Drawing of a Yi Hu Chong, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Yi Hu Chong (翼虎銃, lit. 'Winged tiger gun'), sometimes known as Yi Hu Pao (翼虎砲, lit. 'Winged tiger cannon') is a rare type of fire lance with three bamboo barrels and five hooks. It is a fairly long weapon, measuring one zhang five chi in length, and shoots lead or iron shots.


The many winged tigers
Admittedly, military men generally weren't the most creative when it came to naming things. A great many weapons bear the name of Yi Hu (翼虎, winged tiger), yet they are completely unrelated to each other. To avoid confusion, I will cover all of them in this blog post.


Bu Xia Yi Hu Chong (步下翼虎銃, lit. 'Footman's winged tiger gun')

Top (above) and side (below) view of Bu Xia Yi Hu Chong (highlighted), from 'Shen Qi Pu (《神器譜》)'.

Bu Xia Yi Hu Chong is a type of multiple barrel handgonne developed by Zhao Shi Zhen (趙世楨). It appears to be a wrist-mounted, double-barreled handgonne with a blade or iron stake attachment.


Yi Hu Chong (翼虎銃, lit. 'Winged tiger arquebus')

Side (above) and top (below) view of Yi Hu Chong, from 'Shen Qi Pu (《神器譜》)'.

Also developed by Zhao Shi Zhen, this triple-barreled arquebus is sometimes known as Ma Shang Yi Hu (馬上翼虎, lit. 'Horseman's winged tiger') to differentiate from its footman's handgonne counterpart.

For more details, see my other post.


Xuan Ji Yi Hu (旋機翼虎, lit. 'Rotating mechanism winged tiger')

Xuan Ji Yi Hu, from 'Shen Qi Pu (《神器譜》)'.

Xuan Ji Yi Hu is an arquebus with three hand-rotatable barrels developed by Zhao Shi Zhen.

For more details, see my other post.


Yi Hu Pao (翼虎砲, lit. 'Winged tiger cannon')

Drawing of a Yi Hu Pao, from 'Jun Qi Tu Shuo (《軍器圖說》)'.

Yi Hu Pao is a large handgonne or light cannon mounted on a wooden frame.

For more details, see my other post.