< intro | salute | physical | technic | taos | fighting | weapons | health | conclusion >

The weapons

There are many weapons used for Võ, the most commun being: the short stick, long stick, spear, sword, long sabre, short sabre, halberd, axe, flail, bow and arrow.

Some of these weapons were everyday tools (axes, flails) that could be used to fight. Other weapons were military in origin (sabre, shield, halberd).

A Master studied the handling of all these weapons, and sometimes created more weapons out of simple objects; some were very complexe such as the “shooting star”, a kind of blade tied to a rope which allowed you to fight ennemies from a certain distance. This was one of Master Ngyên Duc Môc’s favorite and as a child he would practice on the fruit in an orchard, for which he recieved many a scolding!

With the arrival of fire weapons, which were relatively simple to use, the interest for ancient weapons diminished widely. However, the people who studied Võ continued to use them in order to preserve the origin of their art, attempt to master the use of a weapon that becomes a natural extension of the body. These Taos are mainly practiced by advanced students because you need to be at ease with the bare hand techniques in order to use efficently these weapons.

The professors begin to study weapon fighting with prepared assaults, with a kind of “choreography” which is also used for demonstations. This theatrical aspect is another one of the many ways to develop Võ.


< intro | salute | physical | technic | taos | fighting | weapons | health | conclusion >