Lesser known weapons from Chinese martial arts

Introduction

Traditional martial arts enthusiasts from most backgrounds and arts have at the very least a superficial interest in weapons. Either as a combat tool, a way to develop empty hand body mechanics or as a cultural heritage. Being a Chinese martial arts geek myself I’ve already written one article about Chinese weapons and with the recent release of the Dynasty Warriors movie I thought it was a good time to delve a bit more on the subject.

The basics

Even if you’re not a CMA person you’ve probably seen at least the four basics. The broadsword or dao (刀), the staff or gun (棍), the straight sword or jian (剑）and the spear or qiang (枪). They are sometimes referred to as the grandfather weapons. Almost every Chinese style includes training (even if it’s only forms) this four weapons and it’s pretty obvious why. They’re good for teaching the basic mechanics of wielding a weapon. Staff and broadsword tend to be taught first while straight sword and spear are more advanced. A Chinese saying goes something like “one hundred days to learn broadsword, a thousand for spear, ten thousand for straight sword” (百日练刀，千日练枪，万日练剑).

In some styles or systems the basic weapons (or some of them) were adopted from other styles. That can happen for a number of reasons, maybe those weapons don’t reflect that system’s body mechanics. Maybe it didn’t have them originally so instead of coming up with a form they adopted. On the other hand some styles derive their mechanics from the weapons themselves. Each school or teacher has their own reasons for doing one or the other.

Polearms

The Chinese did a lot of warfare, therefore they really liked their polearms.  Popular weapons in the broadsword family are the podao (朴刀) and guandao (关刀) or yanyuedao (偃月刀). The podao, a kind of long handled saber, with. he guandao named for the famous hero Guan Yu and also known as yanyuedao (reclining moon blade)  is a glaive like weapon with a long shaft. Among southern styles two very popular long weapons are the fork or trident, sometimes called tiger fork and a large pole which can reach two and a half or even three meters (eight to nine feet).

In ancient times the ge (戈) or dagger-axe was a deadly weapon mainly used against riders but clearly as lethal against unmounted opponents.  The ji (戟), sometimes referred to as halberd, is similar to a ge with a spear point on top, nowadays it tends to look more like a spear with a half-moon blade on one side or both. Among the stranger weapons I’ve seen there’s the wolf tooth club a kind of long shafted morning star and the monk spade. And those are just the ones I know.

Short and blunt weapons

Everybody likes a good stick, easy to carry, easy to use. Many civilizations have their own maces and warhammers, and China is no exception. The gourd hammer and the eight sided hammer are both generally seen used in pairs. A short stick with big spheric or polyhedral hammer head, it’s effectiveness is quite evident. Guai (拐​) translates to crutch and it’s like a longer tonfa. Shorter versions exist and are used in pairs just like in kobudo. One of the more interesting short weapons to me is the iron whip or tiebian. It looks like a sword but instead of a blade it has a long metal rod. The shapes vary, they generally end on a point but the rod can be cylindrical or octohedral, or have some other pattern. Again some styles teach it like a single weapon, others use it in pairs.

Short bladed weapons

Bladed weapons come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Several types of short daggers, and some longer knives that end in strange shapes. Even throwing knives similar to the Japanese kunai. For example, the butterfly knives, very short swords from southern styles, typically used either in pairs or with a rattan shield. There’s a family of strange looking paired weapons that includes the deer horn knives, crescent moon knives, wind and fire wheels, among others. The shape can vary a lot but all have a circular, semicircular or elliptical blade that’s sharp on the external side with a handle that’s either on the other side of the circle or on a connected metal piece. While some just have the one blade, others have edges coming out from the sides, sometimes straight or curved. The possibilities are, if not endless, pretty much vast.

Among this category of short blades I include the hook swords, and several types of short axe like weapons. The hook swords are quite famous to be honest but still interesting. Also called tiger hook swords, with a long edged bladed that ends in a hook a hand guard in the shape of a crescent moon and a sharp knife like edge at the bottom. Some styles teach paired short axes and there’s even a short version of the ji.

Conclusion

I can go on almost forever naming and describing weapons and truth be told I’ve never seen such a wide and strange array outside of Chinese martial arts. Not only the aforementioned but several types of whips and flexible weapons, sharp coins, iron flutes, and even weirder ones. I’ll close this article with just two very different ones. The first are the Emei piercers. An iron needle generally connected to a ring worn on one’s finger. Concealable and some sources say the sharp point might’ve sometimes been poisoned. And last but not least the bench. Yes, a wooden bench for sitting. Typically a southern weapon but also seen in some northern styles.

As always I hope you liked this article and feel free to leave a comment.

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Ezequiel Davidovich Caballero

I'm from Argentina, Spanish is my mother tongue, and English my second language. I've been into martial arts for as long as I can remember. I've been doing Hung Sing Choy Li Fat (aka Choy Lee Fut or Choy Lay Fut, same thing) for almost two decades now with bits of other Chinese styles in it. Hope you like what I write.

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