The Green Dragon Crescent Blade (青龙偃月刀 Qīnglóng Yǎnyuè Dāo) is the weapon most commonly associated with Guan Yu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and in later art, opera, and popular culture. It is a long-handled blade (a form of 偃月刀 yǎnyuè dāo, ‘reclining-moon blade’, similar to a guandao).
History and sources
The historical Records of the Three Kingdoms do not name Guan Yu’s weapon. The Green Dragon Crescent Blade appears in the Romance and in Ming and later folklore. The guandao (關刀) type of weapon is named after Guan Yu but postdates the Three Kingdoms period; the association is literary and cultural rather than historical.
In Romance and culture
In the Romance, the blade is a gift from heaven or a smith, and Guan Yu uses it in his most famous duels and charges. Its weight (often given as 82 jin in tradition) and the ‘green dragon’ name have made it a symbol of Guan Yu’s strength and virtue. Temples and statues of Guan Yu often show him holding a crescent blade, and the weapon appears in video games, films, and other media about the Three Kingdoms.
Clarification
This wiki treats the Green Dragon Crescent Blade as a literary and cultural artefact: central to Guan Yu’s image in Romance and folklore, but not attested as a historical object in the sources of the period.