Chinese Movie Sword

[Queequeg]

I just finished watching "The Curse of the Golden Flower", which stars Chow Yun Fat (who plays a Tang Dynasty Emperor) and Gong Li (the Empress).

A group of assassins makes a few appearances in the film, and they specialize in a kind of battle sickle that reminds me of a khopesh or a large arit.

Does this weapon have any historical authenticity in China, or is solely a film prop?

Here are some screenshots. I apologize in advance for the quality.

[Lew]

Looks like a big kama gusari to me? Notice the cord attachment at the end of the handle.

[Queequeg]

Yep. They use grappling hooks on the other ends of the ropes. But they don't have the 90deg angle shape of the kama. :shrug:

[KuKulzA28]

In Southern China, various fighters and pirates used a hook-blade type sword. However it was said to resemble a billhook of sorts, kinda like the kai-shan-dao (machete equivalent) of today's Fujian and Taiwan. Therefore it would have been a shorter but hefty chopping blade for lobbing off limbs and heads... its size making it very useful when fighting on boats, in heavily forested areas, or in the dirty alleyways of Fujian and Taiwan....

The hook blade there looks kinda fantasy to me:shrug:

[fearn]

Off-hand, I don't know any real weapons that precisely resemble that weapon. The falx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falx) is sort of vaguely equivalent.

Best,

F

[Bill M]

Sort of looks like an Ethiopian Shotel.

[fearn]

Check out this old thread (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=997) for something similar.