Podao

Podao
A photograph of a Chinese podao, with the handle wrapped in hemp rope.
Traditional Chinese	朴ほお刀がたな
Simplified Chinese	朴ほお刀がたな
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin pōdāo Wade–Giles p'o1 tao1 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization pok3 dou1

Podao or pudao (Chinese: 朴ほお刀がたな; pinyin: pōdāo) is a Chinese single-edged infantry weapon that is still used primarily for training in various Chinese martial arts. The blade of the weapon is shaped like a Chinese broadsword, but the weapon has a longer handle, usually around one to two meters (about three to six feet) which is circular in cross-section. It looks somewhat similar to the guandao.

The pudao is sometimes called a "horse-cutter sword" since it is speculated to have been used to slice the legs out from under a horse during battle (like the zhanmadao). It is somewhat analogous to the Japanese nagamaki, although the nagamaki sword may have been developed independently. The pudao also resembles the Korean hyeopdo.

Popular culture

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings features locations in Ta Lo as well as Razor Fist using dragon scale podao to fight the Dweller-in-Darkness.

Gallery

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  A drawing of a pudao