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The Shaolin Meteor Hammer (Liuxing Chui)

Type of weapon: flexible / soft
Used by: Shaolin monks (China)
Martial arts: Kung Fu (various styles, it is one of the 18 Shaolin weapons)
Diffusion level: very low (only in specific and high-level Kung Fu circles)
Cost: medium-low cost

Technical characteristics

Composition: it is basically a rope tied to 5 rings (3 of which are made to help the flow of the movement) and a spherical metal weight; a small colored flag is also attached to the hammer part to make the motion more visible /earable (during demonstrations and / or training sessions) and to add a better balance to the weapon
Materials: the hammer and the rings are normally made of copper / iron / steel, the flag (the “hammer silk”) is made of fabric and the rope
Measures: the diameter of the metal weight is 4-8 cm; the diameter of the rope is about 1 cm and the total length should be proportioned to the practitioner (generally 2-3 m); excluding the hammer (and its knot), the perfect length is the widest horizontal opening of the 2 arms of the practitioner plus the distance from his shoulders from the ground (standing normally)
Weight: from a minimum of 400 g for the training / exhibitions versions (very fast) to the tremendous 3000 g of the combat ones (very dangerous)

Combat performances

Speed: it is very fast to manage and to follow
Effectiveness: to make it useful in real combat it is necessary an extremely high skill level (unknown in our century)
Power: due to the inertia of the movements it gains a big amount of power, enough to broke human bones
Advantages: long range, fast, hard to follow with the sight and devastating impacts
Disadvantages: at close distance and / or grasped, it loses a big part of its effectiveness

Practical use

Self-defense: it is a weapon hard to recognize but not enough versatile to be used in an improvised street context (it is very long)
Useful to: in training to develop high-quality spatial intelligence (read The most important skill in combat)
Ideal environment: open areas, both in training, both in combat
Effective applications: against unarmed opponents or to catch someone by surprise
How to evaluate the quality level: the rope must be strong but comfortable to grab, the metal must be good quality, filled and not too small

How to learn to use the meteor hammer

Danger level: high (when the hammer moves fast, it reaches incredible inertia, the impact with it can be disastrous)
Level of preparation required: the highest possible (spatial intelligence, etc.); outside an exhibition, it is one of the hardest weapons to use
In 6 Dragons Kung Fu: it facultative, is one of the last weapons we study and probably one of the most complexes
Prerequisites: soft touch skill (read How to acquire the Soft Touch skill), precision control (read Introduction to the idea of Precision Control), rigid weapons (start reading The basics of short sticks: safety and grip), easier flexible weapons (the rope, etc., start reading Stance and basic rotations of the rope), trained reflexes (start reading Shaolin training for reflexes), instinctive defense (read How to repel an attack in 6DKF: instinct and reason), state changes (read 6DKF’s interactions: from the strong blow to the light touch), basic conditioning (read Physical conditioning: how it works), etc.
Necessary study time: even to start to see the first results (in terms of basic), it is a matter of years (after the development of the prerequisites)

Variants and related weapons

Variants:

The double-headed meteor hammer – A very similar weapon but with 2 metal weights at the 2 extremities
The dart rope – A very similar weapon but with a metal dart instead of the weight
The training / exhibition version – It is the same but lighter and faster
The beginner training version – Instead of a metal head it is possible to use a tennis ball or a voluminous knot
…

Related weapons:

The 9 section whip chain (read 9 section whip chain)
The Kusarigama
The rope
…

In-depth articles

Learning the use of real weapons – The path to learn to use real martial weapons
Sparring with Nunchaku – How to concretely learn to fight with flexible weapons

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Have you tried the meteor hammer? Do you have something to add?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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