The Changdao Swordsman was a unit of the Imperial Chinese Army, equipped with an anti-cavalry sword that originated as an odachi in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s.
History[]
General Qi Jiguang, a general of the Ming Empire famed for defending the Chinese coast from the Wakou Pirates, adopted the Changdao anti-cavalry sword in the 1560s after taking an Aizu manual from a captured raider. At 1.95 meters, it was good against charging enemy cavalry and 40% of Jiguang's 100,000 troops on the Mongol Border (40,000 troops) used the sword in combat. It remained in service until the late 1800s, when European contact with China rendered melee weapons and bows obsolete in contrast to rifles.