|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
March 8, 2014 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
According to legend, the guan dao (or Guan Yu|Guan's big knife/sword) is said to have been invented by the famous general Guan Yu during the early 3rd century AD. As befitting his supposedly large stature, he was able to wield such a large weapon and developed the guan dao into a versatile tool. However, historically speaking Guan Yu used a lance or a dagger-axe (ji) halberd. The use of a Guan Dao, hereafter to be referred to by its proper name of Yanyue Dao (偃月刀), in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong was extremely anachronistic, as there is no proof that it was ever used prior to the Song Dynasty when it was first illustrated in the military manual Wujing Zongyao. The Yanyue Dao could not have been invented nor used by Guan Yunchang. Therefore, the name Guan Dao is somewhat of a misnomer brought on by pop culture. While it could be used from horseback, the Guan Dao could also be used by infantry as an anti-personnel and anti-cavalry weapon. While in popular myth it is said that general Guan's original Yanyue Dao weighed between 100 and 200 lb (45 and 90 kg), the modern Guan Dao which has been adopted by martial artists today usually weighs between 5 and 20 lb (2 and 10 kg). Whether in reality or just as fictional content, the Kwan Dao is used quite frequently in the Xiaolin Style form of martial arts, though rather than used as an attack-related weapon, it was used more as an evasionary measure. A large veil cloth was attached to the end to dissuade and confuse opponents as the weapon was swung around, and the weapon itself was used as more to deflect and disarm an opponent. Common training with the weapon made the wielding of it look more like an intricate dance rather than any real combat use. As for design, the weapon itself was made to disarm opponents, as there is a weapon-grasping notch on the back side of the blade used to hold an opponent's weapon. Also, the long range on the weapon allowed the wielder to keep his distance, and was very useful against sword-using opponents when the weapons were first used. weapon-stub china-stub Category:Chinese_terms Category:Pole weapons Category:Weapons of China This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kwan dao".
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
![[F]](/images/site.gif){kind=small}
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
All informatin on the site is © FamousChinese.com 2002-2005. Last revised: January 2, 2004 Are you interested in our site or/and want to use our information? please read how to contact us and our copyrights. To post your business in our web site? please click here. To send any comments to us, please use the Feedback. To let us provide you with high quality information, you can help us by making a more or less donation: |