Playing with a Spear

The other day my wife came home from a long hard day at work and wanted to practice some kung fu. We both grabbed a spear and went out into our yard and went through 2 northern style spear forms. These forms are fun and challenging.

The spear tip should be looked at while doing thrusts. The blade of the spear should be oriented so that the cutting edge is always cutting, after all it is a blade. The spear is a fantastic long range weapon and can be used at close range as well as long as space isn't to constricted. Our forms have some fantastic moves such as jump spinning smash kicks over the spear and running away from the opponent just to turn at the last moment to impale the opponent.

All good Spear forms have La, na and cha, which means deflect, take, thrust. These 3 moves are essential for spear play and should be completed without much movement from the left hand. When performing the take move the blade should be able to cut the opponents throat if the blade is being used properly.

The less imposing end of the spear is quite possibly more painful to be struck with. I personally have crushed small rocks with the "blunt end" of the spear. Imagine that force being directed by a martial artist through your solar plexus or throat. Good times!!!

There are 3 different types of spear forms that I have learned. Northern, Southern and Drunken.
The northern spear is very conservative in it's use. You almost never remove the left hand while doing thrust for example. The southern spear is much more dramatic. In the southern spear forms when you thrust the left hand almost always leaves the spear. This allows for more reach at the sacrifice of control. Drunken Spear is even less conservative than the southern spear. It is very acrobatic (as are most of the drunken forms). The moves are done with a drunken flair stumbling out of the way, falling over, cart wheels, and even feigning throwing up. The spear forms all have really cool applications and they are amazingly fun to practice. The weapon is light weight for the most part but after a few times through the forms you start feeling the work out for sure.

This weapon will absolutely develop great wrist strength and combined with low bow stances and powerful thrusts your legs will feel it in the morning as well. Here is a fun little movie clip with some spear play.

Learn more about spears from a qualified instructor at a Shao-lin center near you. Click here for their website.