What is made for death is used for life & fitness!
On this page
You will find an overview on Traditional Chinese (Cold) Weaponry with samples of Shaolin Academy forms. We also look at the relevance of Weaponry Training in an environment that prohibits weaponry use.
Introduction
Most Chinese martial art styles agree that there are 4 primary Weapons that everyone should learn before branching out. There are;
The Father of all Weapons
The Marshal of all Weapons The King of all Weapons
The Lord of all Weapons
By learning to use and appreciate these basic 4 weapons, it was believed that the practitioner would have an understanding of the three principles of weaponry,
Cutting or Slicing
Impacting and
Piercing.
Traditionally though, Chinese Martial Arts divided all weapons into Long and Short. Although, where the changeover was between Long and Short varied very much from teacher to teacher. Considering all this, the Shaolin Academy came up with a different way of looking at all cold (non exploding) weapons. The 5 Weapon Groups, expanding a bit on the initial three;
Bladed sharp weapons fall into two sub categories, cutting/slicing and stabbing. One uses the sharp edge to cut the other using a sharp tip to penetrate. Usual examples of cutting weapons are curved swords and knives, and for penetrating, arrows and spears.
3 - Flexible
Often not seen as 'real' or mainstream, flexible Weapons such as Rope, Chain, Whip like are items you will find in the pocket of thugs today. Wrapping a bike chain around your waist was a long held favorite in the 70's and 80's. Today with metal detectors non metal flexible weapons such as a short length of whip, a Garrote from a guitar string or even a meteor hammer ( a sting with a weight attached) are difficult to find even at an airport security check.
4 - Projectile
In essence almost anything can be a projectile Weapon. From a tooth pick (as demonstrated by the traveling Shaolin Monk performers) to a chair. Yet, this group refers to items specifically designed to be mainly thrown or shot, such as the arrow, blow dart, throwing knife, throwing star and less often spear.
5 - Shaolin Weapons
This 'not Weapon' group teach us how to use and defend against object that can be used as Weapons but are not so originally designed. Some of the more famous of these are The Bench, Monks Spade (or any shovel for that matter), Rake, Monks Lantern and others. This is also considered to be the highest form of Weaponry where the practitioner learns that everything can be used as an offensive or defensive Weapon; and how to defend against these!
It needs to be made clear that we do not train or teach people to use ANY WEAPON against any living being, even in defence. You will see that this is one of the main precepts of even the most gory Hong Kong martial art movies, that a Shaolin will disarm an attacker and then throw the thus gained weapon down. As followers of Buddhism, Shaolin Monks would not cause any living being harm other than such where they believe it is better to be a little cruel in order to be long term kind. As such, the Shaolin Academy, although not based in any religion, Buddhist or other, will not train anyone to be a weapon fighter or regular user.
We will train weaponry for health and fitness, for understanding and self defence, for personal development and elegance, for strength and stamina; but not for hurting or harming. There are enough a-holes out there in back yard facilities teaching people to fight with sticks, knives, balconies and such, adding to the violence in the streets without there really being a counter measure aside from the police force. We will learn and understand how these weapons can be used against us, and how to manage a situation where an attacker is threatening us or a loved one with such a weapon. But we will not turn the weapon against the attacker. That is why Shaolin Students need to learn a high level of discipline and skill to truley be Shaolin Kung Fu Practitioners!
The Chinese 2 Handed Broad Sword Form develops strength, coordination between left & right hand, center line awareness, flexibility and the understanding of a long and heavy attacking implement. At a higher level student learn to defend against the sword with the bare hands only!
What Weapons do we learn to use?
Shaolin Academy rotates through a number of Weapons regularly on a 6 month basis in the Mordialloc Saturday 11am classes. The first class is for the simpler and easier to learn weapons such as the basic 4 (Shaolin Staff, Tiger Broad Sword, Red Eagle Spear and Wudang Straight Sword), in addition to Long Handed Broad Sword, Walking Stick, Golden Mace, War Hammer, Fatal Flute, Axe, Brush, Eagle Claw, Brass Fist and many more. In the 2nd Advanced Saturday class the more involved, heavier and difficult weapons are trained including Dragon Quan Dao, Whipping Flail, 3 Section Staff, Twin Weapons, Sword & Shield, Flexible Weapon and Shaolin impalements such as the Monks Spade, Monks Lantern, Monks Rings and the everyday bench!
Just below, we have compiled a number of the forms that we train (in addition to the above) as an example of the verity, diversity and challenging way of keeping fit and making it interesting and fun!
Meaning of Shaolin Forms
In times well past, when the only law was in the major city's and towns, when only a small number of people were able to attend school, all Kung Fu learning had to be passed on from Master to student. There were very few books on Kung Fu and even fewer people who could read them. It is also exceedingly difficult to record a Kung Fu style in just words and pictures. Most teachers only had a few moves and combined this with "Free Style" combat, which was sufficient for most. Yet, there were the great Styles and great Masters, and these taught the Great Forms!
Most style now teach forms which will be successful in competitions. Many styles do not have great forms just a series of movements that over time have become 'traditional'. Yet, in Shaolin Kung Fu and Shaolin Traditional Weaponry, the forms have Greater meaning. They represent a whole style, not just movement, but meaning, strategy and spirit. But these are difficult to learn and comprehend!
In the Shaolin Academy way of teaching you have a 5 pronged approach;
In the beginning you learn the most popular techniques, defences and safe weapons handling.
You then learn a number of short routines and drills which help to become familiar with the weapon and understand it's unique usage.
You learn the movements of a great or Lesser Form (depending on the weapon and your level)
You are guided to understand, be able to perform and use the form.
and finally you learn the strategies, tactics and how to defend bare handed against the form; for this is called Mastery!
Just below the the Great Forms to the left of this script, we have some of our specific lesser and technical forms. Although not as interesting as the Great forms, these are essential to the learning and mastering process.
