Korean sword


Korean swords have served a central place in the defense of the nation for thousands of years. Although typical Korean land battles have taken place in wide valleys and narrow mountain passes, which favor use of the spear and bow, the sword found use as a secondary, close-quarters weapon, especially useful during sieges and ship-to-ship boarding actions. Higher quality, ceremonial swords were typically reserved for the officer corps as a symbol of authority with which to command the troops. Ceremonial swords are still granted to military officials by the civilian authority to this day.
Korean swords typically fall into two broad categories, the Geom, and the Do. The Geom is a double edged weapon, while the Do is a single edged weapon; although exceptions exist. In common parlance, all swords may be referred to as Geom .
The history of the sword in the Korea begins with imports during Bronze Age in the mid 1st millennium BCE.
Native production of Bronze and Iron swords appeared in the mid 1st millennium CE. Korea eventually developed a unique sword industry and a native tradition of Korean swordsmanship, which reached its peak during the Joseon Dynasty
.
This tradition was targeted for censure during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and many thousands of ancient swords were either stolen or destroyed.
After Imperial Japan was defeated by the United States, and Korea was liberated, the sword culture began to recover.
Since the late 20th century, there have been efforts towards reviving the lost arts of Korean sword-making and swordsmanship using examples carefully hidden away during the occupation, and swords recovered from abroad. The rarity of traditional Korean swords makes them extremely valuable, and in high demand for museums and collectors.

History

Early swords

There is evidence of early imports of Chinese Bronze Age swords to the Korean peninsula.
Evidence of sword production dates to the transitional Late Bronze to Early Iron Age, with an
earthenware mold for a Bronze Sword found in South Gyeongsang Province.
The earliest Korean sword type is the so-called Hwandudaedo or "ring-pommel sword", prevalent during the 1st to 6th centuries. Until the 3rd century, these sword were very rare and presumably reserved for royalty. They became more attainable in the later 4th and during the 5th century, and are found in many higher class tombs of this period. Their production declined in the 6th century.
By the last third of the Three Kingdoms period, steel making techniques had come from China and were also employed in Korean swordmaking by all three Korean kingdoms. In 2013, a Chinese Character inscription was discovered on a 5th-century sword from the Geumgwanchong tomb in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
The scabbard of the sword has the inscription 尒斯智王 Yisaji-wang.
Long swords during the Korean Three Kingdoms period were used primarily by cavalry and commanders, not infantry. At this time land warfare consisted mostly of spearmen and bowmen on foot, mounted archers on horseback using two-handed bows, and mounted swordsmen with twin blades. Swords were not a primary weapon for all combat but were instead used mostly for shock attacks, defensive strokes, and for close-in fighting. Blades were heavy as they were made mostly of bronze and later iron, and pommels were often knobbed and used as balances or for very close-in work. Short swords may have been used in follow-up attacks, as short sword carriers were armoured completely.
Records indicate that the art of sword manufacturing, still in a rudimentary state, may have been transmitted to the Japanese Archipelago from the Korean Peninsula some time in the Three Kingdoms period, along with iron smelting and manufacture and later that of steel work; these methods and techniques, as well as their updates, continued to be transmitted during the North South States Period to the Japanese Archipelago until connections with the Asian mainland were largely closed off by Japan in the early part of the Heian period.
During the Goryeo dynasty, a limited number of Korean swords were exported for trade missions in Asia. It is likely that Korean swordmaking was influenced by the various influences present in Mongol and Chinese weapon manufacture after Goryeo's submission as a Mongol vassal after 6 Mongol invasions ending in 1259.

Joseon period

The Joseon period is the "classical" era of Korean culture, including the creation of a national script and the suppression of Korean Buddhism in favour of Neo-Confucianism. Accompanying the neo-Confucian philosophies was an increased emphasis on the artistic, literary, and academic pursuits, while martial pursuits and training declined in cultural stature.
Korean swords were in production mostly for military and ceremonial use; private ownership outside of these purposes was largely restricted to members of the wealthy and/or politically influential classes, and possession by commoners often drew the suspicion of the authorities. Several types of ceremonial swords were made; among these sword types are the jingeom and ingeom, which by tradition could be forged only at certain times. The highest grade of these, sa-ingeom and possibly the sa-jingeom were reserved for the monarch and could only be made during a window of 2 hours every 12 years. The lower-grade swords - i-jingeom, sam-jingeom, i-ingeom, sam-ingeom - could be made more frequently.
As only high-quality steel was considered for use in forging military swords, the quantity produced by Korean blacksmiths, even for Korea's own military, was limited. In addition, because Korean weapons manufacture was typically dedicated to the production of weapons for military/government use and under close scrutiny by government authorities, it was not uncommon for Koreans to import swords, usually from Japan's renowned swordsmiths, in the event that Korean sources could not be secured.
Among the swords that were produced in Korea for use by its military and law enforcement officials include the jedok geom and bonguk geom. Blades were single edged and usually between 3–4 feet long; however, certain swords of the jedok geom style could reach a length of 6 feet.
The saingeom is a type of Joseon-era sword from Western Korea. It has a 90 centimeter blade, produced primarily by molding rather than hammering.

Modern history

Korean swords are very scarce today, since most surviving examples were confiscated and destroyed during the colonial period. A systematic attempt was made to collect and destroy all Korean swords, coats of armour, and all Korean martial arts equipment. The entire history of Korean swords and armour was almost lost forever, along with much of Korea's culture and traditions, because of Japanese colonial policies.
After the liberation of Korea in 1945, ceremonial swords were once again manufactured both in southern and northern Korea, and by the 1960s, sword-making was a vibrant and increasingly secure industry; however, due to the depredations and systematic destruction by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Korea, many traditions and techniques lost and were either completely unrecoverable or had yet to be recovered.

Types

Many different types of Do and Geom exist.
Geom is the Korean word for "sword"; it is typically used of double edged swords, but is also applied to single edged swords. Yedo is the specific term for a single-edged sword.
The Muyesinbo describes as bonguk geom or "national sword" a double-edged sword closely resembling the Eastern Han period jian. This contrasted with the jedok geom or "admiral sword", the term for the type introduced in the 16th century by Li Rusong, usually about 5–6 feet tall and single edged. The sword was also straight and wielded with one or two hands.
Elements of the Korean sword include: geomjip or scabbard, most often of lacquer; hyuljo or fuller ; hwando magi or collar; ho in or collar; kodeungi or hand guard; a ring-design pommel; tassels; a round and wide designed sword guard, or a straight lotus design.
The Hwandudaedo is a type of single edged sword used during the three kingdoms area. It is known for having a ring pommel and being single or double edged. Most swords during this time was semi-uniform in nature and many martial arts practitioners tend to recognize this weapon as a "Genuine Korean Sword". The Hwandudaedo may have some connection to the Japanese straight swords and the Chinese Jian.
In deference to the Neo-Confucian state philosophy during the Joseon period, Korean swords tended to be somewhat shorter than their Japanese or Chinese templates, with a blunted tip and infrequently having a groove the length of the blade. In this way the sword was made to be represented as being as singularly "unaggressive" as possible.

The Seven-Branched Sword is a peculiar specimen forged in Baekje in the order of the king. There is a theory that this is a sword that was to be a gift presented to the emperor of Japan. There was no handle found for the blade nor was there a swordsheath found for it while it was being excavated.

Korean swordsmanship

The study of Korean sword as a weapons system is commonly called Geom Beop while the use of sword study as a form of personal development or sport is commonly called Geom Do.
During the Joseon period, swords also had ranks depending on who wielded them and what their purpose was. The highest ranking of these swords was known as the Byeol-ungeom, literally meaning "cloud-splitting sword." Only two such swords existed and were wielded by the King's two bodyguards, who always stood on either side of him and held the nobility title of Un'geom.
Master swordsmen
Only by the mid-1990s did Korean swordmaking come back to expert levels comparable to the Joseon era.
Haedong jingeom This literally means 'East Asian Practical Sword' is the neologistic term for current-day swords for "revivals" of Korean swordsmanship.
Sword ownership in Korea is currently restricted, and there are very few traditional sword collectors in Korea today. General/flag-grade officers are given dress swords upon assuming command in the Republic of Korea army. Despite restrictions on sword ownership and a lingering social preference against armed martial arts, practical sword fighting is enjoying a small revival amongst elite military regiments, and fencing is once again attracting interest in Korean universities.

Sword producers

Korean historical action films have elements of swordsmanship within them. Important recent films readily available include:
Chung Doo-Hong martial arts director. Set in the Goryeo dynasty, during 1375 chronicles General Choi Jung's mission to the Ming to make peace during their wars against the Yuan.
A Korean production that is a variant of Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War. This is set in the Three Kingdoms of Korea period where there were various uprisings in the military and many assassination attempts on the King.
In 2006, swords bestowed on newly promoted brigadier generals were changed from the single-edged curved ‘’samjeongdo’’, which was considered to be a traditional Korean sword, to the double-edged straight ‘’samjeong-geom‘’ claiming that the ‘’samjeongdo’’ is similar to the “Western sword” and not reflecting the traditional Korean sword. ‘’Samjeongdo’’ had been given to brigadier generals since 1983.
On November 2015, the Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin erected in Parliament was replaced with a newly created authentic statue. The sword of the statue was longer than the traditional Korean sword and more resembled the Japanese sword.