Deer Horn Knives

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Deer Horn Knives (Lujiaodao 鹿角刀) are specialised Chinese bladed weapons consisting of two steel crescents crossing. They are used in Chinese martial arts. This crossing produces four curved, clawlike points, one of which is extended as the "main" blade. The practitioner grips the wrapped middle of the lengthened crescent with the other acting as a hand guard. Relatively short weapons that were easily concealable in traditional Chinese clothing, they are usually trained in pairs, one for each hand, hence the plural title of the article.

Deer Horn Knives are especially associated with the soft style Chinese martial art Baguazhang, which is known for its diverse weaponry. They are mainly used in trapping an opponent's weapon in aid of tying up or breaking the opponent's weapon, disarming the opponent and other close combat applications.

The Deer Horn Knives are normally used against longer weapons such as spear, sword, broadsword, or any weapon which uses safe distances to attack from. One advantage of the Deer Horn Knives in comparison to a longer weapon is that seeming the deer horn knives are direct appendages of the hand they can be moved with great speed and precision, and along with their ease of concealment, can easily be used to catch their opponent off guard.

[edit] Variations

Some Variations of the Deer Horn Knives include some with one crescent being longer than the other resulting in an appearance similar to the standard Deer Horn Knives but with the exception of the visual appearance of a protruding blade