Returned Sword Lake (Hoan Kiem Lake)

The entire area of Sword Lake is about 12 hectares, 700 meters long. Surrounding the lake are Le Thai To Street in the west, Dinh Tien Hoang Street in the northeast, Hang Khay Street in the south.

Actually, the name Hoan Kiem Lake has only existed for about a century. Previously, the popular name was Hoan Kiem Lake. Before that, Ho had many different names. In the past, because the lake was blue all year round, it was also called Luc Thuy lake (meaning Green Water).

The legend also has a deeper meaning, according to folklore, the sword is the symbol of Fire. Dipping the sword in the water is a sign of the fire-water fusion ritual.

Origin of name Sword lake

During the time of the Ming invasion in Thanh Hoa, there was a farmer named Le Than, one evening he cast a fishing net, but strangely, no matter how many times he cast the net, he still got the same sword. immediately brought the sword back and put it away.

Later, Le Than voluntarily joined the insurgent army to fight the invaders. Once, when he sent troops to Thanh Hoa, King Le let his troops enter Le Than's house to rest and he lit up the sword that Le Than picked up. On the sword engraved 2 words "Thuan Thien". At that time everyone thought it was an ordinary sword.

In one battle, he was defeated, when he ran away, King Le accidentally found a glowing sword hilt and thought of the blade he saw at Le Than's house and brought it back to combine the two into a complete sword. And Le Than offered the sword to King Le Loi and thought that this was the will of heaven to give the magic sword for our troops to chase away the invaders.

Then King Le Loi used this sword to defeat the invading Ming army.

A year later, when the king and his trusted servants sat on a boat for a walk on Ta Vong Lake in front of the citadel. Duc Long Quan sent a golden tortoise to retrieve the magic sword.

When King Le Loi and his servants were on a boat in the middle of the lake, suddenly from under the clear blue water, a golden turtle raised its head and said:

- Your Majesty, in the past, Duc Long Quan lent the king a magic sword to fight the enemy. Now the great karma has been completed, please return the magic sword to the king!

After listening to this, Le Loi took off the sword at his side, held it in both hands, and offered it in front of the Golden turtle. The sword suddenly flew from the king's hand to the golden turtle's mouth. The golden turtle took the sword, dived into the lake and disappeared.

Since then, Ta Vong Lake was named Sword Lake or Hoan Kiem Lake. 

Visit Hanoi City tour and Hoan Kiem Lake.

- The legend of the return of the sword meant to express the desire for peace of the entire Vietnamese nation. When the enemy was finished, he put his weapons aside to take care of production and business, for a lasting peace. As if standing on a high pillar, the statue of King Le wearing a hat of peace pointed down his sword and declared: "My people will no longer cast or forge weapons, but only work to create a life, in the name of a hundred families, I would like to restore the sword of victory."