The proper Chinese name for mace is Gu Duo (骨朵), which is a corruption of Gua Zhun (胍肫), meaning big belly or flower bud. It is also known as Chui (錘, can be written as 鎚, meaning hammer), the later term is more common in modern usage.
Drawing of a Suan Tou Gu Duo, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
Suan Tou Gu Duo is a mace with a garlic- or pumpkin-shaped mace head.
Ji Li Gu Duo (蒺藜骨朵, lit. 'Puncturevine mace')
Drawing of a Ji Li Gu Duo, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
Liao period iron spiked mace. Inner Mongolia Museum. |
Aside from the two maces recorded in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》) and Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》), several types of maces were also used in the Ming army.
Spherical Mace
Qing period short mace with spherical head. Private collection. |
Ba Ling Chui (八棱錘, lit. 'Eight-edged mace')
A Qing period mace with polyhedral head. Private collection. |
Flanged Mace
A pair of late Yuan/early Ming period flanged maces discovered in the tomb of Ming general Kang Mao Cai (康茂才). |
Ceremonial Mace
Two ceremonial maces, from 'San Cai Tu Hui (《三才圖會》)'. |
Other variations of ceremonial mace were also used.
A fine quality mace, probably ceremonial. Private collection. |
Any dimensions for these weapons? I've seen some in artwork which seem to be short enough to be use single handed, but suspect some may have been larger two handed articles.
ReplyDelete@clibinarium
ReplyDeleteMost Chinese (and maces from other cultures, for that matter) maces that I am aware of are one-handed.
Two handed blunt weapons come in the form of Lang Ya Bang (狼牙棒, Wolf's tooth club), and Shu (殳, a mace-spear from Chinese bronze age, no longer used during Ming).
It was probably the Lang Ya Bang I was thinking of.
ReplyDelete@clibinarium
ReplyDeleteLang Ya Bang is not too common though, and it looks more like a spiked baseball bat than a mace.
@Clibinarium
ReplyDeleteTwo-handed maces exist. Recently found the photo of a Jin Dynasty silver mace, and some murals with guards holding two-handed maces.
can i see the pictures?
Deletehttps://i.imgur.com/l1DpLMh.jpg
Deletewhich Jin dynasty?
Deletethis Jin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_dynasty_(266%E2%80%93420)
or this Jin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_dynasty_(1115%E2%80%931234)
?
The second one.
DeleteAmazing blog.
ReplyDeleteWill there be a blog about hammers in the future? Or is there not enough historical finds for this group of weapons?
If you mean war hammer/horseman's pick, Chinese people in general do not use that (barring a few rare exceptions).
DeleteInteresting, thank you.
DeleteMaces need more love tbh >.>
ReplyDelete