Rope Dart

The rope dart or rope javelin, is one of the flexible weapons in Chinese martial arts. Other weapons in this family include the meteor hammer, flying claws, and chain whip. Although the flexible weapons share similar movements, each weapon has its own specific techniques.

The rope dart is a long rope (usually 10′ – 16′) with a metal dart attached to one end. This was a weapon from ancient times, which allows the user to throw the dart out at a long range target and use the rope to pull it back. The rope dart can be used for twining, binding, circling, hitting, piercing, tightening, and other techniques.

Rope dart play consists of twining, shooting, and retrieval. Twining and shooting can be done from any joint such as foot, knee, elbow, and neck. The rope is anchored on the left hand and played primarily with the right hand.

Skillful use of the rope dart can easily trick an opponent because the dart can shoot out very suddenly.

A variation of this weapon is the meteor hammer, which has a blunt weight on the end of the rope. It was used in a similar fashion to the rope dart, and many of the techniques are the same. The blunt shape of the meteor ball will deal concussive damage rather than piercing.

Meteor

The Meteor hammer often referred to simply as ‘meteor’, is an ancient Chinese weapon, consisting at its most basic level of two weights connected by a rope or chain. One of the flexible or ‘soft’ weapons, it is referred to by many different names worldwide, dependent upon region, construction and intended use. Other names in use include liu xing chui, dai chui, flying hammer or dragon’s fist. It belongs to the broader class of chain weapons.