For centuries blacksmiths from Da Sy Village have been hammering out quality metal products that are famous country-wide.

Da Sy blacksmith Hoang Van Hau sharpens a pair of scissors, which is the final step in the forging process.

VietNamNet

From early morning ‘til late afternoon, the sounds of steel and iron being beaten with hammers resounds throughout Da Sy Village, as it has for 400 years or more. The village outside Ha Noi City is famous for its metalware. The name is known throughout Viet Nam.

The first impression one gets when entering Da Sy Village is a rush of excitement at the sounds of hard work and enthusiasm – a chorus of hammering on family anvils.

In the showroom of the Da Sy Association of Traditional Forgers, villagers often sit around telling historical stories about the village and different ways of production. Visitors can also see the metal being beaten into knives, scissors, sickles, hoes, spades and other farm and garden tools.

The village is one of the best places in the nation to see blacksmithing practices that go back nearly 3,000 years to the beginning of the Iron Age in Viet Nam, even further if one takes in the renowned bronze culture of the Dong Son period from which the ironwork evolved.

Da Sy knives and scissors can be found throughout Viet Nam. Even merchants from Laos and Cambodia put in regular orders. The village, formerly known as Ke Se Village, is in Kien Hung Ward in Ha Dong District. It is one of the many craft villages conserved by the Government.

Da Sy villagers are proud of their homeland for many reasons. Apart from the traditional forging trade passed from generation to generation, it is also well known for many successful doctors, some of them famous. That is the reason why the name was changed to Da Sy (Many Doctors).

According to the late Professor Tran Quoc Vuong, metal forgers from the Dong Son cultural region, of which today’s Da Sy Village can be included, provided the Hung founding kings with weapons to protect the nation, then known as Van Lang, against huge armies of northern invaders.

This means that Da Sy’s blacksmiths can probably claim a direct connection with the founding kings of Viet Nam – and gives their work an historic edge few other towns or cities in Asia can claim.

Weapons made in the village have also been used in the battles for liberation in the 19th and 20th centuries, giving their work extra cachet. When peace returned to Viet Nam 40 years ago, the Da Sy people returned to making to agricultural implements such as ploughs, rakes and machinery parts or kitchen implements.

According to local historians, the present village rose to prominence under two blacksmith ancestors, Nguyen Thuat and Nguyen Thuan, several hundred years ago. They arrived from Thanh Hoa Province, which adds further substance to Professor Vuong’s theories.

This is because the Dong Son District where the fabled Dong Son drums were made 3,000 years ago and exported all over Southeast Asia is located in Thanh Hoa. Tens of thousands of bronze and iron artefacts dating from the period have been unearthed by archaeologists in the area.

Today’s Da Sy’s knives and choppers are still renowned for being hard wearing and able to retain a hard and sharp cutting edge. Although mass produced factory tools have flooded the market in recent decades, Da Sy people are full of confidence about their products and their future.

“The main selling point for imported knifes and scissors are their good looks. However, our products are much sharper and longer wearing. Therefore, ours are still the first choice of many customers,” says Hoang Van Hau, a Da Sy blacksmith.

Moreover, the designs of the hand-made village products are much more varied and individualistic. About 100 types of knives and more than 10 types of scissors are made in Da Sy Village.

Dinh Cong Doan, the former head of Da Sy Association of Metal Forging, says: “When products from China and Thailand broke into Viet Nam’s market in 2004, we halted work for a few months to study the situation. We focused on all aspects of our work – especially the quality and design – to make sure they were competitive. And we were totally successful.”

Hoang Van Lau, one of the elderly workers, says: “Now we find it hard to meet demand from customers. No matter how many knifes and scissors we make, they go quickly. In peak periods, many workshops can only complete 20 to 30 per cent of the orders taken.”

According to Lau, long ago villagers agreed not to teach the secrets of their ancient craft to outsiders. However, because of the workload, they have had to hire and train workers from other localities. Many family workshops have to hire an extra four or five assistants and up to 10 workers in peak time.

Income from the trade supports them for most of the year. “We spend four months a year on farming, the other eight months on making tools and kitchenware,”Hau says.

About 90 per cent of Da Sy villagers are involved in making implements. The rest organise related services, such as transporting goods and supplying coal and other materials.

According to the head of the Da Sy Association of Metal Forgers, Le Thanh Yen, the work is hard and includes many complex processes, such as making rough drafts, keeping fires burning, hitting red-hot iron into shape with hammers, tempering (strengthening) the metal with water – and then sharpening the final product.

Workers are exposed to hot metal, fire and grinders, so they can easily have an accident if careless. However, few wear any protective devices. And issues of noise, waste water and metal dust do not seem to concern anyone. Health awareness seems to be low.

“The Women’s Association has publicised the need for self-protection for all female villagers and the Da Sy Association also partly supports workers with insurance fees, but the results do not meet requirements,” says Do Thi Hoi, the head of Kien Hung Women’s Association.

Doan says villagers have asked local authorities for permission to establish a 13-ha craft-village complex so that all workshops could be moved to the area. He says that this could enhance production and make it easier for workers to protect themselves.

“Once all the workshops gather together, we can build one major system of waste and sewage disposal,” said Doan.

Moreover, to develop the traditional trade in a period of mass industrialisation, at the beginning of each year, the Association of Forging provided VND15 – 20 million dong (US$850 – $1200) for two-month courses in which the elderly artisans in the village teach their trade to young generations.

Hopefully, the new approaches will enable Da Sy to balance production, stabilise villagers’ lives and most of all, maintain a very ancient craft.

VNN/VNS