A:TLA Annotations

The Many Blades of Piandao

When I first heard the name I did not associate it with an actual sword at all, but thought it was a play on “骗刀’ ‘cheat the sword’ i.e. referring to his amazing skill or cheating death.

It also means 'kitchen knife’ 片刀.

As it turns out, as I found out after a bit or research (martial arts are not really my thing, I’m more of a treadmill kinda girl), that there are actual swords named 片刀.

That is where the confusion comes in. Baidu (Chinese version of Wikipedia+Websters) tells me that this is what 片刀 look like. The Chinese test reading pretty much the same as the wiki version, but sadly the Wikipedia entry has no picture:

The Piandao (片刀) is a type of Chinese sabre (dao) used during the late Ming Dynasty. A deeply curved dao meant for slashing and draw-cutting, it bore a strong resemblance to the shamshir and scimitar. A fairly uncommon weapon, it was generally used by skirmishers in conjunction with a shield.

While the amazing handsaretobuild, who knows so much more about martial arts than I ever will, told me that in martial arts terms 片刀 means this (#9).

The Piandao (Slashing Saber)

The piandao is a more dramatically curved sword. this weapon bears a strong resemblance to the shamshir and scimitar. A fairly uncommon weapon in the world of civilian martial arts practitioners or military, it was generally used by skirmishers in conjunction with a shield.

Now here is my dilemma: Those pictures do not match. What Baidu shows has nothing in common with the picture the English martial arts website uses.

The closest I have come to finding a similar sword is the 明刀 Ming Dao, which albeit from the same dynasty, has a slightly different blade.

I can only assume that Master Piandao is named after the one from the English website, since that seems to be what 'pian dao’ means in English speaking martial arts circles.

I have put in an 'official’ ask, and will be happy to pass on what Sifu Kisu aka Piandao tells me.

On a side note: Both Sokka’s and Piandao’s swords are jian 剑.

Image source: One, two, three