Uncommon weapons

[Ironcrane]

There are an awful lot of martial arts weapons out there. Some are pretty rare, and some, though I see them in catalogs, I almost never see anyone practicing with them. I remember when I first saw a nagamaki but didn't know what it's name was. Trying to look it up took a really long, long time because it was never listed with other Samurai weapons. Or a large two handed Chinese sword that I saw in a kung fu movie once a few years ago. I only recently found out it was called a Da Dao. Weapons like that. This makes me curious.

Do you practice with a weapon that isn't very common? Do you know anyone who does?

 

[donnaTKD]

if i was to practice with a blade outside of my house i'd get a mandatory 5years in jail just for having it on or near me.

most unusual thing that i've practised with was a tin can that some considerate person had thrown on the floor

 

[donald1]

my favorite type of dao is the guan dao, its VERY heavy. i was looking at my instructors guan dao and he let me practice one of my forms with it. it was pretty cool

 

[donald1]

if i was to practice with a blade outside of my house i'd get a mandatory 5years in jail just for having it on or near me.

most unusual thing that i've practiced with was a tin can that some considerate person had thrown on the floor

that's weird, but different rules though... i guess that just means you need a good sized room depending on weapon choice

 

[Xue Sheng]

I only recently found out it was called a Da Dao.

There are many types of Dao. All Da Dao means is big knife and it is generally thought to be this

I liked the Guandao and I trained with the sānjiégùn for a brief time.
But I am not sure how uncommon either of those are

 

[qianfeng]

Isn't da dao a really common weapon in china? I saw deer orn knives at my sifus place. Looked kinda wierd
kung fu tournament 2009--bagua deerhorn knives, mens - YouTube

 

[donnaTKD]

if i was to carry a knife that big then there would be no need to ask questions cos that's just asking to go straight to jail for at least 5years.

the law here states that if a person has on them or immediate access to any bladed article that is over 3inches in length then the mandatory jail term of 5years applies.

i train with wooden tools instead - makes life so much easier as well as carrying a no risk tarriff

 

[Xue Sheng]

Isn't da dao a really common weapon in china? I saw deer orn knives at my sifus place. Looked kinda wierd
kung fu tournament 2009--bagua deerhorn knives, mens - YouTube

The Da dao I linked is not as common as other Dao like the Qing Dao

Or the Dao you see in a lot of Wushu and Taiji forms

 

[clfsean]

I liked the Guandao and I trained with the sānjiégùn for a brief time.
But I am not sure how uncommon either of those are

Not very. They're relatively common.

For me ... Miao Dao, Rope Dart, Big Sweeper

 

[Marnetmar]

I use a wooden spoon with holes in it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Not very. They're relatively common.

For me ... Miao Dao, Rope Dart, Big Sweeper

That is pretty much what I suspected but I was not 100% sure. The weapons that have always intrigued me are the Bagua needles and the Jī Zhuǎ Lián (Chicken-Claw Sickle) and the Baguazhang/Xingyiquan needles

 

[geezer]

I train with several little used and impractical weapons such as the WC 6 1/2 point long-pole (luk dim boon kwun) and eight-cutting double knives (bart cham dao) as well as with some odd-looking filipino knives. But the oddest weapon I train with and the most practical by far is "the club". It can be used singly or as a double weapon like the bart cham dao, and can even work as a projectile launcher. If you swing the fat end, it launches the slide section with a heck or a wallop.

http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE-989278dt.jpg

It definitely takes some getting used to, but it's very practical since it's always sitting next to me in the car. Funny, I remember all the times driving around when I looked at that ugly thing and tried to stuff it under the passenger seat only to have it slide back out when I hit the brakes. Then it hit me ...what a perfect improvised weapon as well as a steering wheel lock. And the police never bother about it.

Now to DonnaTKD. We don't carry large knives much around here either ...at least nothing bigger than a machete, but everyone carries guns. Openly or concealed. No training, no permit required. Sanity is entirely optional. In fact it wouldn't surprize me if our state legislature proposes a 5 year prison sentence for not complying with your "civic duty" to run around fully armed! Not like that in Wales, eh?

 

[donnaTKD]

bloody hell

if people here were allowed guns then i'm pretty sure that most of my village would end up dead LoL

on the issue of the club - that is what's known as a useful weapon and what the cops regard as "going equipped" if you get pulled over --- madatory 2years for carrying the club within easy reach and then whatever else they fit you up with after that --- just carrying anything at all is like giving the cops a license to throw the book at you

so not fair

 

[skribs]

if people here were allowed guns then i'm pretty sure that most of my village would end up dead LoL

This is a very common misconception that leads people to beg their fellow citizens be disarmed. They haven't killed you with cars, power tools, or kitchen knives, have they?

While this thread isn't about firearms, I think firearms are the perfect example for why most people don't train with unorthadox weapons. The larger or more complicated a weapon is to use, the less likely you will have it with you or be able to effectively employ it in self defense. Nunchuka require training to not hit yourself while using them. A 7-foot long weapon with a 4-foot handle and 3-foot blade might be an effective weapon, but it's not practical for carry or even for home defense inside most home settings.

Compare those with a firearm. Firearms are designed to be user friendly, and are just as deadly no matter whether you have a kid, someone with a couple hours of range time, or a Navy SEAL shooting them (although the SEAL might be more deadly with it). It requires safety precautions so you don't hurt yourself or cause collateral damage, but it is a lot easier to use than most common weapons, let alone unorthadox.

I don't think it's bad to learn something unique, but I think most people who do weapons training do so for coordination (i.e. nunchucka or staves), sport, or self defense, and for pretty much all of those there are reasons why the common weapons are common.

 

[geezer]

This is a very common misconception that leads people to beg their fellow citizens be disarmed. They haven't killed you with cars... have they?

Dang! Not for lack of trying. You can't imagine how people drive here. In fact one of the reasons I don't worry about guns is that I'm too busy trying not to get hit by some idiot on the road.