[James Merritt]

Would love to know what this means:

[Stephen Curtin]

Hi james. You might want to try asking at http://forum.grtc.org/ there's alot of people their who are very knowledgable about chinese swords, and the chinese languages. Do you, by chance, have any more pictures of this sword? Do you know if it's an antique, or modern made?

[James Merritt]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the lead. That's exactly what I need!

I do not know how modern this sword is.

Here are some more pictures:







Each side has what looks to be a dragon etched into it:





And there is some odd patterning to the blade:





Finally, it is much sturdier than other swords of this kind that I have seen before.
The sword without scabbard weighs 873 grams.

[Christopher Valli]

OK, my Chinese is a little rusty and had to pull out the dictionary for this, but for starters the writing is in a combination of languages- Chinese and (I think) Korean. I cannot read the right side, as it is not a language I know. The left starts off with the first four characters: China _____ Mountain. I am guessing it was the location where the blade was made but I don't recognize the name of the mountain. The middle three I don't recognize as Chinese, unless it is written in a fancier style, but then it wouldn't match the line around it. The last five is a bit of advice "it is valuable (important) to have control of the heart"

AS for the sword itself, it looks to me like a pretty modern practice sword for Chinese martial arts. The blade is a little thicker than the spring steel ones used frequently for tournaments, but some people prefer a stiffer blade for trainging.

[Jonathan Hopkins]

When I was in high school I bought nearly identical sword (but with some classy faux snake skin covering) from Disney's Epcot Center. I do not think these swords were made for any type of contact, just display.