Review: LK Chen Scarlet Sunrise. Chinese swords in Rome?

Рет қаралды 1,610

Күн бұрын

This is a review of the LK Chen Scarlet Sunrise Jian which was very kindly sent for study and review. Based on original surviving artifacts from the Jin dynasty, this is a light weight, narrow bladed sword which still can cut and thrust very effectively. It is very nicely finished, and has fittings that have interesting implications for European sword history...
Link to the Weapon Dynamics sword stats for the Scarlet Sunrise
tinyurl.com/3afeczfr
Video references:
Met Museum Jade Scabbard Slide
www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
A Han-dated ‘hydra’-type nephrite scabbard slide found in Chatalka (Bulgaria):
the earliest and most distant example of Chinese nephrite distribution in Europe
www.arkeotopia.org/images/docu...
Roman Bone Scabbard Slide from Brigetio
www.academia.edu/1419686/Roma...
0:00 Scarlet Sunrise
0:44 Overview of Jian
3:43 Cutting tests
7:20 Discussion about scabbard slides
13:57 Influence on Rome

Пікірлер: 17

@thescholar-general5975 Жыл бұрын

Great stuff! Hopefully we can continue to have more papers published on topics like this and unravel the mysteries of the how sword design moved around from east to west!

@dlatrexswords Жыл бұрын

Hear hear! There is some exciting stuff coming out on Hunnic swords, but plenty of work to be done on Steppe and Chinese swords in particular in my opinion.

@FortuneFavoursTheBold Жыл бұрын

Wonderful review! Very interesting finds in Bulgaria. First time I heard of it. Thanks for linking the source!

@dlatrexswords Жыл бұрын

Yeah they're not super new, but they have not gotten a lot of exposure, so I figured I'd do my little part to help share the word. It's always fascinating to me how cultures on the complete opposite ends of the continent can still influence one another for the development of things like scabbards and swords!

@FortuneFavoursTheBold Жыл бұрын

@@dlatrexswords Indeed. Personally this is the kind of content I would like to see in sword reviews.

@TheNovaFiends Жыл бұрын

Awesome! I love the history element especially! I was in a quandary between this, the magnificent chu and the gale wind. I opted for the GW since it seemed like a good beginner choice (really only just starting to get into waving sharp hunks of metal around(beats throwing darts)) whilst still having the kind of design that elevated it way above a backyard beater. Hopefully will finally get it in 2 - 3 weeks. Really liking yr video's! Would love to see more.

@dlatrexswords Жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you enjoy. I hope you appreciate the Gale wind as much as I do. Mine is a fierce cutter!

@bartangel4867 Жыл бұрын

interesting video.

@jamesm1 Жыл бұрын

Excellent review! Happy to be your 85th sub!

@dlatrexswords Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed! We will keep them coming ;-)

@DarkwarriorJ Жыл бұрын

Hi Dlatrix! This is fascinating! The Scarlet Sunrise is one of the swords from LK Chen I'd most like to get - it looks like it matches up with the one-handed sparring sword the closest (especially by weight), and has a lot of the subtle features or improvements that later dynasty jian have compared to the Han ones, such as the scabbard recessing into the guard and the reinforced scabbard mouth. On the scabbard slides - I wonder if the scabbard slides were traded more than the other sword parts. Do you know if they find other parts of the scabbards in similar abundance? Apologies for my lack of replies via our email chain; I've been studying for my university finals, and will be back at the end of the week :) (at least, if I didn't misidentify you :)).

@dlatrexswords Жыл бұрын

No worries. Uni comes first. =) I've stumbled onto scabbard slides, as they have been the (functional) part which has been adopted most obviously in cultures across the Steppe, and into eastern Europe. There is some indication that the Warring state->Han dynasty 'Disk pommels' were also adopted/adapted as far as Bactria and perhaps towards the Capsian sea. Even the finds that I showed in the video suggest Chinese influence in their pommels in my estimation. I would like to study cross guards more thoroughly on some of these finds attributed even to Hunnic swords...

@DarkwarriorJ Жыл бұрын

@@dlatrexswords The influence on Hunnic swords, if it can be proven, could be particularly interesting. AFAIK over time, the Xiongnu-Huns hypothesis is increasingly accepted, with more scholarship from non-English scholars slowly increasing the amount of evidence for that link. If Chinese influence on Hunnic swords can be strongly shown, then that may itself reinforce the Xiongnu-Hun link!

@stanleychen7147 9 ай бұрын

Great video. Not a big deal but the "a" in jian is really pronounced like in "Anne." I suspect you're actually pronouncing the way you are because you've noticed that "a" in Chinese is often pronounced like "ah," and you're right about that, but in this case, it's actually pronounced the way that's more intuitive to English speakers.

@JCOwens-zq6fd 5 ай бұрын

Its not that surprising. If one looks at Byzantine swords one will see vety very many similarities in construction to Chinese swords. Besides the term "Caucasian" comes from the fact that Western Europeans originally come from Asia. Until WW2 Asians were even considered to be "white".