Long sword
Daedo (대도) is the long bamboo sword (죽도, jukdo) of the two held in two-sword kumdo (쌍도, ssangdo). It is at most 114 cm long and is used together with the short one, the sodo (소도), which is at most 62 cm.
How to say it
- Korean
- 대도daedo
- Spanish
- Sable largo
- English
- Long sword
- Japanese
- 太刀たちtachi
Daedo (대도, 大刀) is, in kumdo, the longer of the two bamboo swords (죽도, jukdo) held at the same time in two-sword practice, called 쌍도 (ssangdo) in the Korean rules. The short sword used with it is the 소도 (sodo).
According to the equipment tables published by the Korean Kumdo Association (대한검도회), the daedo for university students and adults has these specifications:
- Length: up to 114 cm.
- Weight: at least 440 g for men and at least 400 g for women.
- Tip diameter (선혁, seonhyeok): at least 25 mm for men and at least 24 mm for women.
The sodo is up to 62 cm long and weighs 280–300 g for men or 250–280 g for women.
A Korean source explains that in the stance called 정이도 (jeongido) the daedo is held in the right hand and the sodo in the left, and that the reverse arrangement is 역이도 (yeogido). The same source says the rules also count a strike made with the sodo after the opponent's sword has been stopped with the daedo.
Korean and Japanese sources link the long-and-short pairing to the custom of old Japanese warriors, who carried both.
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