Ox-Horn Crutch – Silver Wolf Wushu (2025)

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Damo Cane, Ox-Horn Crutch, tonfa

Tiger Claws

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Bodhidharma Cane, Gene Ching, Ox-Horn Crutch, tonfa, Wing Lam

Gene Ching, long-time publisher and editor of Kung Fu Magazine, should get a lot of credit for introducing and perhaps also preserving, the Bodhidharma Cane shown above. To work with two canes or crutches at the same time requires shortening the main shaft. At the same time, to be of some use as a blocking implement the main shaft has to be thickened somewhat. That meant that a skilled Shaolin monk could do one set with the Bodhidharma Cane, a second set with two Ox-horn crutches and a third set with one saber and one ox-horn crutch. I would think it would require consummate skill to survive very long against saber, sword, staff or spear were you armed with a Bodhidharma Cane. Just as there are limits on how well the Bodhidharma Cane serves on defense, there are concerns about just how deadly the Bodhidharma Cane is on offense.

Perhaps we can glimpse through the fog of history someone hastily adding a prepared dagger to a prepared crutch or short stick. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine using the crutch on a regular basis. But the problem is that the Ox-horn crutches as built have a knife whose blade faces the elbow. That means it cuts only when the hand draws back toward the body. If a dagger (two sharpened edges) were used then there would also be cutting when the hand moved away from the body.

The weapon is currently out of stock at Martial Arts Mart (item 25-214) but they do have the DVD (DVD-CA117) and the DVD with two tonfas (DVDK-CA117B). The allied merchandise site of Tigerclaw.com MAY have the weapon in stock. The Cane Master DVDs are worth a look

Tags

fork, Ox-Horn Crutch, saber, spear, staff, tonfa, trident, Wing Lam

It being the year of the Iron Ox

Some would prefer that the name be 牛角拐杖 – adding a ‘zhang’ = stick in English. Many moons ago a pair of personal weapons (pictured above) of the late Grandmaster Wing Lam were sold after his death by his business. As far as I know, he never taught or performed a set with the Ox-horn crutches.I do not recall ever seeing the weapons at either of his schools or even hearing rumor of them back in the 1970s. I would like to think I would have noticed them. I have managed to find two older YouTube videos by other people. I asked the esteemed Sifu David Chang of San Jose California if he had ever seen them in tournament or perhaps even heard of them. He graciously e-replied that he had not, but that the weapons were likely from Northern Shaolin style (one of the arts Grandmaster Wing Lamtaught). Further, the most well-known practitioner of them was the Eminent Monk Chun Nian淳念from the Qing dynasty period (1644 to 1912).So the looming questions are

/1/ If Grandmaster Wing Lam knew a set for the weapon
/a/ why didn’t he make a recording?
/b/ Did he wish to re-engineer the set?
/c/ Who might he have learned the set from?
/2/ Why didn’t he teach the set or display the weapons?
/3/ I am not much of a fan of tonfas despite owning several pairs:
/a/I usually was not able to land really devastating blows on an opponent
/b/ most commercially made tonfas did not cover my elbow;
/c/ gripping bare wood meant my hand was going to absorb a lot of vibrations
/d/ when taking a blow from a staff a tonfa was much better than nothing but the vibrations went from my fingers to my shoulder
/e/ not well-suited to fighting against sword or spear
/f/ generally did not do well against kwan dao or fork or trident
/g/ I don’t recall anyone breaking a forearm trying to use a tonfa to block a saber. But an allegedly dull saber cut through someone else’s tonfa and I had a saber get temporarily stuck in one of my tonfas and leave a slash behind

/4/ Of interest will be if students, particularly those who have challenges managing long weapons, especially the lau gar pole and the kwan dao, like these weapons.

I plan on having an all-wood set made. Probably no metal knife blades this time. We’ll see about wraps for the handle and for most of the long arm. If you know of anyone making or teaching this weapon please leave a comment. If you would like to order a pair of your own leave a comment as well

Tags

crutch, Niujiao Guai, Ox-Horn Crutch, Wing Lam

Niujiao Guai [Niújiǎo Guǎi]
The Ox-Horn Crutch is a traditional weapon used mostly in northern China.It is part of the Guai (Crutch) family of weapons. I mentioned this in the context of a previous post about the Bodhidharma Cane and the Shaolin Cane. This family of weapons has designs that are based on or resemble the traditional Chinese crutch. The Ox-Horn crutch as made by Grandmaster Wing Lam (sold out, alas) is heavy and focuses almost exclusively on “twirling” strikes. His website says

“The Kung Fu Ox Horn Double Crutches are custom made by Sifu Wing Lam. These are a very rare Chinese Kung Fu weapon. Similar to the tonfa but much longer and thicker. The Kung Fu Ox Horn Double Crutches are made from Palope Wood a very dense wood. Each crutch body is 25.75″, the handle area is 3.75″ and to the end of head is 5″. The dagger part is 8.25″ long and 2″ wide. The overall length of the handle and dagger is 13.25″. The diameter at thickest part of body is 2″. Both crutches together weigh 6.20 lbs. The handle area is attached to the body by mortise and tenon joint method then pinned. You will never find a pair of Kung Fu Crutches made of this quality if you find them at all. We only have one pair (long since sold out) and once sold will not be available again. The Ox Horn Double Crutches are not new but are Sifu Wing Lam’s personal weapon for sale…”

Two links

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