In Wing Chun circles is
firmly believed that art was developed from double knives fighting techniques
or at least that they were the main weapon of the style which was primarily
developed for use of double knives alongside with empty hand techniques.
The fact is, there are no
historical evidence to support such belief, directly or indirectly. I am not
saying that this is wrong nor I am saying it is right, simply the lack of
evidence prevents us from drawing any definitive conclusion. What we know is that
double knives were pretty common weapon at the time of Wing Chun creation and
we can find them as a part of a large number of styles from Guangdong and
Fujian provinces. The shape and length of weapon varies as well as the shape of
hand guard and these variations influenced the way weapon was used. We cannot
connect double knives to any particular style in a sense of origin or even
strongest influence on other styles, the weapon its self probably predates all
today’s kung fu styles and techniques for its usage were probably developed before
majority of today know styles were defined as such.
One more thing is important
to notice. Majority of kung fu styles today were created during second half of
19th and first half of 20th century. Kung fu during this
period went through extreme changes and became something we know today as
traditional Chinese martial arts but was actually completely different before
1850’s. From purely weapon fighting oriented systems kung fu became empty hand
oriented and expanded to various areas of practice where fighting efficiency
was not the primer concern of the practitioners. In these systems weapons was
not practiced for practical purposes but as a part of tradition , supplement
for empty hand training, sometimes as a form of strength training, study of
human motion ect. Real fighting techniques and training approach for such
purpose were almost completely lost to history. Same goes for double swords, we
have no historical evidence to show us how they were used in real fighting situations
before fire arms completely replaced clod weapons. Using analogy and evidence
we have for other weapons( swords, sabers, spears) and comparing real fighting
techniques of those weapons from Ming dynasty period to how they are used today
we can see enormous difference we can safely assume same happened to double swords.
When double knives became a
part of Wing Chun system will probably remain unknown. What we know is that
whether double swords were part of the system form the very beginning or they
were adopted later, they certainly influenced the system in a sense of how
techniques are performed. On the other hand, more than a century and a half of
not using knives in real fights caused that real fighting techniques and
training approach were lost and knives are today practiced as a part of
tradition and for purely academic reasons. This is true for Wing Chun as well
as for all other kung fu styles.
Double swords couldn’t be
the main weapon in times before fire arms replaced old weapons, they are simply
too short yet pretty heavy which means
they were slower than even much longer weapons. The amount of metal in one of
the pair of swords is equal or even surpasses the amount of metal in much
longer weapons like classical sword. The advantage of this weapon is that it
could be carried hidden and could be used with much more success in confined
spaces where full length weapons like classical sabers , swords, spears ect
simply couldn’t be used. Double swords are cutting weapon, like heavy sabers or
axes, the shape and weight of the blade clearly point to that direction. While
it is possible to stab, the shape of the blade is definitely made for cutting.
The question remains why someone needed a short, heavy , cutting blade? In what
tactical situation this kind of weapon would give an advantage to the fighter?
In the extremely confined spaces of the red boats where Wing Chun supposed to
be created this kind of weapon would certainly give an advantage to the
fighter, yet, a narrower blade that could be used for quick stabbing would be
much more efficient. Stabbing is by nature more dangerous and definitely leads
to quicker death of the opponent and it is also easier to perform because
requires significantly less power to be lethal compared to cutting. Also
cutting requires slightly better technique than stabbing for the same amount of
efficiency. On the other hand this weapon became part of so many other systems
that don’t specialize in short range combat although it has limited range. Why, we do not know, we can only guess.
As it was mentioned above,
for more than 150 years, kung fu weapons is not used for real fighting. Real
techniques are lost to time and even the simplest and very basic things changed
to fulfil the new purpose of weapon training. This is more than obvious if we
look at the most fundamental thing in double knives training, the grip. Vast majority
of lineages and teachers teach only one grip known in fencing circle as “hammer
grip”. While this grip is not wrong, it is very basic, usually used by complete
beginners and it is very limiting by its nature and structure.
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| Hammer Grip |
Hammer grip is
good for direct blocking of heavy blows from other weapons and for executing
heavy blows. On the other hand, structure of the grip and angle of the blade do
not allow agility necessary for fencing techniques, precise cuts and it is
almost impossible to stab. To make things worse, many teachers being aware of
the limitations of this grip, in order to make stabbing more easy teach
something completely wrong and potentially health damaging. They teach what is
known in fencing as “broken wrist position” which completely wrong and onlyused
by people who have no experience with weapons. From tactical point of view this
wrist position has no power, it is easy to drop the blade even if lightly hit
by another weapon and structurally prevents the practitioner to transfer force
from the body to the blade. While these things are not really important because
no one use double swords for real fighting, “broken wrist position” is danger
for practitioner’s health. Even a short time practice can lead to microtears of
connecting tissue in the wrist which after prolonged practice can lead to chronical
pain and injuries can spread to elbow joint. Broken wrist position if used in
sparring can easily lead to dislocated or broken wrist.
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| "Broken wrist" position |
Recently, as popularity
of HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) rose, some Wing Chun teachers started
“borrowing” things from it and now teach different kind of grips.Next video shows several prominent teachers comfortably and confidently demonstrating and teaching "broken wrist' position in their double swords forms.
Other thing not taught in
majority of Wing Chun styles is how transfer body mass into energy of the cut
or stab with double knives. While many Wing Chun style don’t have any concept
of body structure at all or have it purely theoretically and do not use it in
practice, others claim they are “internal” styles and have some use of body
structure in empty hand practice( usually limited to chi sao\push hands
demonstration and simple tricks) almost no one teaches how to use body
structure and “internal” power in double swords practice. Using only power of
the local muscle groups for sparring or in the past real fight would definitely
bring bad results, especially because double swords are fairly short weapon and
they lack power that longer weapons can produce by pure size and weight.
These few simple things
clearly show that double swords skills are lost in past and several generations
of Wing Chun masters almost never used swords and preserved the weapon as pure
tradition and later as an “advanced” part of the system with great monetary
potential.