Longquan: The Town That Has Made Swords for 2,500 Years
Ask a Chinese sword collector where the best blades come from and you will hear one name again and again: Longquan (龙泉). Tucked into the mountains of south-west Zhejiang province, this small city has been linked with sword making for around two and a half thousand years. Today it is home to hundreds of workshops, and the phrase "Longquan sword" is as familiar in China as "Toledo steel" is in Europe.
Where is Longquan?
Longquan sits in Lishui, in the south-west corner of Zhejiang, close to the border with Fujian. It is a green, hilly place on the upper reaches of the Ou River. The same hills that make it beautiful also gave it everything a sword smith needed: iron-bearing sand in the streams, clear cold spring water for quenching, and fine-grained stones for grinding and polishing. Longquan is also famous for its celadon pottery, so the town has a long tradition of fire-based crafts.
The legend of Ou Yezi
Longquan's sword story begins with a legend. During the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC), the master smith Ou Yezi (欧冶子) is said to have searched the country for the right place to forge. He chose the foot of a mountain near today's Longquan, where he found good iron, good water and good stone. There, the story goes, he and fellow smith Gan Jiang made three famous swords for the King of Chu: Longyuan (龙渊, "Dragon Abyss"), Tai'e (泰阿) and Gongbu (工布).
No one can prove the legend, but it has shaped the town for centuries. The place took its name from the first of those swords and was known as Longyuan until the Tang dynasty, when the character yuan (渊) had to be avoided because it was part of the emperor's personal name. The town became Longquan, "Dragon Spring", and the name stuck. You can read more about Ou Yezi and other legendary smiths in The Legend of Ou Yezi.
From workshops to a trade
By the Qing dynasty Longquan had a busy trade in swords. One early shop, known as Qian Zi Hao (千字号), is recorded as opening in 1748. In the late nineteenth century the Shen family began making swords in the town, and in 1894 Shen Tingzhang opened the Shen Guanglong (沈广隆) sword shop, which is still run by the same family today. Its swords won a gold medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, which helped make Longquan known outside China. We tell their story in Famous Longquan Swordsmiths.
A national heritage craft
On 20 May 2006, China published its first national list of intangible cultural heritage. Longquan sword forging (龙泉宝剑锻制技艺) was on it. The listing recognises the skills that are passed from master to apprentice: choosing and combining steels, forging and folding, clay tempering, quenching, grinding and polishing, and making the fittings. A traditional Longquan sword is often said to go through 28 main processes before it is finished. We walk through them in How a Longquan Sword Is Made.
The four qualities of a Longquan sword
Chinese sword lovers often sum up a good Longquan blade with four phrases:
- 坚韧锋利 – tough and sharp
- 刚柔相济 – hard and flexible in balance
- 寒光逼人 – a cold, bright shine
- 纹饰巧致 – finely made decoration
Those ideas still guide the town's smiths, whether they are making a traditional Chinese jian, a Tang dao or a Japanese-style katana.
Longquan today
Modern Longquan is a mix of old and new. Family workshops still hammer blades by hand, while larger makers use modern steels such as 1065 carbon steel, T10 tool steel and spring steel alongside traditional folded pattern steel. Many of the swords in the LQForge range come from Longquan workshops, and the "LQ" in our name stands for Longquan.
If you would like to own a piece of that tradition, start with our handmade katana or our Chinese swords. Every listing shows the steel, lengths and weight so you know exactly what you are getting.
