Asian Arms | Iain Norman

Tip of the Lotus

The lotus is a motif often encountered in swords from Southeast Asia, often as a bulbous pommel, but also incorporated into other elements. The motif can be often be found as a reflection of the distinctive spreading petals in art and decorative metal work. However another type is the 'hua bua' form. Read more

Familiar Enemies

Dha and daab are often grouped together by western collectors, often misspelled as 'dah' and invariably assumed to be Burmese. Collection records are often spotty at best even with museum pieces and a record of a country where something was acquired in fact says very little regarding its true origins. Read more

Attapeu & Lan Xang - Swords of Bronze

I have previously written about the probable connections between a type of cast bronze handled swords found in the area of southern Laos, northern Cambodia and across the border into parts of Vietnam which are commonly referred to as an 'Attapeu type' Read more

Barges and Swordsmen

Rivers are the highways of Southeast Asia. In a region covered historically in dense vegetation and jungle, travel was difficult overland and waterways played a key role in commerce, warfare and political control. The great rivers of Southeast Asia such as the Mekong, the Chao Phraya and the Irrawaddy Read more

Knives, Ritual and the Muntjac

Knives and their role in ritual are a theme seen across many cultures. Knives with magic connotations are also not unusual, as common implements they often feature in myth, legend and tales of magic, being a fundamental tool found in almost all cultures. Read more

A sword from Northern Vietnam

This intriguing sword is from modern day Northern Vietnam, and likely from the provinces of either Thai Binh or Nam Dinh to the south and east of Hanoi. This was the territory of the Trinh Lords, the unified Nguyễn dynast and later Tonkin under French colonial rule. Read more

Swords of the Chin Hills

Burmese swords are an intriguing part of what we know as "dha" or "daab", in that they are some of the most commonly encountered examples on the collecting market but also some of the least understood, particularly from more remote states. Read more

The Sword of the Elephant

Laos is the smallest country in Southeast Asia by population and the most isolated, but it has always maintained an import role in the region's history. At times it was unified under a central kingdom known as Lan Xang, land of a million elephants, and in later periods it splintered into regional kingdoms. Read more

Mysteries of the Shan

The sword that is the subject of this article typifies a stereotype, but a well earned one, regarding the Shan states of northern Thailand, Burma and historically extending into modern day Yunnan. Even today these areas are considered an enigma, difficult to access, with rugged terrain, wild and mysterious. Read more

A Sword of Champa

The kingdoms of the Chams, or Champa, are one of the least understood and popularised regions and cultures in Southeast Asia. While the Indic influenced Khmer Kingdom is well known and Angkor Wat stands as a "wonder of the world" the equally Indian influenced Cham civilisation is relatively unknown. Read more

Preah Khan - Ceremony, Royalty and Swords

The Preah Khan is a 12th century temple complex at Angkor. Translated as "Royal Sword" it was built by Jayavarman VII in the 12th century. It is an early example of the importance of the sword in Khmer culture and in particular its relationship to royalty and ceremony. Read more

Iron & Bamboo

Iron and bamboo are two materials which typify the weapons and culture of southeast Asia and are found together in this sword from Burma. While visually a quite plain and simple piece, this dha is in fact an intriguing example which exhibits the true fighting character of swords from this region. Read more

A Working Knife

I have a fascination with working knives from all cultures but particularly those from south east Asia. One of the reasons for this is that you occasionally find examples like this one that are of a design which is completely practical, but also show a degree of workmanship and decoration that tells us something of the status of the owner. Read more

Sword & Shield

The last sword added to this website was an impressive example from Isaan in modern Thailand which was likely paired with a shield. I have recently started to be fascinated by examples obviously made to be used in this manner. Many dha have deceptively long handles often leading to western collectors to misidentify them as 'two-handers' when in fact they are nothing of the kind and almost all dha are intended for single handed use. Read more

An Isaan Puzzle

This is a sword that is a striking illustration of the diverse nature of southeast Asia and is a living testament of how peoples and cultures moved acrossed borders historically. This particular piece was 'found' in modern day Isaan, specifically in Ubon Ratchathani province of Thailand. On the surface it may look like any other lotus bud pommel, cast hilt style sword from these regions but the devil, as always, is in the details. Read more

Swords and Individualism

One of the interesting characteristic of dha/daab is the endless variety but also common patterns. While many dha or daab were made for in large numbers for military purposes and generally follow a familiar form, there are others that exhibit countless variations and configurations as a reflection of their owners. This can range from decoration, talismanic elements, changed pommels and furniture and use of exotic materials but also at a more fundamental level the core elements of the sword which dictate its use and function. Read more

Tracing Echoes of the Champa and Khmer

The Champa kingdom and the Khmer kingdom of Cambodia were great regional rivals with a history of frequent and bloody conflict. However, they were also similar in many respects being both Hindu kingdoms drawing on a long tradition in southeast Asia of Indian influenced culture, in particular the kingdom or Mandala of Funan. This was manifested not only in religion but also in the use of Sanskrit and a shared iconographic style. Read more

Giants of Southeast Asia

While most collectors would be familiar with dha/daab and some of their many variations, depsite their proportions and long handles these swords are not in fact two handers but rather use the long handles to achieve the desired balance and handling characteristics. However, far more rare and barely known, there exist true two handed swords in these regions, from Thailand to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The history of these weapons is fascinating and involves the brief period of Japanese overseas adventurism in the mid to late 16th century and early 17th century before an enforced return to isolationism by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1635. Read more

A Weapon and a Tool

This particular piece is from an intriguing family of weapons, most commonly found in Cambodia but also in Thailand and parts of Laos and Vietnam, often known to collectors as a ‘mak’ but locally known as a ‘kokok’ ‘phkeak’. The exact source of the term ‘mak’ is currently not known to me but for some reason has become the term of choice among western collectors. Similar to a phenomenon seen with other ethnographic weapons where a label that may belong to only one language or people group is applied as a blanket term over time. Read more

A relic of Invasion

This is an unusual sword, both for the fact that I don't usually collect anything in this condition and also that it is part of a subset of swords that have surfaced in western auctions over the years, all in a similar state. They have often been advertised with outlandish claims of medieval dating, presumably because of the 'relic' like appearance. The truth is much more mundane but no less interesting. Read more

A Nomadic Collar

This may sound like a strange title but as with many of my articles and musings, this is an attempt to paint a picture, through a small physical characteristic of a sword, of a wider interconnected world of trade, warfare, and cultural exchange. In this case the title is a bit literal as the collar under discussion quite literally migrated across large areas of the globe. The sword I will use to illustrate this is an early example likely from the northern regions of Thailand where the modern day borders meet Laos and Cambodia. Read more

Battle Scars

have a tendency to sometimes buy swords that might turn off most collectors due to issues with condition. This could be a piece that requires extensive cleaning or stablisation, or, in the case of this piece, damage which for some might make the perceived value much lower. This particular sword has a hole in the pommel, likely due to a weakness in the original lost wax casting, which was further exploited by factors like humidity expending organic materials within the hilt. Despite this there were several factors that led me to purchase the sword. Read more

At the Crossroads - a sword of many influences

Swords of southeast Asia are very much a reflection of the cultures that made them and by the 17th century what is now modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam were truly diverse in the personnel and influences to be found in their militaries. Read more

A Well Travelled Warrior

This is a particularly interesting dha sword from Burma, most likely from the Ava region, it is a very large example with a blade of unusual quality and a finally made silver hilt. Dha are notoriously difficult to pin down due to a lack of archeological record and published typologies. There tends to be an extremely wide variety of variations seen according to the preferences of the owners and users of these swords. However there are at times characteristics of blade shape and hilt attributes that help to narrow down the probabilities. Read more

A Burmese Mystery

This intriguing sword is a mystery on several levels. When it appeared at auction in the UK it attracted no attention, I was in fact the only bidder. Part of that can be attributed to the condition, a heavily pitted and corroded blade, and partly the piece simply does not fit into the usual types of dha seen. Read more

The Everyday Sword

After something of a long hiatus this website will start to be somewhat active again. After a break in actively acquiring new pieces and much work on a hopefully soon to be available small book summing up my work with the takouba form, I have decided to indulge collecting interests long dormant as I pursued only pieces relevant to my African research. Most of those pieces have found new (and I daresay good!) homes, leaving space for a part of the world I have always found fascinating - South East Asia. Read more