Guan Dao

In his official biography there is no mention of what weapon Guan Yu used in the military. Since he was a man of the military he was most definetly schooled in various weapons of the time. These would of included the:

Gong - Bow
Jian/Dao - Sword/Knife
Mao/Qiang - Lance/Spear
Ge/Ji -Dagger Axe/Lance

In the novel "Romance of the 3 Kingdoms" it gives a story of how he had forged a special Da Dao (Big Knife) that he had designed. Military texts dating back from the Song dynasty categorize it as a "Yan Yue Dao (reclining moon blade). Guan Yu named his blade the Ching Lung Yan Yue Dao (green Dragon reclying/crescent Knife).

Basically it's a heavy curved blade attatched to a long shaft with a spike on the end.

The Blade can range from 2-3 ft in length with a special crescent notch on its back/spine. This is used to entangle/catch an opponents weapon or if large enough it served as a hook. Some blades are even known to have sharpened serrated edged spine. The curved blade is more suited to slashing, slicing and cutting more than stabbing.

The Guard is located at the base of the blade and can be found in various forms. Some are simply a bulge of metal protruding out to protect the knuckles of the wielder while others have intricate guards that can be protruding from the base outward & upward to also aide in deflecting or trapping an opponents weapon. The Guard for Guan Yu's weapon tends to be in the shape of a dragons head with its mouth open.

The Shaft is generally between 5 and 7 ft in length pertaining either to the height of the exponent or its usage either on horseback or on the ground. Infantry versions tend to have shorter wooden shafts while horse mounted versions tend to be longer and either have a lot of metal banding or be a solid metal shaft.

The End Cap aka Spike while can be used for striking is mainly there as a counter balance to the heavy blade.

Modern versions tend to be much lighter with more adornments attatched to it such as: Rings along its spine, the blade tip is curled to resemble an elephants trunk to the addition of bells and ribbons to various areas.

According to legend Guan Yu's weapon is said to have weighted 82 Chinese Jin which is approx. 590 grams as per the time period in which the novel was written (Ming Dynasty).

Interestingly in the "Catalogue of Ancient & Modern Knives & Swords" by Tao Hongjing it is mentioned that Guan Yu had personally made a pair of twin knives from iron ore he had dug up. But this is not strange as Generals carried numerous weapons. A primary and then a secondary so the Twin Knives could of definetly been a secondary weapon etc.

Also of interest is that the design of this his Green Dragon Dao weapon was first illustrated in the military works of Wujing Zongyao of the 11th century.

So it is believe that if Guan Yu did use a long weapon it was probably the popular "Ge/Ji (Halberd)". Written is that he utilized the techniques of thrust and slash. A version of the Ge has a spear type tip along with its curved blade.

The usage of heavy Da Dao's was popular during the late Ming & Qing Dynasty for training. Kind of like weightlifting like todays usage of Kettlebells. You just don't pick them up and down but can swing them as well.

The weapon was also widely adopted by martial artists for the purposes of training and for demonstrating their strength, perhaps also to train specifically for the military officer's tests. It is likely that such practices influenced the attribution of the weapon to Guan Yu despite the lack of historical evidence for his use of it-the use of a weapon that was intentionally made too heavy to be of practical use would make the character more imposing in literature.

Where it was used, it was largely used by infantry. In the Qing Dynasty, it was used by the all Han Green Standard Army. Apart from that, the lack of standardization of the antique examples that survive to today seems to indicate that at least from the 19th century onwards it was popular in the civilian martial arts realm as well.

Combat:

In actual combat a guan dao, or any other member of the family of long handled sabers, was used to hack and slice through an opponent. The considerable weight of the blade and the leverage of the handle would have allowed it to cut through most leather, chain, scale or light lamellar armor. It was obviously an offensive and not a defensive weapon. Deflecting motions would be done with the back of the blade and rear of the handle, with direct blocks done more often with handle than blade to avoid chipping it.

Forms utilizing the weapon in nearly all traditional styles of Chinese martial arts, emphasize strong slashing movements and momentum to keep the heavy blade moving through a series of spinning cuts. The considerable weight of the weapon also makes guan dao forms good for training the overall conditioning of the body.

Modern Version:

The modern Guan Dao used for todays Martial Artists are much lighter weighing only around 2-10kg (5-20lbs). The Shaft is made of wood and is only about 3-5 feet in length. The blade is only between 12-18 inches in length. Because of the weight some do not even have the spike as a counter balance.

Because of the lighter weight performers tend to add artistically acrobatic influenced movements to their performance. And with this the interpretation of its usage/application has changed as well. For example there is much more utilization for blocking and deflecting instead of the strong attacks. Also various ribbons and tassles have been added as well being explained for usage to distract the opponent. We trace these back to the Opera Performance Troupes versions and the cross training in other weapons like the spear with its tassle

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