How often would a martial artist carry a weapon?

[mewtwo]

So in "ancient" times "anything before 1960" in china and other Asian countries how often would a martial artist carry a weapon? When they were going to the market? To the seamstress? To a bar or pub? Generally out in public?

 

What wear the laws in those times one weapons?

[thelerner]

Depends on the country and time.  Yet I think if it wasn't a time of war carrying a sword or any kind of large or flashy weapon was rare.  More likely to call attention to yourself and create problems.  I'm thinking last 200 years. In the late 1800's Japan abolished carrying swords.   I don't think China was ever that much of a sword carrying society, outside of soldiering.   Though some Chinese Knife can be pretty machete-like. 

 

Probably more common is a knife or cane.  A knife being utilitarian and/or easily hidden, and there a couple of arts that had formal routines and katas for canes, since you could carry one innocuously.  Famously Okinawans who were forbidden to carry weapons developed farming tools like nunchuks for self self defense, still such things were private and probably not taken into common areas. 

[Nungali]

Even Okinawan royal bodyguards. at times, could have no weapons ... even when Chinese and Japanese came to their court armed with swords and the Americans with guns. 

 

This was the only thing allowed for them that was anything like a weapon; 

 

 

 

a small iron 'ornamental fan' replica,  that hung off the belt . 

 

Even a farmer could be hassled for having the 'wrong tool' with him.

 

But necessity is the mother of ingenuity 

 

Tenbe and rochin was originally a  combo form  with a tortoise shell  as a shield, and with a coral club on a stick with a spear point on the other end .... or a machete . 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSC6URHdRWk

 

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2015 by Nungali

[Nungali]

My fav is eku  ... nothing like the fighting oar   

 

 

 

 

(Dude ! If ya gonna jump - attack the head at the same time  ...    ... { yeah, I know - its just a drill! }   )

 

So ... if you are a fisherman ... you might be carrying your oar quiet a bit . ( I left my row boat oars in the boat one time and someone flogged them  

Edited June 25, 2015 by Nungali

[LAOLONG]

Carrying weapon is a culture thing, in yemen all man have a knife with them, and in the usa many have a gun .

[GreytoWhite]

So many weapons in gong fu were farming tools. Nanchaku were basically modified wheat flails. The da dao was meant for cutting bales of wheat. The list goes on but you get the idea, use what's at hand.

[mewtwo]

So many weapons in gong fu were farming tools. Nanchaku were basically modified wheat flails. The da dao was meant for cutting bales of wheat. The list goes on but you get the idea, use what's at hand.

 

 

Really i had not heard that about the Dadao?

[Nungali]

I am becoming more appreciative of the hoe -  its shape can lead to an interesting variety of applications.

 

 

Watch your toes ! 

 

 

[GreytoWhite]

Really i had not heard that about the Dadao?

 

Yup, most weapons were either slightly modified tools or tools reforged. Why not use a big ass sword to cut through wheat? Makes sense, you don't have to hammer it down and reshape it later.

[Astral Monk]

Reminds me of the tale how great swordsman Mushashi defeated a superskilled opponent with an extra long sword (the drying pole) with an oar, which was slightly longer than that sword by smoking him in the noggin.

 

Everything is a weapon.

 

8)

 

My fav is eku ... nothing like the fighting oar

 

 

 

(Dude ! If ya gonna jump - attack the head at the same time ... ... { yeah, I know - its just a drill! } )

 

So ... if you are a fisherman ... you might be carrying your oar quiet a bit . ( I left my row boat oars in the boat one time and someone flogged them

[Nungali]

Interesting story ... using Mushashi in a thread like this .   he was supposedly never without his sword.

 

How did he come to be without a sword on this occasion , I wonder?  It was even said he was not really a 'man' (in the dignified sense) as he didnt like to take a bath as he would not be 'on guard'. properly  ( bathing and cleanliness was quiet important back then ) . 

 

'Smoking' him in the noggin ?      ....    

 

Nah ...   come  in  with a blade tip of dirt flicked up to the face  followed by a rising right blade strike to the lower ribs while kicking dirt into their face while switching hands / sides to a down blade chop on their right collarbone, draw back and ram the tip of the blade into their throat ... 

 

 

... then smite them ... I mean  smoke them on the noggin.  

[Henchman21]

Interesting story ... using Mushashi in a thread like this .   he was supposedly never without his sword.

I read about this famous duel in a book about musashi. Very tricksy, that one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasaki_Kojir%C5%8D#The_Duel

"According to the legend, Miyamoto arrived more than three hours late, and goaded Sasaki by taunting him. When Sasaki attacked, his blow came as close as to sever Miyamoto's chonmage. He came close to victory several times until, supposedly blinded by the sunset behind Miyamoto, Miyamoto struck him on the skull with his oversized bokken, or wooden sword, which was 110 centimeters long. Miyamoto supposedly fashioned the long bokken, a type called a suburitō due to its above-average length, by shaving down the spare oar of the boat in which he arrived at the duel with his wakizashi. Miyamoto had been late for the duel on purpose in order to psychologically unnerve his opponent, a tactic he used on previous occasions, such as during his series of duels with the Yoshioka swordsmen."

[thelerner]

I remember one Musashi tale.  The man he was about to duel drew his sword and dramatically tossed the scabbard down.  According to the story Musashi said 'Good, you won't be needing it ever again'.

 

I think I heard that the bokken/oar was on view in a museum somewhere in Japan.  Course whether the object and even the story is real, can be hard to tell.  Still the man was real and his writings and drawings survive. 

[Nungali]

I read about this famous duel in a book about musashi. Very tricksy, that one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasaki_Kojir%C5%8D#The_Duel

"According to the legend, Miyamoto arrived more than three hours late, and goaded Sasaki by taunting him. When Sasaki attacked, his blow came as close as to sever Miyamoto's chonmage. He came close to victory several times until, supposedly blinded by the sunset behind Miyamoto, Miyamoto struck him on the skull with his oversized bokken, or wooden sword, which was 110 centimeters long. Miyamoto supposedly fashioned the long bokken, a type called a suburitō due to its above-average length, by shaving down the spare oar of the boat in which he arrived at the duel with his wakizashi. Miyamoto had been late for the duel on purpose in order to psychologically unnerve his opponent, a tactic he used on previous occasions, such as during his series of duels with the Yoshioka swordsmen."

 

Ah ...  so he was not without a sword ...  he fashioned one out of an oar .  

 

many dont train in terrain nowadays ... if you are holding your sword out towards your opponent , and its shadow is pointing at him, the sun will be at your back ... now, if you swiftly raise the sword above your head ... and your opponent is stupid enough to be looking at your sword ....    

 

 

 ' psychologically unnerve '     ...    

 

 

 

.... 

Edited June 29, 2015 by Nungali

[thelerner]

Must admit I feel a little safer and empowered when I carry an umbrella.  When I'm older, I could see myself with a cane; whether I needed it or not.  Nice strong hickory cane.

[Kubba]

I think that the purpose of weapon in sacred marshal arts might be in the first place for finding the body ballance while kryia oppening and sharpening the masculine aspect, then killing...

[Nungali]

Must admit I feel a little safer and empowered when I carry an umbrella.  When I'm older, I could see myself with a cane; whether I needed it or not.  Nice strong hickory cane.

 

Nothing like a good 'cane' 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyH0lmP4N7Y

Edited June 29, 2015 by Nungali