Continuing the examination of the Four Words in Chinese swordsmanship brings us to the character Ge 格. To block, arrest, impede, obstruct, deter, halt, hinder, intercept, parry. The seemingly simple idea of stopping something from hitting you by placing something else in the way has 10,000 permutations, 10,000 synonyms, and 10,000 interpretations of what it… Continue reading S-words: Ge 格 Parry or Block
Greetings all! I just recently got on to the LK Chen Bandwagon. You may have seen Ben Judkins reviews here on the blog. Well, I finally jumped in and got a few things from this up and coming company. One of these things is a full sparring gear set with one and two handed weapons!… Continue reading Playing with the LK Chen sparring swords.
We return now, to the world of strange and fantastic weaponry of China. This time we are looking at the Tiger Hooks (or double hooks, hook swords, tiger head hooks etc.). These weapons are some of the most wild looking and impressive weapons to wield. The weapons themselves have a mysterious history, appearing only as… Continue reading Shuang Gou雙鉤:Double (Tiger) Hooks
The rhinoceros-hide armor was of seven folds or links, one over another; the wild-buffalo’s-hide armor was of six folds or links; and the armor, made of two hides together was of five folds or links. The rhinoceros-hide armor would endure 100 years; the wild-buffalo-hide armor 200 years; and the armor of double hide 300 years. The… Continue reading Roaring Dragons and Vanishing Rhinos: The Longsword Sword in Ancient China- Ben Judkins
A closeup of the hilt of the Mackay Sui Dao from the collections of the Met. Note that the hilt of this sword is not actually broken, its image was manipulated for this photo. The Archeology of Dragons Today’s story begins with two, seemingly unrelated, artifact finds. In 1930 two Chinese sabers (dao) believed to… Continue reading In Pursuit of Double Dragons: A Sui Dynasty Dao
