Even though there exist a great number of nations in the world, hardly any of them are like the Korean nation, which built their own state early in ancient times and has developed adorning their history based on one and the same blood and language.
One of the ancient relics that reflect the superiority of the Korean national culture is a pipha-shaped dagger.
Made in the first Korean state founded by King Tangun, pipha-shaped daggers are representative relics that are still unearthed on the Korean Peninsula and all other areas where ancient Koreans used to live. The name pipha-shaped dagger comes from its shape that resembles an ancient musical instrument pipha (a kind of oriental lute). Its birthplace is Pyongyang.
The pipha-shaped dagger representative of the culture in the first half period of Ancient Korea has peculiar features that make a clear distinction from those used by other ethnic groups in the neighbouring countries in those days in respect of structure, quality, shapes of blade and haft, designs engraved on the blade, etc.
The most distinctive one is the plane shape of the blade. The blade looks elegant with a sharp end, graceful curves at both cutting edges and a sharp protrusion in the middle or above the middle. A number of daggers of various types and structures have been discovered in the countries and regions that are proud of world-famous ancient civilization, but none of them looks like the original pipha-shaped dagger.
Another feature is its original structure. Those made and used in other countries and regions in ancient times were all cast bodily. Unlike them, pipha-shaped daggers were assembled with individually cast blades, hafts and fitters. In other words, they were built-up daggers while others were monolithic units. This demonstrates that the techniques of making and processing bronze ware owned by ancient Koreans reached a high level.
Pipha-shaped daggers have charming ornamental designs, too. Others found abroad had few ornaments and if any, the ends of hafts were decorated with no more than the shapes of heads of animals and birds. Pipha-shaped daggers, in contrast, were embossed with various sophisticated designs and ornaments on the blades, hafts, and fitters.
That is why the world people say that a pipha-shaped dagger is not a mere weapon but ‘a piece of sophisticated craftwork’.
© 2021 KumChaek University of Technology