Monk's Spade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A monk's spade (Chinese: 月牙鏟; pinyin: yuèyáchǎn; literally "Moon-Tooth Spade") is a Chinese pole weapon consisting of a long pole with a spade-like blade on one end and a crescent-shaped blade on the other. Like most polearms, it is most likely based on a farm tool. It is used with a slashing movement, as well as a thrust movement.

It is most famous for being the weapon of Sha Wujing, the "Sand Monk" from the 16th-Century classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, but the weapon is also historically associated with the Shaolin monks and features in the martial arts wushu, gongfu, and shaolin kung fu. It has been widely used in kung fu cinema (notably by Lau Kar-Fai in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin), and is used by the Shaolin priest in the online game Dragon Fist 2 and by Monk Zeng in Jade Empire.

 This article related to the martial arts is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.