The History, Literature, and Art of Tibetan Swords

Donald J. La Rocca

From bottom: sword with tarnished blade; scabbard inset with two red stones and scrolling foliage; orange belt with filigreed mounts and buckles

Sword, Scabbard, and Sword Belt; Tibetan; blade ca. 16th–17th century; hilt, scabbard, and belt ca. early 18th–mid-19th century; steel, silver, copper, gold, coral, wood, leather; sword length without scabbard 39 in. (99.1 cm), weight 2 lb. 9.4 oz. (1173.7 g); scabbard weight, 1 lb. 15.7 oz. (898.7 g); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Gift, 2014; 2014.262.1a–c, 2014.262.2a, b; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

Sword, Scabbard, and Sword Belt

Tibet Blade: ca. 16th–17th century; Hilt, Scabbard, and Belt: ca. early 18th–mid-19th century

Sword, Scabbard, and Sword Belt; Tibetan; blade ca. 16th–17th century; hilt, scabbard, and belt ca. early 18th–mid-19th century; steel, silver, copper, gold, coral, wood, leather; sword length without scabbard 39 in. (99.1 cm), weight 2 lb. 9.4 oz. (1173.7 g); scabbard weight, 1 lb. 15.7 oz. (898.7 g); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Gift, 2014; 2014.262.1a–c, 2014.262.2a, b; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

Summary

Arms and armor curator Donald La Rocca introduces one of the finest examples of Tibetan blade making for which Tibet was famous for centuries. The Mongol commander Sengge Rinchen carried the weapon into battle against Western colonial forces during the Second Opium War in 1860. This pattern-welded blade was later remounted in the style favored in eastern Tibet and China.

Key Terms

dharmapala

In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, a dharmapala is a wrathful deity who is bound to protect the Buddhist teachings and its followers. Many dharmapalas were originally non-Buddhist deities, who were adopted into the Buddhist pantheon as fierce or wrathful protectors, for instance Bektse or Mahakala. There are many dramatic stories of forced conversion, or pacification of local gods by powerful masters, such as Padmasabhava who were assimilated to become protectors.

inlay

Inlay is a decorative technique of creating a depression in a surface and then filling it with some other material. Metal can be inlaid with precious stones or glass, or more precious forms of metal, for instance, brass inlaid with silver and copper. Wood can be inlaid with silver, or other metal and conch. Tibetans tend to favor turquoise inlay while the Newars employ a range of colored glass and semi-precious stones.

Qing Dynasty

The Qing dynasty was a state that ruled in Eastern Asia from 1636 to 1912. Founded by the Manchus in 1644, the Qing armies crossed the Great Wall and began their conquest of the rest of the Chinese cultural region. By the 1750s the Qing empire had expanded to rule all of Mongolia, Tibet, and eastern Central Asia (including today’s Xinjiang), laying the groundwork for the modern state of China. The Qing governed Tibet and parts of Mongolia indirectly, in which the Manchu armies provided military support for local Buddhist governments like the Ganden Podrang. Tibetan and Mongol lamas were also extremely important in Qing court culture, and had close relationships with several Qing emperors.

Manjushri

Manjushri is one of the most important bodhisattvas in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Considered the embodiment of wisdom, Manjushri is often recognized by his attributes: a sword which cuts through ignorance and a book, the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutra. Emanations of Manjushri can also be recognized by these same attributes. Another important Chinese iconographic tradition depicts a youthful Manjushri riding on a lion. This form is associated with Manjushri’s abode on earth, Mount Wutai in China, one of the few Buddhist sites in China visited by Tibetan and Mongol pilgrims among others from all over Asia. Manjushri was seen as the protector deity of China, and the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty who claimed to be emanations of Manjushri emphasized/promoted this association.

Tibetan armor and weapons were renowned for their quality and effectiveness from as early as the period of the  in the seventh century. Swords (reldri) were one of the principal weapons and remained in use throughout Tibet for well over a thousand years, only being superseded by firearms in the early twentieth century. Swords are still worn today as part of traditional dress in culturally Tibetan regions on festival occasions. In addition to their former martial function, swords also retain deep significance within  as ritual objects, wielded by oracles or in sacred dances, and as a symbolic weapon of many deities, particularly the  guardians of  (Tibetan: gonpo, : ), and as such are frequently rendered in sculpture, paintings, and other sacred images and texts. As the Sword of Wisdom (sherab reldri), for example, representing the ability to cut through spiritual ignorance, it is a chief attribute of (Jampelyang). Aspects of this symbolic power are sometimes expressed in the form and decoration of actual swords, which can be complex and beautiful objects, combining expensive materials and fine craftsmanship. However, the majority of Tibetan swords made prior to the modern era are simple and functional objects with minimal decoration, some of which bear signs of repairs or alterations that indicate their reuse over many years, if not generations.

Traditional Tibetan Texts and the Typology of Tibetan Swords

A small number of Tibetan texts devoted to arts and crafts (zorik) and the appraisal and appreciation of objects (taktab) include chapters outlining the connoisseurship of swords. These texts, which date from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth or nineteenth century, ignore hilts, scabbards, or other fittings and focus on blades exclusively, dividing them into five canonical types, each with multiple subtypes. Their “defining characteristics” (tsennyi) and “invariable features” (mingyur ngepai tak), terms more familiar from Tibetan debate manuals and other textbooks involved with monastic education, are categorized and described in ways that are often poetic and metaphorical, rather than technical. The five types that repeat in all of the texts, with some variations in spelling, are: zhangma, sokpo, hupe, guzi, and jarel. Explanations of the meanings of the five names vary among the texts and appear in part to be fanciful etymologies created to supply lost facts. For instance, zhangma in one text is said to derive from the western Tibetan kingdom of and in another to refer to the emperor’s uncle (Tibetan: zhang), who created the type. The only unambiguous name, sokpo, connects the creation of this type to a branch of the Mongols (Tibetan: sog po). For each there is an origin story involving a legendary event or a mythological, legendary, or historical figure, the earliest starting in the reign of the semilegendary fifth- or sixth-century king, Trigum Tsenpo (his name meaning, “to die by the sword”). While it is seldom possible through the texts to make direct correlations between the canonical types and existing Tibetan swords, the texts nevertheless demonstrate the importance accorded to swords historically and establish a literary foundation for their understanding and appreciation.

The Art and Technology of Tibetan Blades

The blades of most extant Tibetan swords, those handmade prior to the twentieth century, have a “hairpin” pattern clearly visible on both sides (fig. 2), possibly what is sometimes referred to in the texts as being “like the Milky Way.” The pattern is formed of closely set, slightly wavy, alternating dark and light lines that meet in a point near the tip of the blade. It is created by a forging process known as pattern welding, in which rods of higher carbon and lower carbon iron or steel are folded over and hammered together. In the textual references the harder, whiter steel is generally called “male iron” (pochak) and the more ductile, darker steel is “female iron” (mochak). Other less frequently encountered patterns include a series of wavy lines resembling tiger stripes, a series of concentrically rolled lines, and, rarest of all, a more complex variegated pattern that looks something like swirling water or burl wood.

Close view of tip of thin silver-colored blade; forging pattern resembles wood grain
Fig. 2.

Detail of the blade of a Tibetan sword showing a hairpin pattern; eastern Tibet; 18th to 19th century; iron, copper alloy, wood, ray skin, leather, turquoise, coral, glass; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935; 36.25.1463a; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

One of the few known examples of this last type is preserved on the sword featured here (fig. 3). The blade ranks among the finest examples of Tibetan pattern welding, evoking ripples and eddies in swirling water, billowing clouds, flowing mist, and wood-grain designs, in some ways reminiscent of the ethereal forms of hamon (tempering patterns) seen on the famed samurai sword blades of Japan. The pattern on this blade fits a description by Tashi Namgyel, writing in the sixteenth century, of blades made from blending together “mixed iron” (nadu, nadu dre, or chakdre) to create “many flowing and swirling designs.”

Close view of midsection of thin silver-colored blade; welding pattern resembles abstract clouds
Fig. 3.

Detail of the blade of a Tibetan sword showing pattern welding designs; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Gift, 2014; 2014.262.1a; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

Its hilt is an ornate example of the classic Tibetan form, with trefoil pommel, grip wrapped in silver wire, a short collar below the grip, and oval guard with downturned and cusped edges—the sides of the pommel, collar, and guard chiseled and gilt with matching designs. Unfortunately, the characteristic bead of turquoise or coral, usually mounted in a silver bezel on the front of the pommel, is missing.

A Tibetan sword, depending on the fittings of its scabbard, is generally worn in one of two ways. Many are designed to be carried diagonally across the front of the body, thrust through a waist belt or sash, with the hilt to wearer’s right just above waist level. In the second method, often found with more elaborate swords, including this example, the scabbard is suspended from a sword belt and worn at the left hip in a style inspired by Chinese fashion that was also popular in Tibet and Mongolia. The scabbard of this sword comprises a wooden core sheathed in leather and framed with elaborately chiseled and gilt iron mounts. It is one of the few swords that retains both its matching scabbard and sword belt, the latter also fitted with pierced and gilt-iron mounts. The mounts are excellent examples of the type of ornamental pierced ironwork often seen on Tibetan ceremonial saddles and other fine metalwork. Those on the scabbard feature panels of lush flora scrolls skillfully rendered in a precise yet fluid manner that is a hallmark of the best ironwork from eastern Tibet and Mongolia (figs. 4 and 5).

Two oblong silver stirrups featuring details and decoration in gold; footbeds pierced with small holes
Fig. 4

Two Stirrups; Mongolian; 16th–17th century; iron, gold, silver; height: 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm); width: 5 11/16 in. (14.4 cm); weight: 22 oz. (617 g); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Gift of Bashford Dean, by exchange, 2007; 2007.181, .182; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

Close view of silver and gold stirrup: field of open-work floral motif bordered on right by Mongolian inscription
Fig. 5

Detail of stirrup showing Mongolian inscription; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Gift of Bashford Dean, by exchange, 2007; 2007.182; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

The style and treatment of the hilt, scabbard mounts, and belt fittings suggest they were made between the early eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century. The blade, a masterpiece of its kind, is probably earlier and may date from the sixteenth to seventeenth century. While it was typically not the custom in Europe to refit old blades, in Asia, it was not unusual for highly regarded sword blades, generations old, to be remounted with updated fittings, which appears to be the case here.

This sword, scabbard, and belt were reportedly captured by Lieutenant Edward Henry Lenon (1838–1893), a British soldier, at the Battle of North Taku (Dagu) Fort, , China, on August 21, 1860. The battle was a fierce engagement fought within the broader context of the Second Opium War, and Lenon was later awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honor, for his part in it. The carnage that resulted from the devastating combined Anglo-French assault on the fortress was documented in a series of photographs by Felice Beato (1832–1909) (fig. 6). The  garrison was commanded by General Sengge Rinchen (1811–1865), a Mongolian nobleman and experienced soldier with a prestigious record of imperial service, who had successfully repelled an Anglo-French attack on the same fort a year earlier. The sword, taken by Lenon during or after the battle, is of a quality and style suitable for personal use by Sengge Rinchen or one of the Mongol officers serving under him, which would account for the presence of such an elaborate Tibetan sword in a Chinese fortress at the time.

Black and white photograph of destroyed military building with human bodies lying amidst rubble
Fig. 6.

Felice Beato (British, 1832–1909); The North Fort at Taku, China, 1860; 1860; albumen print; National Army Museum, London; NAM 1962-08-16-10; photograph © National Army Museum/Bridgeman Images

Footnotes
1

R.A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, trans. J.E.Stapleton Driver (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1972), 62.

2

For an overview of the history and development of arms and armor in Tibet, see Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 3–19, and for swords in particular, 146–73.

3

For examples of exceptional swords incorporating iconography of this kind, see a sword in the Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK (XXVIS.295); and a sword guard (formerly in a private collection) and a sword, both in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2014.533 and 1995.136), illustrated and discussed in Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 148–53. 

4

The texts are identified and discussed in Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 146–48, 252–64; and Donald J. La Rocca, “An Early Tibetan Text on the Connoisseurship of Swords,” in The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr, ed. Donald J. La Rocca (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2014), 89–105.

5

Daniel E. Perdue, Debate in Tibetan Buddhism (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1992), 60–74.

6

On this point, see Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 147–48; Donald J. La Rocca, “An Early Tibetan Text on the Connoisseurship of Swords,” in The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr, ed. Donald J. La Rocca (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2014), 89–105, 92, 98–100.

7

Regarding Drigum Tsenpo and the stories his death and how it purportedly relates to his name, see R.A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, trans. J.E.Stapleton Driver (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1972), 48–49, 232.

8

For examples of extant swords that possibly correspond to some of the canonical types, see Donald J. La Rocca, “An Early Tibetan Text on the Connoisseurship of Swords,” in The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr, ed. Donald J. La Rocca (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2014), 89–105, esp. 95–97.

9

Tib. dgu tshigs skya mo ’dra

10

On the construction and metallurgy of the blades, see particularly Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 146, 253–57, 264; Donald J. La Rocca, “An Early Tibetan Text on the Connoisseurship of Swords,” in The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr, ed. Donald J. La Rocca (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2014), 89–105, 89–94.

11

lcags ’dres pa ni ri mo gya gyu mang. Tashi Namgyel, cited in Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 168, cat. 71, in a discussion of the most closely comparable blade of this kind, which is found on a sword in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (1989.1.1.1, .2). For one version of the quoted phrases, see British Library, Or 11,374, fol. 76b. Tibetan blades of “mixed iron” are also discussed in Donald J. La Rocca, “An Early Tibetan Text on the Connoisseurship of Swords,” in The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr, ed. Donald J. La Rocca (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2014), 89–105, 93–94. 

12

Two old paper labels were still attached to the sword when it was acquired by the museum in 2014. The handwritten information on these labels describes it as “a rare Chinese Mandarin officer’s sword . . . taken by Lt. E. H. Lenon . . . at battle of Taku Forts 1860 . . . purchased from descendants in 1964.” Object files, Department of Arms and Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

13

For the entry on Sengge Rinchen in Wikipedia, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sengge_Rinchen, accessed July 16, 2021.

Citation

Donald J. La Rocca, “Sword, Scabbard, and Sword Belt: The History, Literature, and Art of Tibetan Swords,” Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023, http://rubinmuseum.org/projecthimalayanart/essays/sword-scabbard-and-sword-belt.

dharmapala

Language:
Sanskrit
Alternate terms:
dharma protector

In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, a dharmapala is a wrathful deity who is bound to protect the Buddhist teachings and its followers. Many dharmapalas were originally non-Buddhist deities, who were adopted into the Buddhist pantheon as fierce or wrathful protectors, for instance Bektse or Mahakala. There are many dramatic stories of forced conversion, or pacification of local gods by powerful masters, such as Padmasabhava who were assimilated to become protectors.

inlay

Inlay is a decorative technique of creating a depression in a surface and then filling it with some other material. Metal can be inlaid with precious stones or glass, or more precious forms of metal, for instance, brass inlaid with silver and copper. Wood can be inlaid with silver, or other metal and conch. Tibetans tend to favor turquoise inlay while the Newars employ a range of colored glass and semi-precious stones.

Qing Dynasty

Language:
Chinese

The Qing dynasty was a state that ruled in Eastern Asia from 1636 to 1912. Founded by the Manchus in 1644, the Qing armies crossed the Great Wall and began their conquest of the rest of the Chinese cultural region. By the 1750s the Qing empire had expanded to rule all of Mongolia, Tibet, and eastern Central Asia (including today’s Xinjiang), laying the groundwork for the modern state of China. The Qing governed Tibet and parts of Mongolia indirectly, in which the Manchu armies provided military support for local Buddhist governments like the Ganden Podrang. Tibetan and Mongol lamas were also extremely important in Qing court culture, and had close relationships with several Qing emperors.

Manjushri

Language:
Sanskrit

Manjushri is one of the most important bodhisattvas in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Considered the embodiment of wisdom, Manjushri is often recognized by his attributes: a sword which cuts through ignorance and a book, the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutra. Emanations of Manjushri can also be recognized by these same attributes. Another important Chinese iconographic tradition depicts a youthful Manjushri riding on a lion. This form is associated with Manjushri’s abode on earth, Mount Wutai in China, one of the few Buddhist sites in China visited by Tibetan and Mongol pilgrims among others from all over Asia. Manjushri was seen as the protector deity of China, and the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty who claimed to be emanations of Manjushri emphasized/promoted this association.