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Weapons and armor in Chinese mythology: magical, mythological, or other, weapon arms, and armor form an important motif or motifs in Chinese mythology.

Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as "China". Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Chinese mythology is far from monolithic, not being an integrated system, even among just Han people. Chinese mythology is encountered in the traditions of various classes of people, geographic regions, historical periods including the present, and from various ethnic groups. China is the home of many mythological traditions, including that of Han Chinese and their Huaxia predecessors, as well as Tibetan mythology, Turkic mythology, Korean mythology, and many others. However, the study of Chinese mythology tends to focus upon material in Chinese language. Much of the mythology involves exciting stories full of fantastic people and beings, the use of magical powers, often taking place in an exotic mythological place or time. Like many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history. Along with Chinese folklore, Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion (Yang 2005, 4). Many stories regarding characters and events of the distant past have a double tradition: ones which present a more historicized or euhemerized version and ones which presents a more mythological version (Yang 2005, 12–13). Many myths involve the creation and cosmology of the universe and its deities and inhabitants. Some mythology involves creation myths, the origin of things, people and culture. Some involve the origin of the Chinese state. Some myths present a chronology of prehistoric times, many of these involve a culture hero who taught people how to build houses, or cook, or write, or was the ancestor of an ethnic group or dynastic family. Mythology is intimately related to ritual. Many myths are oral associations with ritual acts, such as dances, ceremonies, and sacrifices.

Weapons and armor

Weapons featured in Chinese mythology include Guanyu's pole weapon, sometimes known as the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. Also: the shield and battleax of the defiant dancer Xingtian, Yi's bow and arrows, given him by Di Jun, and the many weapons and armor of Chiyou.

Demon-slaying swords

Lü Dongbin had or has a demon-slaying sword, according to legend (Eberhard 1986, 281-282). Some of the swords most commonly wielded against demons were made of peachwood.

Cash swords

One magically efficacious sword was held to be made out of monetary coinage, or Chinese cash coins.

Yi's bow and arrows

The great archer Yi was given a bow and arrows by Di Jun, in order to dispel the noxious presence of nine of ten over-heating suns (Birrell 1993, 314).

Battles of Banquan Zhuolu

The early mythological battles of China were the battles of Banquan and of Zhuolu. Of the two, the conflict at Zhoulu is the more mythologically replete: both offensive and defensive weapons are described, along with countermeasures.

Yandi

Yandi is also known as the Flame Emperor or the Red Emperor. He fought a war with Huangdi which was decided in the Battle of Banquan. The fire with which Yandi is associated seems to have been put to agricultural purposes.

Chiyou

The mythological Chhih-yu was supposed to have invented weapons and war, Chiyou's legendary war with Huangdi included enhancing the technology to use of artificial mists and possibly the use of the compass as a countermeasure by Huangdi, and evoking the powers of wind and rain to inluence battle (Christie 1968, 90-91).

Huangdi

Huandi is also known as the Yellow Emperor.

Battle of Banquan

The Battle of Banquan (simplified Chinese: 阪泉之战; traditional Chinese: 阪泉之戰; pinyin: Bǎn Quán Zhī Zhàn) is the first battle in Chinese history is recorded by Sima Qian's in the Records of the Grand Historian, a major source of both historical and mythological material. It was fought by Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, and Yandi, the Flame Emperor.

Battle of Zhuolu

According to the Chinese mythological account Classic of Mountains and Seas, Chiyou, various allies fought against Huangdi at the plain of Zhuolu. Both sides used magical means, but Chi You had the advantage of forged swords and halberds. Using his powers, Chiyou covered the battlefield in thick fog. The Yellow Emperor's troops found their way through the mist with the help of a magical south-pointing chariot. Huangdi used Nüba, a drought deity, to harm Chiyou's troops. Yinglong, the winged dragon, finally defeated Chiyou.

Glaive of Guan Yu

The mighty warrior, later general, and subsequently deified Guan Yu is particularly associated with his glaive weapon, known in China as a yanyuedao, "crescent moon blade", or as a guandao. Guan's blade-weapon is known as the Green Dragon Crescent Moon Sword or as the Frost Fair Blade, from the idea that during a battle in the snow, the blade continuously had blood on it; the blood froze and made a layer of frost on the blade. According to Chapter 1 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade was said to weigh 82 catties. During the Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms periods, one catty was approximately 220 grams, so 82 catties would have been approximately 18 kilograms (~40 pounds). A weapon weighing about 100 pounds (~45 kilograms), purported to be the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, is on display at the Purple Cloud Temple in China today. Despite the weight, Guan Yu was said to have ridden alone for a thousand miles, carrying his weapon, and to have capably wielded it one-handed.

Ganjiang and Moxie

Also known as Kan Chiang and Mo Yeh, Gan Jiang and Mo Xie were a husband and wife pair and eponymous makers of paired swords (Birrell 1993, 221-224 and 303). Gan-jiang was the male, Mo-xie female. They were said to have been forged from the liver and kidneys of a metal-eating hare residing in the Kunlun Mountains (Eberhard 1986, 282).

Magical weapons in Journey to the West

Various weapons appear in Journey to the West some of interest as part of a mythological legacy.

Ruyi Jingu Bang

Ruyi Jingu Bang is a name for the magic staff of Sun Wukong.

Fly-whisks

Fly whisks appear as weapons of immense magical potency, especially wielded by Daoists.

List of famous swords of Chinese legend or mythology

This is a partial list of famous swords of Chinese legend or mythology. Some of these swords also appear in literary fiction; or, various other media, including comics and video games. There are two main types of sword: jian and dao. Swords with estimated or presumed magical powers (or, that were especially well-made) were often designated by the epithet "treasure" (寶), as is the case with "treasure jian" (寶劍) and "treasure dao (寶刀)". The modern Chinese may vary.

Jian

Jian tend to be blades with two edges, longer than what would be considered to be a dagger. Translations into English are mostly provisional.

1. Likely the transcription of a non-Chinese name. It has also been translated as "Great Riverbank".
2. Likely in the sense of capital punishment: execution by chopping-off heads of "snakes".
3. 30 catties are approximately equivalent to just over 18 kilograms, or about 40 pounds avoirdupois.
4. There are places named Longquan in Sichuan and Zhejiang.

Makers and origins

The makers and origins of weapons and armor is often mythologically important. Examples include the swords and spears originating from Wu (state), such as the sword used to slice open Gun to release his son Yu, or the legendary swords of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye (Birrell 1993, 222). Often a hero must go through peril in order to obtain a special weapon.

See also

General information

• Category:Weapons of China
• Chinese armour
• Chinese swords
• Chinese martial arts
• Chinese mythology
• Dao (sword)
• Gun (staff)
• Ji (polearm)
• Jian: general article about double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China.
• List of Chinese wars and battles
• List of magical weapons
• Qiang (spear)

Other information

• Green Dragon Crescent Blade
• Hymn to the Fallen (Jiu Ge)
• Jiutian Xuannü
• Leigong
• List of Chinese swords
• Clan He's jade
• Ou Yezi
• Thunderbolt
• Xuan-Yuan Sword: a video game series.

External links

• 中國名劍 category
• 传说兵器 category

References

• Birrell, Anne (1993). Chinese Mythology. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins). ISBN 0-8018-6183-7
• Christie, Anthony (1968). Chinese Mythology. Feltham: Hamlyn Publishing. ISBN 0600006379
• Eberhard, Wolfram (2003 ), A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00228-1}
• Yang, Lihui and Deming An, with Jessica Anderson Turner (2005). Handbook of Chinese Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533263-6

• Chinese mythology
• Weapons of China