page_title: Korean sword
section_title: Early swords
hierarchical_section_title: Korean sword / History / Early swords
context_page_description: 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 Korea begins with imports during the 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
  .
context_section_description: 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 (c. 1st century BC), 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 swords 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 (i.e. 450 AD and beyond), steel making techniques had come from China (possibly during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period in China) and were also employed in Korean swordmaking by all three Korean kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla). 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 ("King Isaji").
  Long swords during the Korean Three Kingdoms period were used primarily by cavalry and commanders (who were also usually mounted), 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 heavily armored.
  Records indicate that rudimentary methods of sword manufacturing (along with iron smelting and manufacture and later that of steel work) may have been transmitted to the Japanese Archipelago from the Korean Peninsula some time in the Three Kingdoms period. These methods and techniques, as well as their updates, continued to be transmitted to the Japanese Archipelago during the North South States Period until connections with the Asian mainland were largely closed off by Japan in the early part of the Heian period (approximately 794 AD to 967 AD).
  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 Mongol and Chinese weapon manufacture after Goryeo's submission as a Mongol vassal after 6 Mongol invasions ending in 1259.
caption: Silla era sword pommel
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-T10", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:05:26 19:50:46", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2849", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "35888", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:04:04 20:57:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:04:04 20:57:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "633/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "718", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "924", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2708", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}