Chinese Mythology: Legendary Weapons
Excalibur? Mjolnir? Durandal, Joyeuse, even Poseidon’s trident. All famous, cool weapons. I’m sure you’ve all got favourite characters with equally iconic weapons (yes, the Batmobile does indeed count). Sometimes, the weapon even becomes just as famous as the character itself- I’m sure Excalibur and King Arthur are equally popular.
Often, the weapon becomes inseparable from the character themself. In Berserk, Guts’ huge greatsword, the Dragonslayer, is so iconic that he feels wrong without it.
This isn’t just the case for weapons, either. Characters will often have something with them that signifies who they are, so recognisable that even just one glance at that item will remind you of that character.
For Hamlet, it’s a skull (slightly misleading because that scene in the play doesn’t even correspond to the soliloquy it’s famous for). Sherlock Holmes and his deerstalker hat, Harry Potter and his lightning scar. These are all IP markers, like a Pokeball or Captain America’s Vibranium shield.
In Chinese mythology, we often see these “markers” apply to famous characters too. If you ever read or watched a Journey to the West adaptation, you’ll recognise Zhu Bajie (often translated as Pigsy) as a pig spirit wielding a rake- this rake has become synonymous with his character.
九齿钉耙- Jiuchi Dingpa, or Nine-toothed Rake.
I remember playfighting with my cousins as a child with garden rakes and my grandma calling me Zhu Bajie as a joke.
As such, I’ll be going through some of the most famous legendary weapons in Chinese mythology, literature and history.
This picture is from a comment section on XHS- not sure where it came from.
By far the most famous item on this list, the mythological magical staff of Sun Wukong. Ruyi Jingu Bang means the Dutiful Gold-Banded Staff. The dutiful part means it can shrink or grow depending on the owner’s will, and it’s got gold all over it. It’s most commonly referred to as just the Jingu Bang, or the Jingu Staff.
In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong goes to Ao Guang (the Dragon King of the East China Sea, see this post) to look for a weapon. He goes through every single weapon in his inventory and is unsatisfied by all of them.
An exasperated and frustrated Ao Guang tells him to basically “use that random pillar in the corner if you want, I’m done here!”. (Technically it’s Ao Guang’s wife who gives him the idea).
The “random pillar” was used by Yu the Great to measure the depths of the floods that used to plague China (see the myth here) and is called the 定海神针 Dinghai Shenzhen, or the Sea-Calming Divine Needle. The word needle is a little disingenuous- it weighs 18000 pounds and is a huge fucking iron pillar.
Now, it’s a little useless since no one needs to calm the seas or measure floods anymore and Ao Guang is tired of it taking up space in the corner. Wukong takes him seriously and picks it up, all 18000 pounds of it (remember Wukong is OP).
Now, 18000 pounds sounds like a lot (it is a lot) and it was an unfathomable weight back in ancient China, like three thousand years ago. Now it’s not even that bad- 18000 is about the weight of a fully-sized school bus. Still, imagine a monkey throwing a school bus at you. Not fun.
Wukong shrinks the Divine Needle down to the general size of a staff and it’s renamed the Ruyi Jingu Bang. When he doesn’t need it, he shrinks it to the size of a tuft of hair and keeps it behind/in his ear.
This is a shot from the 2015 movie Monkey King- Hero is Back.
This scene is from Black Myth: Wukong.
You may remember in Ne Zha 2, there was a huge pillar keeping the abyssal monsters under the sea that Ao Guang spent his days on. That’s the same pillar Ao Bing and Ne Zha use to break the cauldron they’re trapped in- at the end of the movie, Ne Zha punches it accidentally and it falls over into the sea.
That was a scene lost on foreign viewers- this pillar is the Dinghai Shenzhen, the future Ruyi Jingu Bang that Sun Wukong will wield. A very hype scene for Chinese people- they didn’t even need to explain it.
That’s just how popular Sun Wukong is. Even just the appearance of the raw materials of his weapon hundreds of years before he’s even born is enough to be hype.
In Chinese mythology, people often use magical ropes, lassoes and sashes. The Huntianling is one of the most famous. I translated this as the Skyblinding Sash. It’s one of Ne Zha’s most iconic weapons, a long red sentient ribbon that follows him along. He uses it to bind, trap and generally torment random monsters while he beats them up. Think of this sash like Doctor Strange’s sentient red cape- it can act independently of Ne Zha, but he controls it.
Another one of Ne Zha’s weapons! He’s very famous and he has a LOT of weapons- I’m only covering the most famous ones. In all he has over ten famous weapons. The Huojian Qiang, or Fire-tipped Spear, is his most iconic weapon. It is basically a long golden spear that can shoot flames out of one end.
Refer back to the picture at the beginning for Huntianling. I'm getting tired of finding various pics for Ne Zha.
Bajiao Shan means Banana Leaf Fan. Yeah, the name itself isn’t very intimidating, but the weapon is. The most famous iteration of the Bajiao Shan is the one owned by Princess Iron Fan, the wife of the Bull Demon King and the mother of Red Child (translated as Red Boy sometimes and often confused with Ne Zha).
One flap of the Bajiao Shan can whip up whirlwinds and put out any fire. If you fan it at a guy he’ll be blasted ninety thousand miles away.
Surprises, shocks, it’s Ne Zha again. The Fenghuolun or Wheels of Wind and Fire are Ne Zha’s main method of transportation. They’re two flaming golden wheels that he rides on like roller skates and allow him to fly at super high speeds. Literally mythological Hot Wheels.
Can you guess who this belongs to? Three tries.
If you guessed Ne Zha you’re right. Why does he have so much stuff? I don’t know. That’s what his six arms are for, I guess. You really couldn’t hold all this stuff without six arms.
The Qiankun Quan, or Rings of Heaven and Earth (Qiankun is a fancy way of heaven and earth and basically refers to the universe, or reality in general) is a shape and size-changing golden ring. It can be small enough to wear as a bracelet or neck ring, or big as a hula hoop or a Ferris wheel. It’s also sometimes depicted as a set of rings, but I find that this interpretation always reminds me of the Olympic rings.
The Qiankun Quan are used to strangle people, bash people’s heads in (poor Ao Guang) and generally be bad news for anyone on Ne Zha’s bad side. They’re also very pretty decorations!
Here you can see him with his most iconic weaponry- the wheels, the gold rings around his wrists, the spear and the sash.
Jiulong Shenhuo Zhao 九龙神火罩
Jiulong Shenhuo Zhao or the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Cage is a trap owned by Taiyi Zhenren or Master Taiyi, Ne Zha’s master. Taiyi Zhenren has a LOT of treasures. It’s a cage made up of nine golden dragons which shoot fire. In the original myth of Ne Zha, Lady Stone Spirit (Lady Shiji) was burnt to death inside this cage by Taiyi Zhenren.
(this picture is an NFT. I do not care that it's an NFT.)
This is not a Ne Zha weapon though it has to do with Ne Zha. Linglong Baota, or the Delicate Treasure Pagoda (there’s a tower of the same name in the Beijing Olympic Village named after this pagoda) is the mythological weapon of the Pagoda Bearing Heavenly Lord, 托塔天王, Li Jing. Does the name Li Jing sound familiar?
Yup, it’s Ne Zha’s asshole dad.
Hey, although he’s a terrible father, he’s a good general at least. He was willing to sacrifice his own son to save his people. He’s just not very nice.
This pagoda was a gift from the Jade Emperor (who got it from the Buddha) to Li Jing in order to prevent Ne Zha from whooping Li Jing’s ass. It can trap any mortal, god or demon inside (yes, including Ne Zha).
All in all, if Li Jing’s pagoda ever left his side you can best believe Ne Zha would be on him in an instant.
Qinglong Yanyue Dao 青龙偃月刀
The Qinglong Yanyue Dao, or the Azure Dragon Crescent-Slaying Blade, is a famous blade that is technically real! Okay, well the actual blade probably didn’t exist, but the style of blade is real and there are recreations that are basically 100% accurate (the “real” blade is on display at a very famous temple, but I don’t actually know if it’s supposed to be legitimate since I’ve never been).
After all, it’s just a big fancy sword- it’s not magic like any of the other stuff we see above. I include it here because somehow Wikipedia figured it was important, so I thought why not?
Legends surrounding the blade depict it as very heavy (like 100 pounds heavy) and wielded by a famous general from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This legend is debatable, but the blade is still famous.
If you're in awe at the sheer number of these that belong to Ne Zha- I'm not done. He has more.
Shenhuozhao (Divine Fire Trap), Jin Zhuan (Golden Brick), Fu Yao Suo (Demon Subjugation Rope), Kan Yao Dao (Demon Slaying Blade), Yin Yang Shuang Jian (Twin Yin-Yang Swords), Xiu Qiu (Embroidered Ball), Xiang Yao Chu (Devil's Bane Staff), Baopi Nang (Panther's Skin Pouch), Qiankun Gong (Bow of Heaven and Earth), Zhentian Jian (Sky-shaking Arrows)...
His master Taiyi Zhenren is known for having a shit ton of... stuff, so he gave a lot of it to Ne Zha. At least that's my understanding.
The reason why Ne Zha features so prominently on this list isn't just that he's my favourite mythological character (he's actually not- my favourites are Erlang Shen, Wukong and Chang'e), it's because he just has a lot of stuff.
Most people have one or two or three key weapons or items. He just has... so much.
