used for edge alignment. The circular hilt is also beneficial for many of the flourishes in the techniques.
Just thinking of the scabbard: it is almost shaped like a taiaha. I wonder if it would be used as the last ditch, off hand protection since it was also trained as a double sword style.
I see a couple of things with a long handle that are advantages on a mechanical level. One is the vibration nodes. The other is weight. It's not much but any weight that isn't up where it is going into the cut(think an axe where all the weight is behind the edge.) Is subtracting from the cut. It sounds like I'm being pedantic but if you buy a modern wood cutting axe and you slim the handle down to traditional thicknesses and weight you will have a noticeable improvement in how hard it hits. For the same balance a long handle relies on moving a smaller weight further away using leverage. It's going to remove just a little bit that your arm has to accilerate. It's a bit pedantic but it does make a difference. If you are designing a blade and wanting it to hit with a certain impact reducing handle weight makes a substantial impact. It gets magnified because you can also reduce blade weight since it hits harder. If all things are equal a hidden tang blade will always hit harder (assuming it's lighter) than a heavy full tang blade. You get faster tip speeds as well since you can swing the blade faster and that also affects how hard it hits. It was one of the more interesting effects I learned early into knife making.
I would like to see your reaction to blades with a lateral curve (e.g. the mandau or parang ilang): how that affects handling and technique.
Bought a small dha a while back on and was intrigued by it when I saw it. Now, it is a decoration piece as the blade is WAY to easily bendable to be anything else then a letter opener but I still like it. The dha is to me a distinct and very pretty sword.
If you want real Dha, buy it from a blacksmith. If you buy it from the store, you will get only Fancy Dha.
@@roronoadanzai4965 Yeah, I bought it from an auction type site and it was my fault in the end anyways. It was the beginning of my sword/knife collection so I made some mistakes and didn't fully know what to look out for.
The seller never claimed it was a functional sword or anything either. So had I seen it today I would have known it was a decoration piece. Still though I don't fully regret it. It was stupid cheap and looks good next to another decoration piece I have.
Dha extends from East India on to SE Asia. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dha originated as ‘Daan’ (n being an infliction, almost silent) in the Vanga kingdom, present day Bengal.These were used like machetes by the common people. More sophisticated versions were the “Ram-daan” used for sacrificial purpose, Kharga which had a hooked end, and Katari, which was closer to swords. Talwar came to Bengal with Muslim invasion. From there it spread to Burma, SE Asia even as the design refined and evolved there.
Swords are so cool
I have a Paul Chen Banshee version of a Dah and it originally came with a round handle and found exactly the same problem. Edge alignment. I use it as a brush clearing tool - like a machete and found that unless I pay close attention to where the blade was directed, I'd hit all over the place and not necessarily on the edge. So I replaced it with a hardwood oval handle and it works much better. It has a much more reliable feeling of confidently striking where I want it to.
That laws of physics don't care about tradition. :)
@@MrBottlecapBill HA HA Very true!
Not sure if it’s reached this side of the comments section, but a thumb along the spine or beside the flat of the blade is also pretty viable without much finagling. The latter is common with knives, and the former would function kinda like a sabre’s backstrap, so long as the shape of the hilt doesn’t swell too wide into a bell or cone at that point.
@@jonharker9028 I found the point of balance to not suit that approach. Also, I am using it for it's original purpose - brush clearing - and I found that I would rather just simply use it than have to think about aligning it every time I wanted to swing it.
Great south east!
I'm still waiting for the Zaghnal, the Ge and the ikakalaka
I’m Thai with some knowledge of blades and martial arts. What a surprise to see these familiar blades here. Thank you
In my opinion, Thai sword is quite under appreciate by Thai nowadays we have lots of different kind of blades. I’m from a far south of Thailand, Kriss was more popular here back in those days in this area
The scabbard is probably shaped like that to facilitate pushing the scabbard through folds of clothing and possibly so the user can tell by touch which side of the scabbard is being held.
Hey Matt, if given the chance could you do a handling review of the Cold Steel Wakizashis. The standard long handled and the Dragonfly with katana handle.
More love for non mainstream weapons!
besides swords and machetes you can also practically wear military shovels and other shorted hafted weapons using a baldric
With the shape of the scabbard......perhaps it makes it easier to tuck into a belt or sash. Thin end tucks in easily and thick end asures that it doesn't slide all the way through the belt? Just a theory/Suggestion. And yes it has a built in sling, but tucking it into a belt would keep it from bouncing around when necessary, and the sling would ensure that you never lose it when on the move (basically 2 forms/choices of retention rather than just one).
If you wanna find a weirder weapon, look at a Kampilan. I do admit, it's hard to find the correct seller because many recreations have the properties and distributions wrong.
Also, changing your grip to have the thumb align with the blade might help with edge alignment.
I wonder if placing your thumb on the back edge of the blade would help solve the edge alignment issue.
You should look at the vietnamese guom sword which borrows a lot of features from the dha the dao and the katana. It's an interesting hybrid
I do Filipino Martial Arts and certain moves can utilize the scabbard as another attack implement in the off hand. So maybe they shaped it in a way to make it like a "bladed" wooden club like a Maori paddle knife thing (just a guess)? Also yes we do thrusting in FMA depending on the weapon and circumstances. Not all Filipino weapons are good for thrusting but others are great like the sansabar ( has nothing to do with the country of Sanzabar) style of blades. Also depends on the style of FMA youre doing can change the kind of thrusts too, be it circular, strait, both. Love the channel!! Cheers
@@BeepBoop2221 I just saw someone doing that in a carenza ( I probably spelled that wrong). I haven't been doing it long. They flowed it into the 6 count. So I was like dope must be some technique in one of the systems that does it. I dont know which system he was doing. I just started in PTI but was under a Grand Master from Hawaii before that for 4 yrs. Pulahan Mandarigma was the name of his.
Matt are there any historical account of "Dhas" facing European swords and sabres of the day ?
Most probably yes .
During the Anglo Burmese war the European swords may have clashed with Dhas .
As the Burmese also used them
I'm not a huge fan of Asian swords in general, but that antique Burmese dha in particular has always been one of my very favorite weapons in your collection.
I guess if you were to hold the scabbard in your off-hand during a fight, having the end taper like that would give it an edge for hitting people and also make it nimbler?
Also, it just looks nice imo.
I had precisely the same thought when seeing the scabbard.
Scabbard as a parry-stick with the flattened end as a secondary striking option.
My assumsion as I'm Thai sword pratictioner. About, scraboard they just made to fit with sword neck when kerp the sword. Moreover, they use for in case to use as dual sword. If you can see, they are Northern sword style calls Jerng which they still use scraboard as 2nd sword.
Regarding, handgurad we not much have it for a common. However. Thai sword mostly use for cut & slash not much thrusting. But it'snt major tecniques.
Thanks for this clip. Cheers. 🙏
I'm far from any sort of expert, but I am aware that Krabi Krabang employs, among other techniques, a roll across the hand when transferring the daab from one hand to another, which can happen quite frequently when fighting. This may explain the round grip. Part of what will probably bring your edge to alignment is practicing just passing the daab back and forth between your hands, over and over and over some more. I've got a good mate who studied Krabi Krabang, and each time I pass him a blade, he will evaluate it by closing his eyes and rolling it across his hands passing it back and forth, testing the balance, feel, etc. and he always manages to end up with a the blade correctly oriented. I can only surmise it is part of the training.
Do you have an episode about the Borneo headhunting sword? Thanks Love your vids!!!
About the copper fittings..
There is an old legislation that separated dha categories in Siam (Medieval Thailand).
Military grade dha are fitted with iron or other metal fittings on the handle to prevent the tang from breaking through the wooden handle. The tangs will sometimes be as long as the handle (10 inches!). Usually two piece fittings ('guard cap' and end cap) for normal soldiers. Three piece fittings (guard cap, binding middle ring and end cap) for richer people.
These are made only for military use. They must also be dissembled into pieces during times of peace. This is why we don't have a lot of surviving examples in Siam.
Peasant/folk dha are usually just burned in with a special wax (probably shellac flakes) that hardens as it dries. The handle is just wrapped with rattan strips as reinforcement. This means a forceful blow from a military dha would in some instance, break the folk swords out of their handle. Some old examples scabbards are not glued, just tied together with rope or rattan and will fall apart when the rattan bindings are removed.
Self righting/aligning blades also exist and are popular with mountain tribes in Myanmar and Northern Thailand. I personally think it is a bit annoying to use because its nature fights against you sometimes.
2:50 Regarding where the blade is carried. Given that it's a relatively short blade, I would compare the "carry height" to that of a modern shoulder holster for a pistol. For concealed carry, I definitely prefer a shoulder harness to any other.
9:45 Regarding using the blade for thrusting. While it does have what appears to be a point, the overall shape of the blade implies that it's _primarily_ intended as a slashing weapon. Especially as there appears to be no historical evidence for a tsuba or any other type of hand guard.
I have a split rattan practice sword (roughly katana length) that has a round hilt as well and I have to be VERY much aware of the "edge" alignment with it.
Dha is designed to be used with martial arts. It needs to be fairly light. Balanced. No hand guards.
I saw this movie called Kingdom of War and it showed them using the swords for slashing and cutting but then again it's a movie.
I would like a review of the Hanwei Banshee to compare. The first half of the grip is oval !
I reckon you would like it but but the scabbard
I don't think my solution for edge alignment is proper technique but it works for me. I rest my thumb past the handle on the side or spine of the blade and use that as an index of where the blade is even on cylindrical handles. It does put your fingers close to the blade though so a bit of care is needed.
Great video bud
Maybe having a cylindrical grip was so that if your foreign enemy picked it up they go “nah!” and give up and then you win.
I used to have one in my home....don't know where it gone though. Only the sword part, no scabbard. Never seen again it since I was 7 year old. And it have a very very small guard.
Use more wrist I guess, the sword is design to spin in your wrist rather than using more shoulder and elbow. The centrifugal force will increase the tip's weight and feel more "auto-alignment".
Still oval shape is a lot easier to find edge.
I have no idea about the historical reason for the tapered scabbard (I like the weight one), but if I were to invent a reason for, say, a fantasy setting, I would say that it gives you a non-lethal option in using the sword. Good for practice sparring, too.
Khukuri were absolutely used to stab with as well as cut (that is even noted by a period British source), hence the rings which act as a subhilt, it is also still part of both Gorkha and Gurkha regimental training (though modern British Gurkha training even with the khukuri for some reason also has taekwondo mixed in), and wrt the Barong the pistol grip makes stabbing possible as well, many ways to skin a cat...