A Mai dao was a type of anti-cavalry sword that was used in China during the Ming Dynasty. Also called changdao in old Chinese, the blade greatly resembles a Japanese Ōdachi in form. Indeed some feel that the design of the mai dao was drawn from exposure to the long swords of Japanese pirates along China's south-eastern coast. This weapon was adopted by General Qi and used against enemies on the Mongol border circa 1560. It replaced the zhǎn mǎ dāo as a 'horse slaying' weapon; it is interesting to note that as the Japanese blades may have been derivatives of the zan man dao, the mai dao would effectively be a third-generation replacement of the original sword. At the time of General Qi it had a specified length of 1.95 meters, which made it rival the Ōdachi in length. Its handle was long, apparently slightly more than one third of its total length, and its curve more shallow than that of Japanese swords. Commanding up to 100,000 troops on the Mongol border, General Qi found this so effective that up to 40% of his commandos had it as a weapon; it stayed in service thought the late Ming dynasty.
It is also possible that this Japanese-influenced sword eventually lead to the Qing Dynasty wodao sword.
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