Description

Trường đao (長刀) literally means "long sword". The Vietnamese trường đao resembled the dàdāo (大刀) of China in many ways.

Presented here is a somewhat unusual example. The blade is more Chinese in form than they usually are, with a moderate widening and straight clipped tip. Vietnamese examples tend to start narrower and often have a concave clipped tip profile. Purely Vietnamese are the engravings on the blade, consisting of birds, flowers and a dragon executed in typical Northern Vietnamese style.

The iron guard is unusual in that it is forward projecting, almost floral in shape, with the guard quillons touching the blade. The grip is also unusual in that it has a bulging wooden grip, sitting between a ribbed iron ferrule and pommel. At the pommel is a small ring. Normally, grips on these are straight, cord, or rattanbound, and there is no iron pommel piece.

It is most likely from the northern regions of Vietnam, above Hanoi.