History & Meaning of Nine Holy Cannons in Hue

The Nine Holy Cannons (Cuu Vi Than Cong) were casted from 31st January 1803 to late January 1084, by request of Gia Long king (1762-1820), the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945). Before that, he commanded soldiers to collect bronze weapons from the former dynasty, Tay Son dynasty (1778-1802), and used them to make nine cannons to celebrate his victory against it.

Gia Long king assigned four mandarins to monitor cannon casting, including Nguyen Van Khiem, Hoang Van Can, Ich Van Hieu, and Phan Tan Can. Each had one title which symbolizes a different meaning, such as carefulness, filiality, trustworthiness, harmony and peacefulness.

Craftsmen who made these cannons came from Phuong Duc (‘casting workshop’), a village on the southern bank of the Perfume River, 2,5 kilometers away from the Imperial City. At Hue city, upon the request of Nguyen lords and emperors, they also casted the Nine Dynastic Urns in 1835-1837, the Great Bell of Thien Mu Pagoda in 1710, Cauldrons of Nguyen Lords in the 17th century.

The Nine Holy Cannons are divided into two groups. There are 4 cannons near The Nhan Gate, named after four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter), numbered from I to IV, and 5 cannons near Quang Duc Gate, named after the Five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth), numbered from V to IX. In 1816, these cannons were titled ‘Than Oai Vo Dich Thuong Tuong Quan’ (English translation: ), and treated as military generals. It’s carved on all of them later, together with their own names. Originally, the cannons were stranded in the front of Ngo Mon Gate or the Meridian Gate of the Imperial City.

From Nguyen Hoang parking lot, visitors will enter the Citadel by The Nhon Gate and then immediately see four cannons of the Nine Holy Cannons. To the other five, it’s needed to walk across the square.

To protect their holiness and solemnity, Nguyen emperors sent imperial guards to be here day and night, and organized a ceremony to honor them annually. In 1886, in the reign of Thanh Thai king, it’s stopped, but the guards still continued it by themselves.

Each cannon of the Nine Holy Cannons is 5,1 meters long and weighs up to 10 tons. It’s placed on a pedestal with iron wheels (0,62m diameter) and carvings depicting the dragon. It has the rotating barrel like modern artilleries today, and has a handle with a unicorn. To use it, according to information carved on it, people need to load 4 layers of gunpowder. The first layer has 30 kilograms of gunpowder and 40 kilometers of soil. The second later has 30 kilograms of gunpowder and 105 kilometers of soil. The third later has 40 kilograms of gunpowder and 120 kilometers of soil. The fourth later has 20 kilograms of gunpowder, plus bullets. To achieve the strongest destructive power, the extra gunpowder is 10 kilometers maximum.

Until the reign of Tu Duc king (the 4th Nguyen emperor, 1847-1883), the Nine Holy Cannons were not used yet, for military purposes. These ones were fired in special occasions of the dynasty, such as Lunar new year festival, king’s birthday, etc. According to history books, one day, Tu Duc king wanted to move them to battlefields by horses but could not do it. After that, he wrote a letter and told a mandarin to read it out loud in front of the cannons. He meant that if they did not go, he would punish and delete their ‘general’ title. He also requested to cast nine other cannons, but smaller and used directly in battles of Thuan An, Da Nang.

In local belief, the cannons are thought to be deities. They bless people with a happy and wealthy family, and reconcile divorced families.

On 1st October 2012, the Nine Holy Cannons was inscribed to be a national treasure by the prime minister.