Nandao is a kind of

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

that is used mostly in contemporary Chinese

wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport), a modern exhibition of traditional Chinese martial arts * Wushu stances, five key stances utilized in both contemporary wushu and traditio ...

exercises and forms. It is the southern variation of the "northern broadsword", or Beidao. Its blade bears some resemblance to the butterfly sword, also a southern Chinese single-bladed weapon; the main difference is the size, and the fact that the butterfly swords have D-shaped knuckle guards. The main difference with the beidao is that the nandao is mostly used two-handed due to its larger amount of weight, and it has a large metal crossguard useful in deflecting blows and hooking the opponent's weapon; also, although it is single-edged, the nandao is not curved like the northern broadsword. The differentiation between beidao and nandao appear to be rather modern. There is no historical usage of the term and few antique weapons have been found with a shape that resembles a "nandao". Therefore, it can never have been a major form as widely used as

niuweidao The ''Niuweidao'' () was a type of Chinese saber (dao) of the late Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerge ...

yanmaodao The ''Yanmaodao'' () is a type of dao used as a standard military weapon during the Ming Dynasty and middle Qing Dynasty (1368–1800). The blade is straight until the curve begins around the center of percussion along the last 1/4 or so of the bla ...

liuyedao The ''liuyedao'' or ''willow-leaf saber'' is a type of dao that was commonly used as a military sidearm for both cavalry and infantry during the Ming and Qing dynasties. A descendant of the earlier Mongol saber the liuyedao remained the most po ...

and the

Butterfly swords The butterfly sword is a short dao, or single-edged sword, originally from southern China, though it has also seen use in the north. It is thought that butterfly swords date from the early 19th century. Several English language accounts from t ...

. It needs momentum to be used effectively, you deflect rather than block because of this.

References

Chinese martial arts terminology Chinese swords Blade weapons Events in wushu {{Sword-stub