Posts: 42 Location: Florida
Sun 18 Oct, 2009 1:28 pm
Nice catch, Mr. Liebau! I recall watching a documentary about weaponry that showcased a spiked buckler with a built in lantern used to light your way and blind/distract your opponent. But your example goes way beyond even that design, heh.
As far as many exotic Asian weaponry, one should also remember the context in which they were used. In the case of Japanese exotic weapons, the Shogunate basically outlawed most conventional weapons from being carried openly by anyone except the samurai class, disarming the lower classes and forcing peasants/commoners to convert agrarian tools into makeshift weapons like the kusari-gama, nunchaku, etc. in order to defend themselves from attack.
Similarly, you have the Shaolin develop unique weapons to suit their own martial art styles and government limitations (various Dynasties were always paranoid of peasant uprisings, and limiting access to weaponry is a key way to control the masses and ensure their rule of law). I think the se
crecy required to create and train with these weapons gave rise to mythical accounts of ninja and their ilk, because to train and wield these weapons and techniques openly would invite arrest or worse. And so the legend of these exotic weapons and their practitioners grew out of that.
(Incidentally, my favorite exotic Asian weapon would be the flying guillotine; basically a collapsible canvas that fits over a man's head with a ring of metal and retractable blades hidden within. The whole thing is thrown/wielded via a length of chain and once dropped on a victim's head, the user pulls the chain, the blades activate and theoretically decapitate the target; very complicated and most likely one of those surprise-attack-drop-from-above one-shot weapons but neat nonetheless.)
There are plenty of Western exotic weaponry, used in the context of open warfare to hunting and personal duels. The sheer number and variety of pole arms is just mind-boggling, for example, each one designed for a specific or variety of tasks, from pulling knights off their saddles to piercing armor or simply immobilizing a man. Combo-arms are also a good source of weirdly wonderful weapons, from sword-guns to Mr. Liebau's death glove there, heh. I've been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY recently and they have a few pistol-swords, a large flintlock hunting cleaver, and a serrated saw blade sword on display there.