Black Ronin Ninja Ring

In keeping with the theme of close-in fighting implements, I thought I’d blog about an interesting variation on some traditional Asian weapons. Basically a modernized variation of traditional Chinese hand weapons, such as the sun and moon ring, or deer horn knife, they feature a crescent blade in either side of the handle, and a central standoff in the middle of each knife. This weapon is called:

Black Ronin Ninja Ring.

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The Black Ronin Ninja Ring is an interesting design, in that, in addition to having excellent slashing characteristics, it also incorporates the thrusting abilities of a straight blade, an ability that was notably absent in the last set of knives I blogged about.
Now one point I found quite interesting is how this knife is referred to as a “ninja” weapon. Personally I think it’s a little misleading, for many reasons. First, to my admittedly non-comprehensive knowledge, pretty much every weapon this knife could possibly be based on is of Chinese origin, while ninjas are of Japanese origin. Also Ninja, by nature, like to travel light, and would be more likely to carry a somewhat more compact close-in combat weapon, like Kama. So it seems to me unlikely that they would carry a weapon like this. This would be more suited for Chinese Kung-Fu than Ninjutsu.
But regardless of the idiosyncratic name, these weapons represent an interesting mix of old and new, combining several old weapon designs into a unique new contemporary design. Very cool.

Wiper Blade

OOOOKKKK…. I ran into this little gem while looking at some other ninja swords. And boy, this is an unusual one. Now if the title of this post confuses you, there is a reason; it is actually in homage to the typo that exists on the product page of the website I found this on, describing it as a “Ninja Blade Wipe” instead of a “Ninja Blade Whip”, but although I subsequently corrected all of the references in this post to correctly describe the weapon, in the interest of humor, I decided to leave the heading as is. (OK. This would be an appropriate point for a chuckle. If you don’t you are a cold hearted fish. And you live in a dark muddy pond. With mutant bull frogs. Fine. Be that way.) I’ve seen similar weapons twice, once in a move and once in a video game, just never in real life. But in essence, somewhere between the vast expanse that should theoretically exist between the designs for a whip and a sword, you may run across this:

The Ninja Blade Whip

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Now to be honest, I’m not quite sure what to make of this. The idea is certainly compelling in theory though. Basically, chain a bunch of smaller blades together into a freakishly long whip of blades. Got it. Only thing is, this freak of weapon nature is 46.5″ all told, and it seems like the hinges, and attachment point reinforcement, etc. would add all kinds of weight to the blade. A regular 46″ sword would probably weigh considerably less that this. It’s weight is not listed so I can’t be sure. A 96″ or even 120″ weighted whip would almost certainly be lighter. But unless it weighs a lot less than it looks, this is not something that a ninja would want to lug around all the time. A kusarigama or manrikigusari would give a ninja the same reach without all the extra weight. Yet Another victim of over-enthusiastic weapons marketing.

But over optimistic ninja labeling aside, you could probably get some great velocity and power out of that, and with the sheer number of cutting edges on it, you could probably do a lot of damage. So from an intimidation and effectiveness standpoint, this might make for a great weapon for a person trained to use heavy/long swords or whips. Oh, and don’t get me wrong, I’m sure a ninja could use one quite effectively. They are masters of all weapons after all. It just probably wouldn’t be the first weapon they’d pick up going out the door…

Double Deer Horns

 

Traditional Double Deer Horns
 Meridian Axe Couple  Zi Wu Yuan Yang Yue, often used in Pa Kua,   

* Traditional Baguazhang utilizes a unique weapon called the Deer Horn sword. Recognizing the advantages of training and fighting with two weapons, the stiff chrome steel Deer Horn swords are most commonly used together.

 Traditional Deer Horn Meridian Axe Couple-Wooden Handle

* Rare Deer Horn Meridian Axe Couple-Wooden Handle, part of the LONG QUAN Dragon Well weapons. Designed and quality controlled by Han Ding Martial Arts, this weapons is crafted from the Dragon Well series of the Sheng family artisans.

Double Deer Horns

Traditional Baguazhang utilizes a unique weapon called the Deer Horn sword. Recognizing the advantages of training and fighting with two weapons, the stiff chrome steel Deer Horn swords are most commonly used together.

 Combat Double Deer Horns

Traditional Baguazhang utilizes a unique weapon called the Deer Horn sword. Recognizing the advantages of training and fighting with two weapons, the stiff chrome steel Deer Horn swords are most commonly used together.

* Their form and application is described in Liang Shou Yu, Wu Wen Ching, and Yang Jwing Ming