Weapons
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| Starightsword (Jian) |
The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China.
A guard or hilt protects the hand from an opposing blade. A handle behind the guard can accommodate the grip
of both hands or one hand plus two or three fingers of the other hand. Two-handed jian of up to 1.6 meters (65")
in length, known as shuangshou jian, existed but were not as common as the one-handed version.
The end of the handle was finished with a pommel for balance, to prevent the handle from sliding through the hand
if the hand's grip should be loosened, and for striking or trapping the opponent as opportunity required—such as in
"withdrawing" techniques.
Sometimes a tassel is attached to the hilt. Historically these were likely used as lanyards, allowing the wielder
to retain the sword in combat. There are some sword forms which utilize the tassel as an integral part of their swordsmanship
style, while other schools dispense with sword tassels entirely. The movement of the tassel may have served to distract opponents,
and some schools further claim that metal wires were once worked into the tassels for impairing vision and causing bleeding
when swept across the face. The tassel's use now is primarily decorative.
The blade itself is customarily divided into three sections for leverage in different offensive and defensive techniques.
The tip of the blade is the jianfeng, meant for stabbing, slashing, and quick percussive cuts. The middle section is
the zhongren or middle edge, and is used for a variety of offensive and defensive actions: cleaving cuts, draw cuts,
and deflections. The section of blade closest to the guard is called the jiangen or root, and is mainly used for defensive
actions. These sections are not necessarily of the same length, with the jianfeng being only three or four inches long.
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| Boardsword ( Dao) |
Dao is a category of single-edge Chinese swords primarily used for slashing and chopping, often called
broadswords in English because some varieties have wide blades.
The earliest dao date from the Shang dynasty in China's bronze age, and are known as zhibei dao (直背刀)
- straight backed knives. As the name implies, these were straight-bladed or slightly curved weapons with a single edge.
One measure of the proper length of the sword should be from the hilt in your hand and the tip of the blade at the brow
and in some schools, the height of shoulder. Alternatively, the length of the sword should be from the middle of the throat
along the length of the outstretched arm.
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| Cudgel (gun) |
Traditionally, the gun is made out of a material called wax wood, rather than bamboo as many people might think. Wax wood
is strong, yet flexible, making it ideal as a material for the gun. The gun is fashioned with one thick end as the base and
a thinner end near the tip, and is cut to be about the same height as the user. Today, more modern versions may be purchased
made with metal and rubber parts.
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| Spear (qiang) |
Qiang is the Chinese term for spear. Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear in many variations was
one of the most ubiquitous weapons of the pre-modern Chinese battlefield.
Common features of the Chinese spear are the leaf shaped blade and red horse-hair tassle lashed just below. When the spear
is moving quickly, the addition of the tassle aids in blurring the vision of the opponent so that it is more difficult for
them to grab the spear they are being attacked with behind the point. The tassle also served another purpose, to stop the
flow of blood from the blade getting to the wooden shaft (the blood would make it slippery or sticky when dried). The length
varied from around 7 feet (2 meters) long. The spear is typically made of waxwood , a
strong but flexible wood. It bends to absorb impact preventing breakage. The bending motion combined with the horse hair tassle
makes the spear tip very hard to follow.
Meridian Wushu. Welcome.
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