dccarr@ihuxb.UUCP (d.c. carr) (06/04/85)
Subject: Re: Chinese chain-knives > Do any of the people who've posted stuff about Chinese chain weapons with > knives at the end know the Chinese names for these things? I have to > confess to being somewhat dubious about the authenticity of a weapon > whose main claim to fame is a kung fu film. I've been basing my articles > on Donn Draeger's historical books on Japanes classic martial arts, Stone's > catalog of weapons, etc. I share Lee Gold's scepticism concerning some of the weapons described here. Kung fu (or chop-socky or samurai western) movies are not good reference sources, however good or amusing the story, for claiming historical validity for a weapon. The "flying guillotine" is an excellent example of a weapon that probably never existed more than once, and then on a movie set. My few postings have come from several years of personal experience with various martial arts and the fair martial arts library I've accumulated over the years. I've not yet found a Chinese name for either the whip spear (described previously) or the rope dart (a dagger on the end of a 10-15' rope), but I'll happily keep looking for a Chinese reference in my spare time. I did find both the manriki-gusari (also known as a kusari-fundo, a short 3-4' chain with light weights on each end - no blades or spikes) and the kyoketsu-shogi (a 1' knife w/ an added curved blade to the side connected to an iron ring about 4" in diameter by a 10-20' rope) in Stephen Hayes's books on Ninjutsu. Dave Carr