Recently while watching some old Kung-Fu flicks, a realization struck me: Asia seems to have many odd and exotic forms of weaponry, why don't we?

I mean, they have everything from Shuriken, Kusari-gama, Three-sectional staves, all manner of small concealed weaponry and many weapons that quite frankly, I can't remember the names of!

What odd weapons do we have, I am sure we can more then match the Chinese or Japanese in terms of odd pieces of weaponry.

I am asking to post examples of particularly odd and unique European weaponry, especially "hidden" weapons.

I guess we have the Dueling shield and the Rapier, but what else?

Post!

pistol shield combo, gun axe combo, the man catcher polearm, the sword breaker

Have you taken a look at this spotlight article?

http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_spot_combo.html

Good point with the combo weapons, the article was indeed fascinating and the weapons were quite unique. However, do we have any other ones that don't involve gunpowder?

I know it's not all that relevant, but I just had to note it: the three-sectioned staff was more equipment for Wu Shu (a chinese martial art) than a weapon. Though it could have been implemented, it wasn't practical. I apologize if I sound like I'm trying to be a smarty-pants.

I think the main thing to consider is that European warfare was fairly linear, and battles were primarily the concept of armies. That is, many many men, usually in tight formations. The use of the kusari-gama, for instance, would not be of significant function in these situations.

It's also of use to note that technological advance was constant, usually relating with current weapons, and there probably wasn't ever time for someone to come up with a new weapon.. The mode of thought was fairly linear as well: cut with this, bash with that, keep away with this, and above all, don't get hit with any of it in retaliation.

This is just my personal thoughts as to WHY we don't see any fancy "exotic" weapons in comparison to other civilizations. Forgive me if I have no idea what I'm talking about. Personally, I think the double-edged cruciform sword has a level of exoticness to itself.

These are from the ARMA pdf of the 1459 Talhoffer book. Some look like specialised duelling weapons.

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Here's a couple exotic weapons that you probably don't know about, both of which are from Germany in the 16th century:

A Kriegssichel (War Sickle): http://www.trocadero.com/faganarms/items/298423/en1store.html

The second one is a Wurfkreuz, or throwing cross: http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/2194/16thcge...ospo3.jpg. It's from Lot Nr.3539 of Hermann Historica's Auction 48.

Damn. I was going to mention those as well, but...

...all right. The biggest question now is how exotic is "exotic?" If we're talking about the lay public's definition of exotic, a halberd is actually exotic enough. An axe-head on a long pole with a thrusting spike on top and a hook on the back isn't something you'd find in just about any culture in the world. If that's not enough, look at the military fork, the militarized agricultural flail (which is not the ball-at-the-end-of-a-chain sort of "flail" at all), or the uniquely-shaped head of the military bill. Then there's the parrying dagger with spring-loaded prongs.

And I'm sure we've just barely scratched the surface with all the examples posted here.

Let's not forget weapons like the clubs and the chopper found in the Maciejowski Bible: http://www.medievaltymes.com/courtyard/images...tm14vd.gif

Also, while it may never have existed, take a look at Fiore's pole axe sword (bottom right guard depicted in the six masters illustration): http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/liberi/liberi00.htm

Earlier we have Mace-axes, Falcata, Falx, scythed chariots, incendiary pigs (reputedly, they are of course topped by chinese incediary monkeys), siege towers that reached to 10 stories high, hooks and chains to tow whole ships out of the water and probably a whole lot of things I am forgetting now

The text accompanying this image says something along the lines of "Excuse this sword for the sword and for the pole-axe/ In weapons and without who for me to use with ease."