Freestyle Internal Martial Arts-Weapons

Weapons

The core principles from our empty-hands training are translated over to weapons work with some adjustment and refinement relevant to the specific qualities of each weapon. There are four main types of weapons trained in Freestyle Internal Martial Arts:

Short Staff

A smooth, hardwood pole with the length measured from the point of one's chin straight down to the floor. Width averages 1.5 inches at the back end and tapering to 1 inch at the tip. Typical wood types used are white oak, red oak, iron wood etc. This staff is thick, heavy and strong with very little flex in it.

Two-Handed Sabre

A large two-handed sword with a curved cleaving edge in the style of the Chinese Miao-Dao, Zhanmadao, Broadsword Dao and Japanese Daito. Any single-edged curved blade with a two-handed grip can be utilized in this training.

Straight Sword

A single-handed side-arm or dueling sword in the style of the Chinese Jian. It is a double-edged straight sword.

Paired Short Weapons

It is said that two 'short' weapons become a 'long' weapon in the hands of a skillful practitioner. Our primary paired short-weapon is the Wind and Fire Rings (Feng Huo Lun) of Liang style Baguazhang based on a design by Liang Zhenpu and Li Ziming. Other paired short-weapons may also be used in similar training drills and applications.

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