Hi,
This is a very interesting discussion...
johan wrote:Personally I believed the Moroha Kissaki was a separate class altogether , made for purposes unknown. Do you think there was a possibility that before that there was already a double edge curve sword in China either in bronze or steel ?
Possibly. I haven't seen one myself but on the whole we really don't have enough reference material of this period to rule it out. The best known examples are a little over a handful of Tang swords and some Sui swords that were all straight bladed single edged weapons. There is however one Tang sword that stands out in that it has an edge that goes over the tip and covers a bit of the back side as well. By far not as long as on the blades discussed, but there is some resemblance.
johan wrote:I am wondering if there was any surviving piece from Tang era or earlier dynasty, of curve double edge bronze sword which later brought to Japan, which later inspired Amakuni to make Kissaki Moroha zukuri ?
It could be. I believe that the Tang sword I mention above did in fact make it to Japan and is now in a Japanese museum.
johan wrote:As for the Chinese Peidao on the photo, this is the first time I saw the Chinese version of the "naginata naoshi". I could not find that in the book by Alex Huangfu " The Iron and Steel Sword of China "
The variety of Chinese swords is really rather broad, I haven't seen a single source that comes anywhere near covering them all.
johan wrote:However , was the Chinese version actually cut out from Chinese Naginata or actually made to look like a Chinese Naginata ?
All those Chinese versions I have seen appear to have been made as peidao (sabers) to begin with. They also handle pretty much like their brothers and sisters with different blade configurations, so by this time (18th century) it was more of a decorative pattern than a functional one. But it may have been different before. Backedges on all examples I've seen were not sharp.
There is a Chinese version of
naginata but their blades are generally much shorter than saber blades and those I have seen did not have the hallmark fuller / bevel configuration of their Japanese counterparts.
-Peter