Generally speaking, martial artists love weapons - swords, staffs, daggers, bludgeons and just about any other contrivance that can be swung, slung, twirled, or thrown. Historical weaponry typically makes up a portion of many, if not most, traditional Chinese martial arts systems. Adeptness at weapons craft was considered a key skill set by the classical Shaolin martial artists of old. That remains true today, as contemporary martial arts continue to put significant emphasis on wielding and defending against knives, impact weapons and guns. In today’s violent world, it goes without saying that skill with a combat folder is a valuable competency, as is defending against it.

I practice a freestyle, mixed discipline system that incorporates both edged and impact weapons into the curriculum. Elements of Chinese long boxing and Wing Chun are blended into what I practice. Kung Fu is jam packed with a slew of edged weapons of varying lengths, designs, and purposes. Shaolin monks still train with them as do students of most Kung Fu kwoons practicing the Shaolin arts. Taijiquan practitioners train the Taiji sword which is part of modern international Wushu competition.

If you were to randomly select a 21st century Chinese martial arts student and ask them what benefits are derived from classical weapons practice, you’re likely to get an answer that goes something like “it enhances strength and balance, teaches distancing and timing and is a historical connection to the ancient origins of the art.” All true. Many of today’s practitioners would probably add that weapons practice compliments their overall empty hand capabilities. That is true and clearly evident in Chinese-related arts such as Silat and Kuntao in addition to Shaolin Kung Fu. Weapons are popular and important aspects of martial arts training.

Weapons are widespread across the Chinese martial arts spectrum. Classical weaponry is an integral part of both external and internal Chinese martial art. Chinese culture recognized that it was better to be armed than not. That is, of course, still true today.

So, do these relics of the distant past have any relevance in today’s world outside of demonstrative Wu Shu exhibition and sport? Are they viable in a self-defense context in a high-tech world where firearms prevail? Short answer—yes, they can be.

Let me clarify up front that edged weaponry will not be your best choice against a criminal armed with a modern firearm unless the gun bearer is careless enough to get within arm’s reach of you. That being said, an edged weapon might be your only choice. I am, of course, speaking of situations where your wielding of such a weapon is legit. Carrying a three-foot Chinese Dao down a busy city street or through a bustling shopping mall is likely not to end well in a legal sense. That said, training with and developing competency with a traditional Chinese martial arts weapon such as a dao can afford you the ability to utilize improvised weapons of opportunity should the need arise. Out in public away from home, a stick, umbrella, cane, wooden slat from a fence or from an industrial pallet becomes a sword in your hands. Even if where you live prohibits your carrying of a modern combat folder, skills developed in tactical knife translates to, say, a screwdriver, for example.

Frankly, skill with a sword or a staff is transferable to a range of live bladed replica weapons as well as sticks, rake or broom handles just as skill with a traditional knife such as a Wing Chun Butterfly Knife is directly transferable to a (legal) modern pocketknife, hunting knife, kitchen knife or tactical folder. Kitchen knives are especially relevant because everyone has at least one and knows where to retrieve it. Bladework is bladework. Traditional Chinese weapons practice can help you wield that kitchen knife with deadly skill.

Martially relevant patterns of movement are martially relevant patterns of movement irrespective of the implement. Training with traditional weaponry won’t turn you into a broad sword swinging medieval knight or imperial palace guard, but martial arts weapons practice will burn the neural pathways and ingrain the muscle memory you need to defend yourself with a modern edged or blunt impact weapon.

This might be a good spot to mention that, should you find it necessary to utilize your razor-edged dao in self-defense, the post-incident legal scrutiny that you will be subjected to under the criminal justice system will not be any less stringent than it would be had you utilized a laser-sighted semi-automatic Benelli shotgun. If the police arrive at your home and there’s a severed head or appendage on your living room carpet, there will be questions. In other words, just because you employ a kitchen knife, antique sword, or halberd instead of a gun won’t lessen the police and DA’s scrutiny of your actions. ‘Nuff said on that.

Okay, we’ve established that training traditional martial arts weaponry such as the sword or staff will afford you skill sets relevant to home and personal defense. We’ve also touched on the fact that competency with a traditional edged weapon will allow you to wield a commonly found implement such as a butcher knife with trained authority instead of trepidity. Let’s move on to discussing some specialized training modules that will increase your capabilities.

If your current martial arts practice does not include training with traditional weaponry, I would highly recommend that you investigate adding weapons to your curriculum. Doing so provides a fascinating connectivity to the ancient origins of your Chinese martial discipline while affording physical competencies whose utility carry over into current times. If you are a Taijiquan practitioner, include the sword in your training focus. Consider adding Shaolin weapons sets to your weekly routine.

For sheer contemporary applicability, nothing beats skill with a modern knife that you can legally carry on your person. Becoming skilled with Chinese martial arts weaponry will increase your ability to protect yourself and loved ones with a modern edged implement.

Padded swords, sticks and other martial arts weapons are available that allow free sparring with the appropriate protective gear. This allows you to experience employing traditional weaponry against a moving, resisting opponent. Using training dummies, one can practice against human anatomical targets with padded weapons that won’t damage the target dummy. Participation in Wushu weapons competitions can also help cultivate exceptionally useful fighting attributes.

You can gain transferrable skills via competitive Wushu weapons drills. I certainly wouldn’t want to be up against Jet Li in a cramped hallway if he was armed with a live dao, regardless of whether I had a gun or not. It doesn’t matter that Li likely never faced a real-world opponent and maybe never even wielded a live edged weapon during his Wushu career; he developed the athletic attributes, timing, and distancing skills necessary to slice you into a pile of gore.

Yes, real combat is, beyond the shadow of doubt, different than Wushu competition. Demonstrative or sporting practice with weapons certainly doesn’t forge the same “combat mind” as battlefield experience. To say that it does would be a slap in the face to all who have endured combat. Facing a dedicated opponent is always different than practicing a weapons set in the kwoon or performing at a tournament. That said, unless you served in combat during military service, the only way you’re going to obtain weapons handling competencies is through martial sport and in-kwoon training. Don’t discount martial arts weapons training and combat sport as not being useful—they’re the only game in town when it comes to development of non-ballistic weapons prowess.

Let’s move along to modern edged weapons—combat folders being the configuration most often found amongst the public. If you practice knives of any sort at your Kung Fu academy, the skills you are developing will translate to the modern defensive knife if you put time into familiarizing yourself with your everyday carry weapon.

To render yourself battle ready, you must include practicing the draw. Your knife is of no use if you can’t deploy it under duress. It is likely that, in a sudden street assault, you will have to “earn the draw” through a stand-off effort with your non-weapon hand so you have the time and space to draw and open your knife. If you typically carry your folder clipped inside your jeans pocket, then that is where you should practice drawing from. You will fight as you train. Keep in mind that, if your assailant is also armed with a knife, your off-hand stand-off measure will likely be sacrificial—you’ll likely get cut.

There are plenty of dull-bladed training folders available for in-kwoon training along with rubber fixed blade training knives. Foam knives, while not particularly realistic in weight, feel or design, allow full-speed sparring with your training partners which develops the timing, distancing, fluidity, attack, and defense competencies needed to employ an edged weapon in a serious confrontation. Combat speed sparring with foam knives will also demonstrate just how messy knife fights are, as you and your training partner will experience multiple contacts with the foam blades that would translate to cuts and stabs in a real-world fight with live weapons.

I also highly recommend training empty hand knife defense against an aggressively resistant training partner so that the wheat can be separated from the chaff when it comes to realistic knife defense. There are, amongst many traditional martial arts establishments, legacy knife (and gun) defense modalities that have never been truly pressure tested against the likely real-world threats. If your Kung Fu school’s knife defense tactics are executed against compliant training partners, then you are just fooling yourself. No street thug is going to slow motion attack or freeze frame so that you can successfully counter.

Here’s an easy way to pressure test your school’s knife defense methodologies: Have the “aggressor” student rush at the defending student from a distance of only a few feet. The aggressor role player should keep the weapon concealed until the attack commences. The aggressor role player slices and swings his safe weapon (foam, preferably) in a multitude of rapid, unpredictable arcs as fast as his/her hands will allow, aiming for whatever part of the defender’s anatomy happens to be within reach. No formal stances. No stylistic postures. The aggressor role player also should utilize the rapid “sewing machine” repeat stabbing attack as is often seen in prison shank attacks. Criminal street thugs don’t forget what they learned in prison when they’re back out on the streets.

In all likelihood, untested legacy defense modalities will fail miserably against those undisciplined aggressions. So, change things. Don’t wait until something happens on the streets before efficacy tests are conducted on your self-defense tactics. This isn’t an indictment of traditional martial arts but, rather, an admonition to keep self-defense training as realistic as possible.

How do you go about creating more realistic knife defenses? Easy. Instructional staff should review as many current videos of real street attacks involving knives as possible. See what tactics the criminal assailants tend to favor. Likewise, see what defensive tactics seemed to fail for the victims of those attacks and which defenses seemed to work. Those insights can be integrated into your Kung Fu.

Instructors should stay current on what street violence looks like and what tactics and attack methods define the majority of the attacks. Train against the most likely, most common threats. You can’t do that unless you know what those threats are. You can also get advice from martial arts colleagues employed in law enforcement, military, and security professions. Expand your knowledge and incorporate what is useful.

You don’t have to sacrifice tradition or stylistic orthodoxy. Sensible, street-worthy self-defense modules can be inserted into the most classical of curriculums without diluting or corrupting the system’s identity. This author has been in real altercations—they’re ugly and far removed from the controlled choreography found in many classical studios. All the skills necessary for competent self-defense exist within Kung Fu, they just need to be awakened.

“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.” – Bruce Lee