In the vast arsenal of exotic cutlery to come from forges of Chinese swordsmiths, the Guan Dao is perhaps the ultimate design.

Named after General Guan Yu, arguably the greatest warrior in the history of China, who invented the weapon and carried it as his signature blade throughout his gory glory days, during the tumultous period of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 220-265) that followed the fall of the Han Dynasty. According to legend, the original Guan Dao, the Green Dragon Crescent-Moon Dao, weighed in at 82 jin-- by modern measure, that's more than 40 kilograms. A replica of this massive weapon can be seen on permanent display in the Guanlin Temple in Luoyang, China, the site where Guan himself is believed to be buried.

Structurally, the Guan Dao is a kind of polearm, a solid steel shaft topped on the business-end with a wide, wicked-looking blade about 50cm long and as wide as your hand. The front edge of the blade is shaped into a sweeping, razor-sharp curve. The back edge is serrated but still sharp, ending in an outward-facing hook, good for entangling an opponent's weapon (or, perhaps, his entrails). Traditionally, there'll be a red horse-hair tassle hung from the back-hook. At the other end of the shaft is a guard, tipped with a heavy spike or crescent blade for counter-balance. All told, the whole monstrosity usually ends up around 2 meters in total length.

These days, the typical Guan Dao "only" weighs between 4 and 6 kilos, which still makes for an obscenely heavy piece of hardware. This is not the kind of weapon you'd be doing a lot of fancy parries and ripostes with. The Guan Dao is made with cavalry combat in mind, designed for high-speed impaling and huge, powerful strokes, the kind that lop off heads without even slowing down.