Beautiful Korean swords in the possession of the German museum

Today I want to introduce Korean swords made in the Josen dynasty(1392-1897). They now are owned by Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, Germany.

It’s a single-edged sword. On the back of the knife is the incised name of “광사두우(Gwangsadou)” implies Taoist spirit.

The sword tang is elaborately carved with peonies and bamboo leaves. Also the ten symbols of longevity is carved on the scabbard.

The size of scabbard is 56.2cm and sword is 53cm length.

This sheath is lacquered, and embellished cranes, flowers and plants by nacre. There is a bronze lock on the side of the sword and they connected with the drilled guard.

Overall length is 75cm, the length of the blade is 54cm, the thickness of the blade is 4.2cm.

관제적동투각환도, Official sword with Red copper open work design is name of the sword in Korean and English.

This is an official sword produced by government. The Haetae, mythical lion of Korea is carved on the red coppoer guard.

The grip seems like they got motivated from Japan’s design and they re-design it as Korean style.

Total length, 62.5cm, blade length, 44cm.

Byeol-un-geom 별운검 or Okgubogeom is official name. Since the jade is used for the blade’s guard and jade only could use in High class. Also Byeolungeom is only could used by King’s guardsman.

This sword is not practical to use in war, so they used this purpose of ceremony.

Overall length, 75.5cm

By the way, In this last picture you can see the string thing attached to the scabbard. This calls 띠돈 Tti-don and it was for carrying a sword on guard’s belt like on the bottom picture

The reason why Korean used ttidon and carried a sword is the sword was not a main weapon for warriors in Joseon dynasty. They used bows as a main weapon and they used the sword to fight with closed enemies. And thanks to ttidon, In the tense situation of the battlefield, the bow and sword could be used properly at the same time.

철제 은상감 보검, Sword inlaid with Silver is official in Korean and English. The sheath is made of sharks leather, coated black. The overall metalwork and ironwork is decorated with silver lining. The way of strip winding of the handle is from Qing dynasty. This sword is more like for self-defense rather than battlefield.

84.2cm overall, blade length is 58.9cm

관제녹칠어피갑장환도, Green-lacquered and Fish-skinned Official Sword is official name of the sword.

The sheath is made of green-colored fish leather, gilt bronze is used for decoration. It is decorated with a feature of dragon at the top and end of the sheath as a symbol of Luck. This sword is used for war and ceremony, combines artistic and practical features.

Total 75.8cm