People from different schools of martial arts fighting each other and causing a riot sounds like the modern day equivalent of sports fans being rowdy and brawling with fans of other teams and causing a riot.
As a Chinese myself, I have to say for even most of Chinese, these two weapons are probably pretty obscure as well. Before the video, I never saw that type of replica sword from educational websites and museum and textbooks. And for the buckler, Matt your pronunciation is not accurate but still correct and your are doing much better than many Chinese as well, most of them I will guarantee you don’t know to pronounce the second character of this weapon at all. Because that character is pretty dame rare in modern writing. And that is how obscure they are………
Also I forgot to mention, the buckler was designed for military purpose (I believe you are not allowed to own armorers and pole arms as citizens in ancient China) hooking short spears. And that is I believe why they disappeared later in Han dynasty because first pikes were much cheaper to make and train compared to buckler, second is you can hook short spears with this type of buckler but not for long pikes.
Two years ago i found bronze age rapierlike blades in a museum, now i find out about a han dynasty rapier Version. It is fascinating how people came up with ideas, throw them over Board, just to reappear in a different time and different places. Just incredible.
Parallel evolution is common in biology. Animals that appear to be so close in size, configuration, etc., that there is an immediate assumption that they must be related. Then they dig into the DNA and determine that in fact they aren't related, but because they occupy the same niche, they have evolved in the same way. You didn't state it as such, but clearly similar needs produced similar designs.
Form follows function. A similar purpose is likely to result in a similar object. However, sometimes two cultures with a similar problem solved it in radically different ways and I find that fascinating because it's somewhat counter-intuitive.
The interesting follow up would be to look at the economic forces that would encourage fencing schools in both 1st Century China and 16th Century Europe
I'm glad you mentioned the Australian Aboriginal parrying shields. They look very unusual when you see them on museum walls, but when you get to try out a modern example, you find out that they generate momentum at the ends very rapidly, and can very effectively knock aside attacks. When your opponents will be using mostly spears, thrown weapons, and bows, you can see how this would be very effective protection, and capable of delivering very strong blows in its own right.
The thing I appreciate the most from this channel is that Matt when appreciating other culture's weaponry he actually try to understand the "context"😎 and what's going through their mind in that period.. I sometimes get the feeling that we are all pretty much the same anyway in the end despite the different cultures if ever we ended up in the same environment.. we could really use this approach on anything in our lives for issues like racism, religion, politics, cultures, etc and we could definitely see an overall positive appreciation on those topics just like how we see Matt did it in his videos.. 👍
That buckler is pretty genius for dueling or cqc fighting. The "horns" give almost the same ability to cover a lot of the body against incoming blows as a shield that is as large as the horns, but with much less encumbrance.
Really cool to see this, there's so much stuff from China that has been buried by time, it's cool to see this unearthed and appreciated again after 2000 years.
This video has be very curious about two things 1) the history of rowdiness & regulation of fencing schools back in the day 2) blah blah convergent evolution yes sound points all round but that buckler seems to be easily the best buckler design I’ve ever seen? Those vertical hooks just intuitively make the most sense
Not going to lie, that makes me think of the Mary Rose formerly arming sword that had front guard put on it. Not in appearance, but in having what looks kind of like a standard cross guard sword having knuckle protection welded on. Also, you answered my biggest question (if you will spar with it). Looking forward to the results.
Right? I'm kinda in love with that sword now. I've long been a fan of rapier type swords, lately I've been appreciating the jian, and this sword combines the two. Seems the best of all worlds, the only real downside being that it can be inconvenient to carry, but even that you can work around with a special scabbard.
I think the Jian with the typical small hand guards is an everyday carry sidearm whereas the jian with the developed hand protection is only worn when the user know there be a duel.
This comment was the one showing on my phone before I clicked on comments. So I saw it before seeing the sword on the video. I read it goung "wait, what?"
I KNEW that (sword) had to have existed somewhere! Thanks Matt! Oh hey, that shield reminds me of the defensive off-hand baton used in some African stick-fighting. A cloth is wrapped around the left hand on the stick, like building a boxing mitt with defensive protrusions.
This video just blew my mind I thought Matt always recorded with green screen and add his garage wall on the background after. Turns out he always film in front of those actual weapons hanging
Yes, the Han dynasty shield was mainly used to entangle the Chinese dagger-axe. dagger-axe is called ji It can be entwined more effectively than a spear or sword. You can also entangle at the best angle when you receive a ji swing from a tank. And foot attacks can be well prevented with a long, lightweight shield. Even when it is stabbed, ji has many protrusions, so you can entangle it with the stick and hook.
That "buckler" seems like it could threaten the eyes of the opponent with just a small flick of the wrist. It seems like it would be difficult to defend against, it's really a game changer!
Next obscure weapon set? Timbei? Okinawan turtle shell shield and short spear combo. At the 03:15 mark in the following video. th-cam.com/video/wFPvSMnzJXE/w-d-xo.html
Okinawan karate weapon that uses a turtle shell that oddly enough isn't used by the Ninja Turtles who seem to love Okinawan karate weapons (except Leonardo) even though they are turtles... :P
Given the highly questionable historicity of the turtle shell shield in Okinawa I really hope he doesn't. Unfortunately Okinawan martial arts are known for having quite a large amount of nonsense fantasy created in the mid 20th century in place of history. This includes a number of supposedly ancient and traditional weapons made up in modern times. The turtle shell shield thing is only recorded going back to around the 1950's. It doesn't appear in any early records, illustrations or early 20th century pictures. What does appear is the rattan shield in the same form as seen in China, Vietnam and parts of southeast Asia. Not coincidentally the word timbei / tinbei is directly taken from Min Chinese and literally means "rattan shield". The whole turtle shell shield thing is pretty ridiculous when you take into account just how fragile sea turtle shells are. There is a reason that the few turtle shell shields you see in various cultures around the world tend to either be ceremonial or made from the shells of softshell turtles (which was done on occasion in parts of Africa and India). I talked to a lady working in the children's center of a zoo a number of years back who mentioned that they had just been investigated by the government because of the number of sea turtle shell requests they had put in. There are programs which give endangered species parts to educational institutions like zoos. This zoo had a children's learning center where they would pass around some of these items to show to children from visiting school groups to teach them about endangered species poaching and smuggling. One of the items would be a small (ie tinbei sized) sea turtle shell that would be passed around the table so the kids could see and feel it. Kids can be clumsy and it turns out that being dropped from a small child height table onto the floor is enough to shatter a sea turtle shell and after 3 requests for new shells in a row they ended up under investigation and were subsequently told not to let anyone touch the turtle shells as they were too delicate. So probably not exactly the kind of thing you want to use as a shield. Also probably why no one, other than certain Okinawan martial arts schools starting in the 1950's, ever claimed to use them that way. The sea turtle shell thing seems to have been created as part of the "household implements / farm tools weapons / weapon ban fantasy story made up in the mid 20th century to help popularize the newly formulated Okinawan Kobudo schools.
I think when people say "rapiers can't cut" what they are really saying is rapiers can't cut as well as a broader more cutting oriented weapon....not that if you hit somebody with the edge it won't cut at all.
How would you wear the Shield Guard Jian? I would think either A) carry it in left hand B) Frog, baldric etc? I would think they would just carry it in hand.
Thank you for spreading awareness about these weapons. I learned of them via LK Chen recently. Ancient China also had quite impressive crossbows with long powerstrokes, complicated bronze triggers, & grid sights. Curiously, George Silver considered the buckler superior to the target for single combat, but he may have had the larger English buckler in mind rather than the simple buckler that's easy to wear. I'm not sure how you wear a large English spiked buckler either, on than on the back.
I'd like to see you interview someone who is studying the Chinese martial arts vis a vis these new jian blades. I'm sure they could offer more insights about them.
No not really, it's like saying someone studying late 19th century British military saber methods is going to have lots of insights about how 1st century Celtic swords were used. There is really no similarity to weapons used in traditional Chinese martial arts. The only real clues we have are depictions of them in use from period stonework in and around tombs mainly from western China. That said there is little in the way of depictions of these weapons as they were still substantially less common than other weapons. Also the carvings are ambiguous enough that they don't really show much. There are more depictions of the Gou Rang than the dueling jian. But even then still pictures don't give you a ton to work off from especially when the fighting fighters are kept separate for the sake of clarity of depiction in the stone carvings.
As well as the Madu the buckler reminds me a lot of the rarer Indian Sainte, the Haladie dagger, in Africa the off-hand weapon in Nguni stick fencing and the common sort of shield used in South and East Africa
"Any martial art or form that can not duel can not be practiced." -A wiser man than most. and that hand shield/buckler on the sword was a guy thinking "Hmmm with a buckler I can punch a guy without breaking my hand now!" (probably the same 'Wiser man than most") Another question would be what other obscure weapons that were civilian-based went to war and were effective enough to evolve.
Great video! The 'buckler' kind of reminds me of the viking shield, it also has a bar going down, so the manipulation of it (and the opponent's weapons) is similar - it just lacks the planks.
The demonstrations I have seen of the Han dynasty "Gou-Rang" shield make it look extremely effective. I mean, it's like if a buckler had the parrying surface of a sword, as well as many ways to catch and redirect an incoming sword. It's basically like a practical version of dual-wielding swords. It's a wonder these didn't become more popular.
well, its more like if it had the parrying surface of a large shield (for the purpose of parrying an incoming melee attack, its roughly as good as a viking shield for instance due to the way the arms extend on the planes of attack while lacking protective ability against arrows) The reason it's not particularly popular is because right after this dynasty and jin, we end up with tang (and tang dynasty notoriously produced a load of proto-katana esque two handed swords) and then after that song dynasty (martial culture was the lowest of the low thing you could do for aristocrats) the mongols (who banned chinese from private weapon collection), then ming dynasty (at which point the government had enough reach and structure to basically ban most private duelling), then qing (who banned chinese from weapon collection) etc etc
@@winsunwong5648 I mostly meant I'm surprised this design wasn't replicated or "convergently evolved" in other cultures which emphasized dueling and swordsmanship.
@@FaceJP24 I see, there are actually similar designs in african and indian shields as mentioned in the video (the africans use something pretty similar with a larger shield and holding a stick perpendicular to the ground. Also, carrying this thing around as it is might be a huge pain, it occupies a lot more space than a buckler despite being more effective (so smallswords vs rapiers etc)
I've practiced jian swordsmanship for 25+ years and teaching for 10 give or take. I'd never seen a jian with hand protection like this until L.K. released these.
Han era weapons were from what I see as advanced as Ming or Qing era martial art weapons, however, being from 2000 years ago they would be less known than weapons.
The chinese hookshield reminds me of some zulu shields I’ve seen... I don’t remember the name or specific instance, but that was the first thing that came to mind
I'm a Chinese Kung Fu practitioner not familiar with that buckler but looking at it and for the basics that I have been taught the hooks on the end would be for snagging rope and chain weapons
14:17 Just want to point out that "Chinese kungfu originated in India" is merely a myth. Completely debunked by multiple scholars in both the East and the West. In brief, there are records of kungfu in China going back more than 2,000 years before Bodhidharma was suppose to have visited Shaolin. There is no evidence that Bodhidharma was himself a martial artist, nor that he had written or passed on the Sinew Changing Classic. In fact, the oldest known historical record linking Bodhidharma to the Shaolin Temples is.... a work of fiction in the early 1900s. Actually, Bodhidharma himself was probably a fictional character - there are no records of him in India despite him supposedly being a prince, and he doesn't even appear in historical Shaolin writings. In other words, the whole India-Shaolin connection was almost certainly made up out of whole cloth. It's really quite obvious when you compare extant Indian martial arts and internal practices with (real) Chinese kungfu and internal practices - there is so little congruence between the power methods, structural tenets, fighting philosophies, weapons, and so on that it's really quite a stretch to consider them even remotely related. This is especially obvious when you juxtapose the various Shaolin styles against Kalaripayattu, commonly said to be the method that Bodhidharma had introduced to the monks. Of course, there are so many truly different Indian and Chinese styles that we can't be absolutely sure no Chinese styles are influenced by Indian styles, but at least as far as I know the evidence is overwhelmingly stacked against the Indian origin/influence hypothesis.
Hey Matt, another great vid!! I recently learned about the Sikh knife, the kirpan. I understand it's more a cultural thing to wear one, though I guess in the past that grew for a reason?
I don't know if you had lurk in Chinese websites, Matt, but that sword and buckler are only a small portion of the variety of weapons depicted in the Han Dynasty. It may not be an exaggeration that the weapons of the Han Dynasty may probably be at the same level as High or Late Medieval Europe.
the Maasai use a shield made of leather and take spears in the same hand, it turns out an analogue of the "madu", but it does not require special horns on it.
Matt I noticed the patu in the back ground, I haven’t watched your whole back catalogue but have you done a post on NZ weapons, the artform and culture behind these weapons is very complex and interesting . Would love to see this
I am not too sure if the style of blade manipulation caused the Chinese Jian to have small guard as any significantly larger guard is going to bite into the hand as cocking the blade backwards for a strike. Some practice weapons are made with designs to make training safer but could mean Making actual fight with those a lot more dangerous. The later Qing Dynasty design actually have slopes guard that slopes away from the hand and forward pointing guard points which aid in catching an opponent blade in practice. But in actual fight the guard shape can result in your opponent pivoting the sword on the guard and stab the wielder while their sword is being pushed by the pivoting action. The exploit is similar to this but the Jian is running the risk of getting trapped while Making it difficult to disengage for a guard/parry. th-cam.com/video/asuj6yI3buc/w-d-xo.html The Jian with hand protection actually has protrusion of the disc beyond the cross guard, Meaning it is better at catching an opponent blade in practice but the same pivoting exploit is going to cause the wielder more disadvantage than the protection it offers.
Some schools cock back and some do not. Scott Rodell follows a Yeung Tai Chi style that has no cocking back action & stance. A bowl protecting fingers is protecting fingers only. Everything offers just a bit of protection and some kind of advantage only. There are sword style with moves emphasizing stabbing the wrist from above. One such move is called monkey stealing plum.
@@MtRevDr I suppose a lot of the design influence boil down to context of what moves the opponent is using, and what moves the wielder is using, unfortunately tomb excavation means usually the owner isn't going to tell you and little surviving manuals on the obscure moves. And little information on the opponent's move. tapping the wrist from above the bowl guard would serve little to no protection against such move. Cocking the sword back to prevent the opponent hand from getting too close from above is a counter move, but with oversized cross guard or even bowl guard it can prevent the execution of certain moves. Then again a disc guard might be able to prevent the wrist tapping moves to a certain degree and facing an opponent with a significantly longer sword might not be too wise to try reaching the wrist.
@@jay_chang - A lot of great martial artists are great because they can read moves that are to come. Cocking back is not to avoid the wrist getting cut. This expression of your indicates such move and the teaching of such is lacking in your systems. Extremely few know about large disc guards. I was the only one in my sword circle to use a large disc guard. To date I have seen no comparable large guard to mine in the Chinese and Japanese circles. It feels that I had reinvented the wheel. For the stop hit on the upper part of the wrist, it really can stop enemy attack by a tap. The common and popular in Chinese swordsmanship is called "dragonfly dipping (water)". Very common move. This move is a tapping move that can be circumvented by large disc guard. So, I mention another move called "monkey stealing plum" which overcomes large disc guard. I mention these because I perceive your systems do not have any of these. Cocking back is one of the popular standard moves in Chinese swordsmanship called bung. It is a common and popular move in swordsmanship including Tai Chi sword. But even Scott Rodell a teacher of Tai Chi sword does not know that. Why? Because the jian he designed works against such move. This is one reason I did not praise or buy his sword. Cocking back is largely not a counter move. This also indicates your systems lack such a move and its teaching. Horses for courses. Of course fighters have to size the opponent's weapon to apply his own moves. Tapping move is used in long sword category; and 1 long sword is usually not much shorter than another long sword.
@@jay_chang - I only see Scott Rodell designed a Miao Dao with large disc guard. And that sword is not popular. I have seen no one posing with such. So, it seems large disc guard has remained very rare or unpopular.
@@MtRevDr I guess this is very subjective to school and form which I guess might be why most wushu practice swords have minimal guards to accommodate to most school and styles of practice, as some of the actual functional swords might not be as beginner friendly as sharp corners from the guard can be quite unforgiving on the hand when gripped wrongly. A lot of the moves are highly dependent on the skill level of the user so some Jian designs might looks cool but it takes practices to get used to it. Sharp edges from casting lines and certain designs from ornamental swords will sometime also be quite annoying to wield. The disc guard on a Jian I only saw it in Tsui Hark movie namely the Dragon Gate Inn and Swordsman movies. th-cam.com/video/5SMLyeel2G4/w-d-xo.html
@@CamdenKnightly so, so much. i’d respect him a lot more if he took criticism for his shitty book in stride instead of saying ‘actually this criticism is wrong’ like he did
He even spoke about being an expert in a certain field and said that in his case he knew a lot about books and was quite an expert because he had written one....
Hey Matt. I was just thinking about a possible video topic. I was wondering if the katana occupies a social and historical context more in line with something like a rapier or smallsword than with a longsword. Largely serving as a weapon for dueling and self defense among civilian nobles, though also appearing on the battlefield to an extent. While the longsword would perhaps be closer to the tachi as a weapon with a more explicitly military intention which was also employed in dueling and self defense. I am not sure if any of my assumptions are valid, but that is why I field them to you. Thank you very much for your time and the years of disorganized rambling about swords.
I have come to the same conclusion. From what i’ve seen Hema youtube has failed to properly recognize the katana’s primary strength, that being how quickly you can draw and strike with it. That, combined with its powerful cut makes it ideal for fending off ambushers armed with knives and sickles. Longswords and rapiers are entirely unsuited for that task, and are dependent on a “fair fight” to excell. The thing is, in a fair fight any weapon will do, as long as both sides agree to it, so a katana works just as well in those conditions. The main advantage to those weapons versus a katana is the ability to stand up to the law, as they are long enough to make someone wielding a polearm think twice before starting a fight.
When you were talking about hand protection and just before you showed it, I thought why not make a sword with a small shield on it, about the size of those round black ones on the wall? And so you could have one in both hands.
China Documentary has posts on You tube about Chinese Weapons and their history, including the buckler. And it was used in at least 1 battle between Armies.
Han dynasty had a feudal system which was kinda similar to medieval Europe. Other imperial dynasties of China, more or less, had a rather more centralized government and army system. Thus the difference in weapons and armors.
because the jian is very slashy despite its rapier looking appearance, it cuts very very well and you are supposed to fuck your opponent up with cuts and then open them for the thrust, you wouldn't often thrust into the line of your opponents blade, later jian had cuplike protection on top like a rapier but that was a different time and place.
I guess there are sports in martial arts that have rule to prevent certain moves and attacks. Martial Art sports were common, very common and popular, even before the Han Dynasty. Confucius had menu talking about sport archery.
Dual weapons seem to be less prevalent in Europe aside from sword and dagger, while Asia has dual weapon styles from the hook swords to Escrima and even Japanese dual wakazashis. I wonder if you’d like to look into this, maybe an interesting video in the future.
Fantasy idea: basically this type of shield, but the handle is like a pipe and serves as a scabbard, and your buckler/scabbard hooks onto your belt, maybe with some kind of latch. Draw sword first, then unhook the buckler if you want it... and give it swordbreaker teeth 😆
LK Chen did some preliminary experiments on his channel and found that you can stab people twice as fast if your sword has less hilt on it (though the absolute difference in time is miniscule at about 0.4s, and using one specific technique and measurement method).
Might not see this Matt but a blade like that must be tricky to make strong enough for combat. Did they actually have spring steel? It seems it would break in an instant if not?
Can you do a video on Hawaiian weapons? They are some awesome and resourceful weapons used in an amazing fighting style called LUA… highly overlooked piece of history
I am super-duper late, but one would most likely not wear the parrying stick shield thingy; it seems highly specialized. One would have servants for such awkward burdens.
larger hilts weren't necessarily superior to small ones, especially in a military context because in the military whoever got a jian was likely pretty elite (and had hand protection in the form of a gauntlet). Gauntlet+small hilt almost always beats out large hilt+no gauntlet (because you can't fit your hand in a properly enclosed hilt) for flexibility and speed while retaining much of the same protection. Part of the reason why is because large hilts, which are necessarily made quite large so you can actually move your hand in them, make your arm act like a hammer or mace physics wise (a stick with a heavy object on the end) reducing agility relative to a form fitting gauntlet that provides roughly the same protection overall. It makes arm powered larger cuts more difficult/slower/less powerful. This is only not an issue when you use wrist powered cuts and thrusts while keeping your arm relatively stable, because then you are moving around the axis of the hilt (thus minimizing it's disadvantages) and you theoretically only need a wrist powered cut to severely wound an unarmored opponent while retaining an advantage in reach due to being able to hold your sword out so far. So a small-hilt sword is superior when you have armor (snags on less crap too and is lighter+more manueverable for the same length+cutting power in the blade), and the large hilt is a really specific development for the specific purpose of duelling someone with minimal armor.
@@SurmaSampo not true at all, hilts are heavy feeling for more reasons than their weight for one, they extend out from your hand in a sphere which feels heavier than metal directly on your hand because of leverage. And complex hilts do actually limit motions, just not motions you might care about for strictly unarmored combat
@@winsunwong5648 Dude, I have fought with both and the gauntlets I have used and made are heavier and more confining. We are not talking about leather gloves but actual protective armour for the hands that provide similar levels of cut and impact resistance. Also the metal in a gauntlet should not be directly on the hand.
there is ancient indian swords with knuckle bows aswell.. i think they appear when large sheilds are not used but also heavy body armor is less popular. id be guessing but there isprobably other examples from history back into the bronze age
I have a question please answer. The antique Indian and afghani sword's blades how to fix and how to attached with hilts. Sorry my English is poor. I hope you understand my question
So the Han developed Hand Protecting swords to protect the Han's Hands? Or was it the Hands that Protected the Hans needed Protection from other Hans whose Hands would try to Harm a Han's Hands? Or am I completely on the Wrong Foot when it comes to Han's Hands?
That Chinese buckler type was protagonist of a couple of Skallagrim videos. In one he had some sparring and it looked phenomenally functional. Of course, as you said, wear it must have been a pain in the *ss
Before anyone's nipple get too hard, hand guards existed since Bronze Age Greece at least, like on some Kopis swords. Not sure about full plate "shield" guards. Maybe some gladiators...?
Your idea is interesting because the Chinese did finger sword guards, however, most depictions of it were from the Song Dynasty onward. Some Han Dynasty sword did had ricasso, so they may had finger the guard as far back as the Han Dynasty.
I never get bored of Matt just casually picking a nearby completely different type of weapon to demonstrate a point
Matt should be the history professor for every student at all levels
Never gets old
People from different schools of martial arts fighting each other and causing a riot sounds like the modern day equivalent of sports fans being rowdy and brawling with fans of other teams and causing a riot.
That's basically just the plot of "Cobra Kai".
@@rashindus So true
@@rashindus Hah, you read my mind.
That's pretty accurate
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
As a Chinese myself, I have to say for even most of Chinese, these two weapons are probably pretty obscure as well. Before the video, I never saw that type of replica sword from educational websites and museum and textbooks. And for the buckler, Matt your pronunciation is not accurate but still correct and your are doing much better than many Chinese as well, most of them I will guarantee you don’t know to pronounce the second character of this weapon at all. Because that character is pretty dame rare in modern writing. And that is how obscure they are………
Also I forgot to mention, the buckler was designed for military purpose (I believe you are not allowed to own armorers and pole arms as citizens in ancient China) hooking short spears. And that is I believe why they disappeared later in Han dynasty because first pikes were much cheaper to make and train compared to buckler, second is you can hook short spears with this type of buckler but not for long pikes.
You sir, are a class act.
How is seen Qin Shi Huang today?
@@junichiroyamashita We sought pretty highly of him despite the tyrannical stuff
I only knew this design though the game tiger knight, there are a lot of obscure weapons in it, the game is pretty cold now, sadly...
Two years ago i found bronze age rapierlike blades in a museum, now i find out about a han dynasty rapier Version. It is fascinating how people came up with ideas, throw them over Board, just to reappear in a different time and different places. Just incredible.
Because the steel wasn't good enough to handle thin and narrow blades without breaking
it seems that in more dueling contexts complex handguards were developed a lot more, even some Roman gladiator's category used them
Parallel evolution is common in biology. Animals that appear to be so close in size, configuration, etc., that there is an immediate assumption that they must be related. Then they dig into the DNA and determine that in fact they aren't related, but because they occupy the same niche, they have evolved in the same way. You didn't state it as such, but clearly similar needs produced similar designs.
Form follows function. A similar purpose is likely to result in a similar object. However, sometimes two cultures with a similar problem solved it in radically different ways and I find that fascinating because it's somewhat counter-intuitive.
Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.
Leading inevitably to crabs!
The interesting follow up would be to look at the economic forces that would encourage fencing schools in both 1st Century China and 16th Century Europe
I'm glad you mentioned the Australian Aboriginal parrying shields. They look very unusual when you see them on museum walls, but when you get to try out a modern example, you find out that they generate momentum at the ends very rapidly, and can very effectively knock aside attacks. When your opponents will be using mostly spears, thrown weapons, and bows, you can see how this would be very effective protection, and capable of delivering very strong blows in its own right.
Now, a video on Australian Aboriginal weapons...
I love how he just reaches behind him and goes a rapier just like this one. haha
Practiced chinese arts for a few decades but neverseen anything like this,thank you.
That design being 2000 years old is simply mindblowing...
The thing I appreciate the most from this channel is that Matt when appreciating other culture's weaponry he actually try to understand the "context"😎 and what's going through their mind in that period.. I sometimes get the feeling that we are all pretty much the same anyway in the end despite the different cultures if ever we ended up in the same environment.. we could really use this approach on anything in our lives for issues like racism, religion, politics, cultures, etc and we could definitely see an overall positive appreciation on those topics just like how we see Matt did it in his videos.. 👍
"rapiers can't cut" - famous last words ;)
So that sword is contemporaneous with a gladuis. Wow.
That buckler is pretty genius for dueling or cqc fighting. The "horns" give almost the same ability to cover a lot of the body against incoming blows as a shield that is as large as the horns, but with much less encumbrance.
That Jian has a massive _Han_ guard on it. 😋
Really cool to see this, there's so much stuff from China that has been buried by time, it's cool to see this unearthed and appreciated again after 2000 years.
The whole convergent evolution from the needs of dueling makes perfect sense to me. Aristocrats gonna aristocrat
Skal has some demonstrations with the "hook buckler" I think. very effective against swords
This video has be very curious about two things
1) the history of rowdiness & regulation of fencing schools back in the day
2) blah blah convergent evolution yes sound points all round but that buckler seems to be easily the best buckler design I’ve ever seen? Those vertical hooks just intuitively make the most sense
Not going to lie, that makes me think of the Mary Rose formerly arming sword that had front guard put on it. Not in appearance, but in having what looks kind of like a standard cross guard sword having knuckle protection welded on.
Also, you answered my biggest question (if you will spar with it). Looking forward to the results.
A penetrating analysis of the context of Han dynasty swords.
This sword just blew my mind. A Chinese sword with hand protection. I don't believe it.
Right? I'm kinda in love with that sword now. I've long been a fan of rapier type swords, lately I've been appreciating the jian, and this sword combines the two. Seems the best of all worlds, the only real downside being that it can be inconvenient to carry, but even that you can work around with a special scabbard.
I think the Jian with the typical small hand guards is an everyday carry sidearm whereas the jian with the developed hand protection is only worn when the user know there be a duel.
Xiang Yu vs Lu Bu?....😈
This comment was the one showing on my phone before I clicked on comments. So I saw it before seeing the sword on the video. I read it goung "wait, what?"
Did China make everything? This is absolutely incredible.
Mmmh, this seems like another danger to my account balance.
Im just here to remind you.. If everything went down.. You still have 2 kidneys anyway.. 😂
seems like a welder could whip up that buckler in no time
@@winslowtjiptadi6359 😁
I KNEW that (sword) had to have existed somewhere! Thanks Matt!
Oh hey, that shield reminds me of the defensive off-hand baton used in some African stick-fighting. A cloth is wrapped around the left hand on the stick, like building a boxing mitt with defensive protrusions.
This video just blew my mind
I thought Matt always recorded with green screen and add his garage wall on the background after.
Turns out he always film in front of those actual weapons hanging
Yes, the Han dynasty shield was mainly used to entangle the Chinese dagger-axe.
dagger-axe is called ji
It can be entwined more effectively than a spear or sword.
You can also entangle at the best angle when you receive a ji swing from a tank.
And foot attacks can be well prevented with a long, lightweight shield. Even when it is stabbed, ji has many protrusions, so you can entangle it with the stick and hook.
Well you can just call the dagger axe ji halberd...
Thanks for introducing us to to LK Chen! I love their website!
That hand shield is just begging to be engraved.
Would look great with dragon engraved on it.
Or mabye they leave it so the buyer can modify? Lol
Just put a picture of a shuffle dance girl on it. It will sell tomarow
It could be a touch-screen, it could even display tiktok- or snapchat-stories while fencing
That "buckler" seems like it could threaten the eyes of the opponent with just a small flick of the wrist. It seems like it would be difficult to defend against, it's really a game changer!
Finally! I have been requesting a video on this sword for a long time! Thanks Matt!
Fascinating!! This made my day thank you Matt!
Next obscure weapon set? Timbei? Okinawan turtle shell shield and short spear combo. At the 03:15 mark in the following video.
th-cam.com/video/wFPvSMnzJXE/w-d-xo.html
What a spear! It’s like the prototype of a dagger.
Okinawan karate weapon that uses a turtle shell that oddly enough isn't used by the Ninja Turtles who seem to love Okinawan karate weapons (except Leonardo) even though they are turtles... :P
For them that would be like having a human spine for a sword.
Huh, all these years I thought Rurouni Kenshin was bullshitting me. Turns out it's a real set of weapons, go figure...
Given the highly questionable historicity of the turtle shell shield in Okinawa I really hope he doesn't.
Unfortunately Okinawan martial arts are known for having quite a large amount of nonsense fantasy created in the mid 20th century in place of history.
This includes a number of supposedly ancient and traditional weapons made up in modern times.
The turtle shell shield thing is only recorded going back to around the 1950's. It doesn't appear in any early records, illustrations or early 20th century pictures.
What does appear is the rattan shield in the same form as seen in China, Vietnam and parts of southeast Asia. Not coincidentally the word timbei / tinbei is directly taken from Min Chinese and literally means "rattan shield".
The whole turtle shell shield thing is pretty ridiculous when you take into account just how fragile sea turtle shells are. There is a reason that the few turtle shell shields you see in various cultures around the world tend to either be ceremonial or made from the shells of softshell turtles (which was done on occasion in parts of Africa and India).
I talked to a lady working in the children's center of a zoo a number of years back who mentioned that they had just been investigated by the government because of the number of sea turtle shell requests they had put in.
There are programs which give endangered species parts to educational institutions like zoos.
This zoo had a children's learning center where they would pass around some of these items to show to children from visiting school groups to teach them about endangered species poaching and smuggling. One of the items would be a small (ie tinbei sized) sea turtle shell that would be passed around the table so the kids could see and feel it. Kids can be clumsy and it turns out that being dropped from a small child height table onto the floor is enough to shatter a sea turtle shell and after 3 requests for new shells in a row they ended up under investigation and were subsequently told not to let anyone touch the turtle shells as they were too delicate.
So probably not exactly the kind of thing you want to use as a shield. Also probably why no one, other than certain Okinawan martial arts schools starting in the 1950's, ever claimed to use them that way.
The sea turtle shell thing seems to have been created as part of the "household implements / farm tools weapons / weapon ban fantasy story made up in the mid 20th century to help popularize the newly formulated Okinawan Kobudo schools.
I think when people say "rapiers can't cut" what they are really saying is rapiers can't cut as well as a broader more cutting oriented weapon....not that if you hit somebody with the edge it won't cut at all.
I just wanted to say thanks for what you do. The information & history impart is appreciated.
How would you wear the Shield Guard Jian?
I would think either
A) carry it in left hand
B) Frog, baldric etc?
I would think they would just carry it in hand.
I wonder how it compares to a Talhoffer Buckler.
this is like the ancient version of forgotten weapons
I have never seen those weapons, thanks a lot for showing them I always enjoy learning about historical weapons especially if they are new to me.
Thank you for spreading awareness about these weapons. I learned of them via LK Chen recently. Ancient China also had quite impressive crossbows with long powerstrokes, complicated bronze triggers, & grid sights. Curiously, George Silver considered the buckler superior to the target for single combat, but he may have had the larger English buckler in mind rather than the simple buckler that's easy to wear. I'm not sure how you wear a large English spiked buckler either, on than on the back.
Great stuff as always Mr Easton
I'd like to see you interview someone who is studying the Chinese martial arts vis a vis these new jian blades. I'm sure they could offer more insights about them.
No not really, it's like saying someone studying late 19th century British military saber methods is going to have lots of insights about how 1st century Celtic swords were used.
There is really no similarity to weapons used in traditional Chinese martial arts.
The only real clues we have are depictions of them in use from period stonework in and around tombs mainly from western China.
That said there is little in the way of depictions of these weapons as they were still substantially less common than other weapons. Also the carvings are ambiguous enough that they don't really show much.
There are more depictions of the Gou Rang than the dueling jian. But even then still pictures don't give you a ton to work off from especially when the fighting fighters are kept separate for the sake of clarity of depiction in the stone carvings.
As well as the Madu the buckler reminds me a lot of the rarer Indian Sainte, the Haladie dagger, in Africa the off-hand weapon in Nguni stick fencing and the common sort of shield used in South and East Africa
That’s freaking amazing!
I'd love to see more vids on Chinese swords, i feel as if they are a bit underappreciated when compared to European and Japanese swords.
"Any martial art or form that can not duel can not be practiced." -A wiser man than most.
and that hand shield/buckler on the sword was a guy thinking "Hmmm with a buckler I can punch a guy without breaking my hand now!" (probably the same 'Wiser man than most")
Another question would be what other obscure weapons that were civilian-based went to war and were effective enough to evolve.
Great video! The 'buckler' kind of reminds me of the viking shield, it also has a bar going down, so the manipulation of it (and the opponent's weapons) is similar - it just lacks the planks.
In case you care: At 16:10 the bottom half of the video is distorted. Only lasts a split second, and the audio is fine.
The demonstrations I have seen of the Han dynasty "Gou-Rang" shield make it look extremely effective. I mean, it's like if a buckler had the parrying surface of a sword, as well as many ways to catch and redirect an incoming sword. It's basically like a practical version of dual-wielding swords. It's a wonder these didn't become more popular.
well, its more like if it had the parrying surface of a large shield (for the purpose of parrying an incoming melee attack, its roughly as good as a viking shield for instance due to the way the arms extend on the planes of attack while lacking protective ability against arrows) The reason it's not particularly popular is because right after this dynasty and jin, we end up with tang (and tang dynasty notoriously produced a load of proto-katana esque two handed swords) and then after that song dynasty (martial culture was the lowest of the low thing you could do for aristocrats) the mongols (who banned chinese from private weapon collection), then ming dynasty (at which point the government had enough reach and structure to basically ban most private duelling), then qing (who banned chinese from weapon collection) etc etc
@@winsunwong5648 I mostly meant I'm surprised this design wasn't replicated or "convergently evolved" in other cultures which emphasized dueling and swordsmanship.
@@FaceJP24 I see, there are actually similar designs in african and indian shields as mentioned in the video (the africans use something pretty similar with a larger shield and holding a stick perpendicular to the ground. Also, carrying this thing around as it is might be a huge pain, it occupies a lot more space than a buckler despite being more effective (so smallswords vs rapiers etc)
maybe because it's hard to carry around as personal protection and not big enough for battlefield?
@@hanliu3707 it was on the battlefield, but used in loose formation (6 man units)
I've practiced jian swordsmanship for 25+ years and teaching for 10 give or take. I'd never seen a jian with hand protection like this until L.K. released these.
Lots of artifacts are very rare. Very exciting to open up ancient graves for things we missed for centuries.
Han era weapons were from what I see as advanced as Ming or Qing era martial art weapons, however, being from 2000 years ago they would be less known than weapons.
Interresting, that they had the metalurgy and skill to produce so long and narrow blades. Would not have thought that in that time at all.
The chinese hookshield reminds me of some zulu shields I’ve seen... I don’t remember the name or specific instance, but that was the first thing that came to mind
Very interesting thanks for sharing this with us 👍🏻
I'm a Chinese Kung Fu practitioner not familiar with that buckler but looking at it and for the basics that I have been taught the hooks on the end would be for snagging rope and chain weapons
14:17
Just want to point out that "Chinese kungfu originated in India" is merely a myth. Completely debunked by multiple scholars in both the East and the West.
In brief, there are records of kungfu in China going back more than 2,000 years before Bodhidharma was suppose to have visited Shaolin. There is no evidence that Bodhidharma was himself a martial artist, nor that he had written or passed on the Sinew Changing Classic. In fact, the oldest known historical record linking Bodhidharma to the Shaolin Temples is.... a work of fiction in the early 1900s. Actually, Bodhidharma himself was probably a fictional character - there are no records of him in India despite him supposedly being a prince, and he doesn't even appear in historical Shaolin writings.
In other words, the whole India-Shaolin connection was almost certainly made up out of whole cloth.
It's really quite obvious when you compare extant Indian martial arts and internal practices with (real) Chinese kungfu and internal practices - there is so little congruence between the power methods, structural tenets, fighting philosophies, weapons, and so on that it's really quite a stretch to consider them even remotely related. This is especially obvious when you juxtapose the various Shaolin styles against Kalaripayattu, commonly said to be the method that Bodhidharma had introduced to the monks.
Of course, there are so many truly different Indian and Chinese styles that we can't be absolutely sure no Chinese styles are influenced by Indian styles, but at least as far as I know the evidence is overwhelmingly stacked against the Indian origin/influence hypothesis.
Hey Matt, another great vid!!
I recently learned about the Sikh knife, the kirpan. I understand it's more a cultural thing to wear one, though I guess in the past that grew for a reason?
I don't know if you had lurk in Chinese websites, Matt, but that sword and buckler are only a small portion of the variety of weapons depicted in the Han Dynasty.
It may not be an exaggeration that the weapons of the Han Dynasty may probably be at the same level as High or Late Medieval Europe.
the Maasai use a shield made of leather and take spears in the same hand, it turns out an analogue of the "madu", but it does not require special horns on it.
Matt I noticed the patu in the back ground, I haven’t watched your whole back catalogue but have you done a post on NZ weapons, the artform and culture behind these weapons is very complex and interesting . Would love to see this
6:58 this is based
I am not too sure if the style of blade manipulation caused the Chinese Jian to have small guard as any significantly larger guard is going to bite into the hand as cocking the blade backwards for a strike.
Some practice weapons are made with designs to make training safer but could mean
Making actual fight with those a lot more dangerous.
The later Qing Dynasty design actually have slopes guard that slopes away from the hand and forward pointing guard points which aid in catching an opponent blade in practice.
But in actual fight the guard shape can result in your opponent pivoting the sword on the guard and stab the wielder while their sword is being pushed by the pivoting action.
The exploit is similar to this but the Jian is running the risk of getting trapped while
Making it difficult to disengage for a guard/parry.
th-cam.com/video/asuj6yI3buc/w-d-xo.html
The Jian with hand protection actually has protrusion of the disc beyond the cross guard,
Meaning it is better at catching an opponent blade in practice but the same pivoting exploit is going to cause the wielder more disadvantage than the protection it offers.
Some schools cock back and some do not. Scott Rodell follows a Yeung Tai Chi style that has no cocking back action & stance.
A bowl protecting fingers is protecting fingers only. Everything offers just a bit of protection and some kind of advantage only. There are sword style with moves emphasizing stabbing the wrist from above. One such move is called monkey stealing plum.
@@MtRevDr I suppose a lot of the design influence boil down to context of what moves the opponent is using, and what moves the wielder is using, unfortunately tomb excavation means usually the owner isn't going to tell you and little surviving manuals on the obscure moves. And little information on the opponent's move.
tapping the wrist from above the bowl guard would serve little to no protection against such move.
Cocking the sword back to prevent the opponent hand from getting too close from above is a counter move, but with oversized cross guard or even bowl guard it can prevent the execution of certain moves.
Then again a disc guard might be able to prevent the wrist tapping moves to a certain degree and facing an opponent with a significantly longer sword might not be too wise to try reaching the wrist.
@@jay_chang - A lot of great martial artists are great because they can read moves that are to come. Cocking back is not to avoid the wrist getting cut. This expression of your indicates such move and the teaching of such is lacking in your systems. Extremely few know about large disc guards. I was the only one in my sword circle to use a large disc guard. To date I have seen no comparable large guard to mine in the Chinese and Japanese circles. It feels that I had reinvented the wheel.
For the stop hit on the upper part of the wrist, it really can stop enemy attack by a tap. The common and popular in Chinese swordsmanship is called "dragonfly dipping (water)". Very common move. This move is a tapping move that can be circumvented by large disc guard. So, I mention another move called "monkey stealing plum" which overcomes large disc guard. I mention these because I perceive your systems do not have any of these.
Cocking back is one of the popular standard moves in Chinese swordsmanship called bung. It is a common and popular move in swordsmanship including Tai Chi sword. But even Scott Rodell a teacher of Tai Chi sword does not know that. Why? Because the jian he designed works against such move. This is one reason I did not praise or buy his sword.
Cocking back is largely not a counter move. This also indicates your systems lack such a move and its teaching.
Horses for courses. Of course fighters have to size the opponent's weapon to apply his own moves. Tapping move is used in long sword category; and 1 long sword is usually not much shorter than another long sword.
@@jay_chang - I only see Scott Rodell designed a Miao Dao with large disc guard. And that sword is not popular. I have seen no one posing with such. So, it seems large disc guard has remained very rare or unpopular.
@@MtRevDr
I guess this is very subjective to school and form which I guess might be why most wushu practice swords have minimal guards to
accommodate to most school and styles of practice, as some of the actual functional swords might not be as beginner friendly as sharp corners from the guard can
be quite unforgiving on the hand when gripped wrongly.
A lot of the moves are highly dependent on the skill level of the user so some Jian designs might looks cool but it takes practices to get used to it.
Sharp edges from casting lines and certain designs from ornamental swords will sometime also be quite annoying to wield.
The disc guard on a Jian I only saw it in Tsui Hark movie namely the Dragon Gate Inn and Swordsman movies.
th-cam.com/video/5SMLyeel2G4/w-d-xo.html
If you aren't sure how carry something ask Shad, I'm sure he can come up with an answer.
Magnets.
God I hate shad.
@@CamdenKnightly so, so much. i’d respect him a lot more if he took criticism for his shitty book in stride instead of saying ‘actually this criticism is wrong’ like he did
He even spoke about being an expert in a certain field and said that in his case he knew a lot about books and was quite an expert because he had written one....
Hey Matt. I was just thinking about a possible video topic. I was wondering if the katana occupies a social and historical context more in line with something like a rapier or smallsword than with a longsword. Largely serving as a weapon for dueling and self defense among civilian nobles, though also appearing on the battlefield to an extent. While the longsword would perhaps be closer to the tachi as a weapon with a more explicitly military intention which was also employed in dueling and self defense. I am not sure if any of my assumptions are valid, but that is why I field them to you. Thank you very much for your time and the years of disorganized rambling about swords.
I have come to the same conclusion. From what i’ve seen Hema youtube has failed to properly recognize the katana’s primary strength, that being how quickly you can draw and strike with it. That, combined with its powerful cut makes it ideal for fending off ambushers armed with knives and sickles. Longswords and rapiers are entirely unsuited for that task, and are dependent on a “fair fight” to excell. The thing is, in a fair fight any weapon will do, as long as both sides agree to it, so a katana works just as well in those conditions. The main advantage to those weapons versus a katana is the ability to stand up to the law, as they are long enough to make someone wielding a polearm think twice before starting a fight.
In south India they use a weapon called maduv it has a shield with deer horn or sharp metal tips
When you were talking about hand protection and just before you showed it, I thought why not make a sword with a small shield on it, about the size of those round black ones on the wall?
And so you could have one in both hands.
Great video.
Convergent evolution is a thing, not only in Nature.
China Documentary has posts on You tube about Chinese Weapons and their history, including the buckler. And it was used in at least 1 battle between Armies.
Han dynasty had a feudal system which was kinda similar to medieval Europe. Other imperial dynasties of China, more or less, had a rather more centralized government and army system. Thus the difference in weapons and armors.
Gotta think though, probably a lot of variations we've never seen. I wonder if somewhere there's an example with an ornate basket type thing going on.
Curious that the protection is so focused on the front and not at all on the top of the hand to protect during thrusts.
because the jian is very slashy despite its rapier looking appearance, it cuts very very well and you are supposed to fuck your opponent up with cuts and then open them for the thrust, you wouldn't often thrust into the line of your opponents blade, later jian had cuplike protection on top like a rapier but that was a different time and place.
I guess there are sports in martial arts that have rule to prevent certain moves and attacks. Martial Art sports were common, very common and popular, even before the Han Dynasty. Confucius had menu talking about sport archery.
So, are you going to do cut testing with this, or is it too similar to the white arc jian?
skallagrim have one video about the chinese hookbuckler with sparring
I only know that he posted one, which two video are you referencing?
I knew I have seen it before, now I know where...
I notice the bowl guard extends upwards of the quillons; can you hook a finger over the quillon like with a rapier, or is there not enough space?
the buckler seems to be fit in some movies though... fancy, handy, and obscure!
Dual weapons seem to be less prevalent in Europe aside from sword and dagger, while Asia has dual weapon styles from the hook swords to Escrima and even Japanese dual wakazashis.
I wonder if you’d like to look into this, maybe an interesting video in the future.
Am I the only one who took a look at the shield and thought the horns were actually an unstrung small recurve bow?
Lots of items have similar shape. And lots of items have the same name but different purpose.
If you mean the historical art, I also thought one of them looked a lot like that
Fantasy idea: basically this type of shield, but the handle is like a pipe and serves as a scabbard, and your buckler/scabbard hooks onto your belt, maybe with some kind of latch. Draw sword first, then unhook the buckler if you want it... and give it swordbreaker teeth 😆
Where did you get that nice shirt?
It’s a black buck antelope. I recognize the horns from the one I have
LK Chen did some preliminary experiments on his channel and found that you can stab people twice as fast if your sword has less hilt on it (though the absolute difference in time is miniscule at about 0.4s, and using one specific technique and measurement method).
Might not see this Matt but a blade like that must be tricky to make strong enough for combat. Did they actually have spring steel? It seems it would break in an instant if not?
Can you do a video on Hawaiian weapons? They are some awesome and resourceful weapons used in an amazing fighting style called LUA… highly overlooked piece of history
I am super-duper late, but one would most likely not wear the parrying stick shield thingy; it seems highly specialized. One would have servants for such awkward burdens.
That’s a bad ass buckler. +3 in D AND D.
larger hilts weren't necessarily superior to small ones, especially in a military context because in the military whoever got a jian was likely pretty elite (and had hand protection in the form of a gauntlet). Gauntlet+small hilt almost always beats out large hilt+no gauntlet (because you can't fit your hand in a properly enclosed hilt) for flexibility and speed while retaining much of the same protection. Part of the reason why is because large hilts, which are necessarily made quite large so you can actually move your hand in them, make your arm act like a hammer or mace physics wise (a stick with a heavy object on the end) reducing agility relative to a form fitting gauntlet that provides roughly the same protection overall. It makes arm powered larger cuts more difficult/slower/less powerful. This is only not an issue when you use wrist powered cuts and thrusts while keeping your arm relatively stable, because then you are moving around the axis of the hilt (thus minimizing it's disadvantages) and you theoretically only need a wrist powered cut to severely wound an unarmored opponent while retaining an advantage in reach due to being able to hold your sword out so far. So a small-hilt sword is superior when you have armor (snags on less crap too and is lighter+more manueverable for the same length+cutting power in the blade), and the large hilt is a really specific development for the specific purpose of duelling someone with minimal armor.
Also, really hard to make a two handed sword with a particularly complex guard lol
Gauntlets are heavy and interfere with the dexterity of the hand. A well shaped complex hilt is age better for sword mobility than a gauntlet.
@@winsunwong5648 The Swiss Saber is a two handed sword with a complex hilt.
@@SurmaSampo not true at all, hilts are heavy feeling for more reasons than their weight for one, they extend out from your hand in a sphere which feels heavier than metal directly on your hand because of leverage. And complex hilts do actually limit motions, just not motions you might care about for strictly unarmored combat
@@winsunwong5648 Dude, I have fought with both and the gauntlets I have used and made are heavier and more confining. We are not talking about leather gloves but actual protective armour for the hands that provide similar levels of cut and impact resistance.
Also the metal in a gauntlet should not be directly on the hand.
that buckler is so cool.
there is ancient indian swords with knuckle bows aswell.. i think they appear when large sheilds are not used but also heavy body armor is less popular. id be guessing but there isprobably other examples from history back into the bronze age
Congrats on the reopening of your Sparring School.
I have a question please answer. The antique Indian and afghani sword's blades how to fix and how to attached with hilts. Sorry my English is poor. I hope you understand my question
So the Han developed Hand Protecting swords to protect the Han's Hands?
Or was it the Hands that Protected the Hans needed Protection from other Hans whose Hands would try to Harm a Han's Hands?
Or am I completely on the Wrong Foot when it comes to Han's Hands?
Very interesting!
Now I wish I could see a pair of these against rapier and buckler
That Chinese buckler type was protagonist of a couple of Skallagrim videos. In one he had some sparring and it looked phenomenally functional. Of course, as you said, wear it must have been a pain in the *ss
That’s what your back is for.
Ah, the hook shield, I love that thing!
Before anyone's nipple get too hard, hand guards existed since Bronze Age Greece at least, like on some Kopis swords.
Not sure about full plate "shield" guards. Maybe some gladiators...?
That buckler looks like a fantasy weapon from MMO games.
Basically rapier & hook shield, I wonder why they became out of fashion and what replaced them.
Since the frontal guard kind of extends over the crossguard, do you reckon they would finger the guard like a sidesword or rapier?
Your idea is interesting because the Chinese did finger sword guards, however, most depictions of it were from the Song Dynasty onward.
Some Han Dynasty sword did had ricasso, so they may had finger the guard as far back as the Han Dynasty.
Isn´t that handguard plate 90 degrees off in comparison with European style? It could possibly restrict you sword-hand movement?
The evolution of knives and swords is very interesting ... I wonder what the oldest sword in the world looks like ?