Short Weapons
3 min readSword of King Goujian of Yue State，late Spring and Autumn Period，unearthed from Jiangling，Hubei province.
It is 55.6 cm long and 4.6cm wide with a Chinese inscription，which means”King Goujian’s Sword”in English.It is still very sharp and dazzlingly brilliant and is known as the masterpiece of swords of the Wu and Yue states.
Short weapons of the Song Dynasty
The so-called short weapons refer to the light weapons that are less than the length of a normal eyebrow，and are often held with a single hand in practice.The most common short weapons are a knife and sword.This series of knives includes a single knife and double knives；both are used mainly for cleaving and chopping.A single knife requires swiftness and bravery while double knives boast better appreciation value.A master uses double knives just like he would rolling balls.
Bian Jing sword(left) and Wugou, the Qin Dynasty, unearthed from Lintong, Shaanxi province The Bian Jing sword has a flat stem and is so sharp that it can cut 18 pieces of paper at one time. It was still sparkling when unearthed. After assay, it is covered with an oxide layer of chromium compounds to prevent rusting.
Wugou is 66 cm long and has double blades. It can be used for pushing and hooking. The unearthed weapon supports evidence for the records of historical documents.
A sword has a double-edge, mainly used for stabbing. It falls into two kinds, namely,a single sword and a double-sword. Single swords account for a big proportion. Some swords are furnished with sword tassel(also known as the sword gown), which are literal swords, and those without tassels are called military swords.
The ax is also a kind of short weapon today. But axes used in ancient warfare had long handles, commonly known as “broadax,”which belonged to the category of long weapons.
There are two kinds of whips, namely soft and hard.A hard whip is made of steel and consists of 13 sections. The most commonly known is a bamboo-like steel whip with a sharp end, which is mainlyused for hacking and smashing and can also be used for picking and punching.A soft whip is known as a 9-section whip, consisting of o sections of thin steel or cooper rods. Its length is slightly shorter than the height of a person, and its movements are mainly winding and brandish in the form of a circle.
Mace is a long strip of steel weapon, usually having four edges without blades, or no sharp ends.
With a length of about o.8m, it also belongs to a kind of weapon for hacking and smashing. There are also double maces, each are about o.6-0.7 m long.
A hook is a kind of multi-blade weapon with a blade on its body while its end is hook-shaped. An armguard is crescent-shaped with a sharp point and blade.
Canes are a kind of wooden weapon, divided into short and long.A short cane is about o.7 m long, and a long cane is about 1.3 m. It is characterized by the horizontal handle near the end of the crabstick in the form of a “T.”It is used not only for striking and smashing, but also for hooking and pulling away the weapons of rivals.A stick is close to a cane, but the horizontal handle of the stick is at the far end of the crabstick, also in the shape of a “T.”The stick is about 1.2 m long and can be used with one or two hands.
A whip-stick is a short wooden rod, about 1.3 m long and slightly thin. It is said to have originated from a horsewhip stick. It is short without an edge, portable and easy to use, and quite popular in northwestern China. There is also a short weapon from ancient times called an iron ruler, which is about o.6 m in length, slim and long without sharp points and a blade. It is mainly used for hacking, smashing, pointing, and punching. Once popular in the Qing Dynasty, it is now extremely rare.
