Martial Arts Equipment

The Chinese martial arts perceive the equipments of armed combat or weapons as extensions of human body. The wide range of Chinese equipments both traditional and modern is used for body conditioning and coordination of body movements and footwork. Every martial art system has equipments specific to it in addition to the Eighteen Arms of Wushu. All weapons of martial arts have evolved from Chinese weapon since the time the Shaolin monks made use of anything as equipment for martial arts. ‘Staff’, the most important of all traditional weapons was used as a tool for Shaolin Kung fu. It is a small stick mainly used for self-defense although having many other uses. This multipurpose equipment can be used as a walking stick, to carry water buckets as also loads on the back and even for writing on the sand. It is rightly called the ‘Father of All Weapons’ in Chinese martial arts. For many reasons, the martial arts practitioners of Shaolin preferred blunt equipments like clubs. One reason was their philosophy did not permit injury or death to the attacker. It was easier to learn the skills of using staff or sword but really difficult was the learning of flexible equipments like the chain whip. The four basic weapons in Chinese martial arts are the staff, the spear, the broad sword and the straight sword (Lungchuan swords). All the martial arts weapons have however evolved from 5 basic tools- knife, stick, spear, rope and hammer.

The modern staff is made of hardwood and has heavy-gauge metal fittings. It is painted with lacquers. There is another lighter variety made of white wax wood. Escrima stick is an effective modern weapon for martial arts. For martial art combats in the close or long range, ‘bo’ made of hardwood is used. It is also a kind of staff that is used for self-defense in modern martial arts. For use in competitions, the equipment used is the ‘Competition Bo’. The ‘Rattan’ has hand carvings on the two sides of the staff. Chrome Sai is another modern weapon for martial arts as also the Steel and Competition Kamas. Some of the other modern equipments used in martial arts training are Shields, Focus and Thai Pads, Targets & Blockers, Stretching Machines and Speedballs.