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BISHOU

The Dagger is a small knife. It tends to be defined as any knife used or designed for fighting one handed and inefficient for eating or cooking. Primarily a stabbing weapon, the dagger was usually double edged and narrow. Most of the techniques were to stab in and tear out. They tend to be punches or hammer fist strikes modified for speed. While the Philipino styles took knife to a very high level with their techniques, the Japanese styles did not put a lot of effort into dagger. Since a single edged knife was simply a smaller sword and a dagger was less, daggers were usually thrown away. While there were specialized uses for the dagger, it tended to be viewed as a thrown weapon or something an assassin would use. An example of the specialized uses were the ermei piercers and ring daggers. Both were designed for use in water with variations mainly focused on being able to swim and still have control of the weapon, Recon is the obvious reason for this. Some other uses that came to light recently was for the use of a knife in urban settings. There were places that you could not take a sword. The Dagger was specialized for killing and made a perfect weapon to carry into small spaces. When people carried knives to eat with, a household could not guarantee the safety of all the guests. The host began to provide utensils so people would not have a reason to pull their own knife. The dagger design became more popular shortly after this new custom became popular. It also has impressive applications in a close quarter combat role. The survival/hunting knives are still better but the dagger is easier to fabricate and cheaper to maintain. These twin daggers vary in length and are concealed for quick access. The ability to fight with two knives is a skill learned by explorers through various expeditions and discovery missions, this skill is taught to allow the practitioner to develop the mind and improvise within his environment. It involves close quarter techniques that are very similar to the movements found in Kali and Penjkat Silat. This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section.

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CHAI

Short, forklike metal weapon approximately 15" to 20" in length and weighing about 3lbs. The weapon consists of a shaft, pointed in front and tapered to a blunt lipped end, and the two tines projecting from about a quarter of the distance from the end of the shaft. The Chai is primarily a defensive weapon, used rather like a truncheon, to strike, poke, jab or hook (with the tines). The tines may catch the blade of a sword. Often two or three Chai were carried, one in each hand and one through the waist band in reserve. The Chai has a long history found in India, China. Malaysia, and Indonesia; the weapon also migrated to Okinawa where it was pronounced as "SAI" based on its Greek symbol shape. This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section.

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CHI

This is a specialized long weapon with a hook-like spearhead used in Chinese kung fu, favoured for its use by dock dwellers or sailors for pulling boats to shore. The movements of this weapon are essentially the same as that of spear techniques, with the added ability to hook or entangle with the weapon.

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CHUI

A set of short copper cudgels with large copper balls attached to one end, a humorous looking weapon, usually utilised by strong and shorter individuals. This weapon commonly weighed around 30kg (each) and cultivated great strength through its fast usage. This discipline does not contain any "Flowery" techniques and is a destruction weapon for overwhelming the opponent using force.

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ERMEI-CI

Primarily a hidden or secondary weapon, this piercing implement was commonly used in conjunction with another discipline, its use was eventually adopted by Baguazhang practitioners to emphasis their eight palm disciplines. Quite often this weapon was used under water (due to its ease of technique) to pierce or stab through vital areas. This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section.

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FANG TIAN HUA JI

This specialised weapon combines the sword, spear and halberd; traditionally used against a spear with a hooking action, there are both long and short styles of this weapon, with varying combinations on its attributes. The weapon illustrated would be referred to as a Full moon snake spear, a half moon would have only one halberd attribute and the snake refers to the snake like form of the spearhead.

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FEI ZHUA

A Chinese weapon called the flying claw; this weapon is attributed to vagabond characters in kung-fu movies, but was actually a practised weapon. It was used as a kind of grappling hook or Man catcher and often contained Barbs on the palm of the iron hand. The hand itself weighed approximately 12-16lbs and when thrown could quite easily knock out an opponent. Techniques with this weapon resemble the steel whip, although contrary to kung-fu film lore, the claws used in ancient China were not movable (e.g. they didn't grab the opponent).

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HU-CHA

The Tiger fork is a large Trident originally used to kill Tigers in southern China. Planted in the ground as a tiger charged, the animal impaled itself on the three sharpened prongs. Eventually, the fork entered the arsenal of long kung-fu weapons. It is often wielded by performing lion dance troupes. Southern forks are larger than those used in the north, their techniques demonstrating power rather than style. Northern forks were designed for mounted soldiers; the southern were used primarily on foot.

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HU DEH DAO

Also known as southern style short sabres, baat jam do, wing chun knives, boot knives or butterfly knives (due to the grip), It originated from the butchers chopping cleaver. These variably shaped weapons are usually seen in pairs and often attached to the large kung-fu drum played at lion dance ceremonies. They are primarily used in southern kung-fu styles. The top of the knife hilt is turned forward so that the practitioner can flip the knife around the thumb. The knives themselves were dulled when used by Shaolin monks to prevent blood shed (which is against Buddhist doctrine). This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section.

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HU-TOU-GOU

Also known as tiger's head hooks; the written characters for the double hooking sword actually refer to the large crescent-shaped hand guard, but because the sound of the word for this hand guard is similar to the sound of the Chinese word for double hooking sword (which is also a synonym for tigers head) the weapon is loosely referred to as "the tiger's head hook". This is a weapon found primarily in northern styles of kung-fu and both swords can be linked to increase the range of the weapon.

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JIAN

The double-edged sword is known as the mother of weapons. Said to have been invented by Ch'ih-yu, who forged his sword from gold found in nearby mountains, the weapon often has supernatural qualities attributed to it - to chase away evil demons, etc. Use of the sword was traditionally reserved to the upper classes. It was the emblem of the sage, varying from 1 ½ feet to 3 feet in length. The best sword smiths in china were Che-Yen, 2600 B.C, and Kan-Chiang, who lived in the state of Wu in the 3rd century B.C They are said to have forged magic swords of steel, regarded as supernatural because they were so much sharper that earlier bronze weapons. A rock still exists in Kashing that was, as the story goes, split into two by Kan-Chiang, who was testing the blade of a sword. Also famous for his sword is Lu-Tung-Pin, one of the eight immortals, who was given a magic sword by his Sifu (teacher), Chung-Li-Chuan. Lu could hold the scabbard of his weapon while the blade jumped from its sheath to obey his commands. Many swords have poetic names pertaining to a specific hilt design or method of use. The Chinese god of swords, Fei-Yang, ruled both male and female swords. According to legend, the sword's handle was called "T'an", its end called "Feng", and the scabbard called "Fu-Yao" or "Ru-Yao-Mu". Materials from which swords were made were gold, jade, silver, iron, oyster shells, brass or, in the case of the chien talisman, coins. Sword techniques fall into four general categories: Single-sword, double-sword, long tasselled sword and short tasselled sword. This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section

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JIN-QIAN-CHAN

This coin shaped halberd, is a large weapon with a circular shape at one end. A very rare weapon it is illustrated here to show the versatility found within the minds of martial artists. This weapon was designed specifically for use against spear or pronged weapons, with its intricate head able to catch other long weapons and even break the attacking weapon, the circle is the symbol of Taoism usually represented by a yin-yang. Taoism and martial arts have shared a close history with each other in the history of the orient.

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PAN-GWAN-PI

Sometimes this weapon was called the brush of justice, easy to conceal or even carry around. This was a common weapon employed by Chinese painters, who due to their occupation were employed to transcribe many martial styles to book form, and thus some of them became martial artists who then adapted the paintbrush for use in defense. Chinese painting has its origins in the pictographs inscribed on bronze during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Paintings on silk, possessing linear effects, had appeared during the period of the Warring States (475-221BC) and by the late Western Han era (206BC-AD24), paintings in rich colours were being done, such as the murals discovered in Han tombs.
In the history of Chinese painting, figure painting was the first genre to appear.
The earliest examples, during the Warring States period, were on silk. (Paper began to be manufactured only in the first century AD.) By the time of the Tang (AD740-70), figure painting was already well advanced. Mountains, rivers, flowers and birds served only as the background or embellishment of a painting; they developed into independent genres at a much later date. In time, however, landscape painting became the most important genre and numerous schools, theories and techniques relating to it evolved. The earliest extant Chinese landscape is Spring Excursion by Zhan Ziqian of the Sui (AD 581-618), an artist who paid special attention to brushwork and used dots and lines as his principal method of expression. Today, many artists believe that a mastery of landscape painting makes it easier to learn figure and flower-and bird painting because techniques learnt for the former can be used in the latter.

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SHAO-ZI-GUN

A weapon composed of two pieces of hardwood connected by rope or chain. The length of the weapon varies, but is usually around 12" to 14". Although the connecting link is never very long, its length does vary from 1" to 5". Earlier, the link was made from horsehair, leather, silk, or rope; today, nylon cord or chain is most often used. Although the original shao-zi-gun (nunchaku in Japanese) is octagonal (hjakakuei in Japanese), with eight sides based on the eight trigrams of the I-ching, there are variations: round (maru-gat in Japanese) in which both pieces are round and of even length; long-short (so-setsu-kon in Japanese) in which one piece is about half the length of the other; half size (han-kei in Japanese) in which two sides are cut from one normal size and a longer chain is added; three piece (San setsu-kon in Japanese) in which all three pieces are around 14" long, or a variation which one side is long but the other side is composed of smaller pieces; and four piece (yon-setsu-kon in Japanese) in which there are two longer and two shorter pieces all hinged together. Modern versions of this classical weapon, especially those in the U.S.A often have fancy handgrips and employ such innovations as ball bearing swivels (super swivels in Japanese). This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the members section.

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ZHEN-MA-DAO

The chop horse broad knife used in Chinese kung-fu, especially the southern styles. With a series of rings attached to its dorsal edge. The rings are used to catch an opponents weapon (e.g. spear) and to create a distracting noise. Also known as double-hand big knife, this large sabre was used primarily to chop off the legs of a horse, a method of bringing down a mounted opponent. This weapon is taught in its traditional form at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section.

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ZI-WU

The Deer horn Knives or Meridian blades are a very unique weapon originating from the Baguazhang (or perhaps more correctly Baguaquan) school of Chinese martial arts. Dong Hai Chuan the founder himself practiced this weapon. There are numerous stories of him killing large groups of armed men who had attacked him. Most of these are apocryphal and probably stem from the story on his original grave marker. It says there that once while travelling outside the city, Master Dong was attacked by many men with weapons. He defeated them all "moving like a hurricane". As he did travel through rough country, it is likely that he would have defended himself from bandits using his Deer horn Knives. They are designed for use against multiple attackers, or any type of weapon. There are techniques for use against the spear, staff, sabre and especially the sword. It has been said the Deer horn Knives are especially good at defeating the sword with their hooking and trapping techniques. ZI-Wu Deer horn Knives come in various sizes. Large ones can be used to scale walls while small ones are used like throwing stars. There are also various configurations like recurve points and knives with either three or four points each. Initially the knives had only three points one of which was slightly curved like a duck's head. It is said the duck's eye, a small indentation on one blade, could be laced with poison. This weapon is taught at the society and a complete history can be found in the member's section

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