Weapons
In traditional kung fu a student trains with empty hands and with weapons. The weapons come from war, from farm work and from the stage, and each one has its own forms.
The eighteen arms
The phrase 十八般武藝 (shíbā bān wǔyì), “the eighteen martial skills”, means mastery of every weapon. There is no single list of the eighteen. The list changes with the period, the region and the school, and the Qing dynasty had as many as four different lists.
One Qing grouping splits the weapons into 九長九短 (jiǔ cháng jiǔ duǎn): nine long and nine short.
The four great weapons
- 棍 Staff
- 槍 Spear
- 刀 Broadsword
- 劍 Straight sword
The four great weapons (四大兵器) are the staff, the spear, the broadsword and the straight sword.
What the sayings tell
The Chen taiji weapons
Chen-style taiji has weapon forms: a 49-posture straight sword (劍), a 13-posture broadsword (刀), the spear (槍) solo and with a partner, staffs of 3, 8 and 13 postures, and a 30-posture halberd.
The sword is light and double-edged: “use the body to drive the sword, use qi to drive the body”. The broadsword is heavy and single-edged; training with it works the legs and waist, and it is often the first weapon a student learns.
The guandao (關刀), the big long-handled broadsword, is named after Guan Yu (關羽). The names of its movements form a poem with seven characters to a line.
Spear technique works on three actions: thrusting (zha), blocking (lan) and intercepting (na).
The long pole (大杆, dà gān) is at least 3 metres long, made of white wax wood, and usually has a 13-movement routine. The pole-shaking drills are 劈 pi (split), 崩 beng (burst), 扎 zha (thrust) and 抖 dou (shake). It is also used in two-person drills with the poles in contact.
There are also the eyebrow-height staff, the double iron mace (雙鐧), the double sword, the double broadsword and the two-section staff, which grew out of farm tools.
Without an external basis any internal development is of limited value.
The 28 Pak Shao Lin weapons
The Pak Shao Lin Association trains with 28 traditional weapons.
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01 Staff 棍
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02 Spear 槍
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03 Dragon Sword 劍
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04 Kwan Dao 關刀
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05 Dragon Tongue Knife
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06 Fish Tail Knife
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07 Broadsword 刀
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08 Double Broadsword
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09 Bench
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10 Cane
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11 Chain
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12 Hook Sword / Tiger Ear
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13 Pen
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14 Flute
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15 Snake Spear
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16 Fan
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17 Long Axe
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18 Short Axe (pair)
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19 Hammers
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20 Nunchaku
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21 Shovel
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22 Daggers
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23 San Tin Quan
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24 Sai
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25 Shuriken
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26 Tai Ka Ti
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27 Tonfa
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28 Trident