Weapons - Rooster Claw Knives  鸡爪锐
Versions taught: none (see below). I found mention of these weapons under several names including Mandarin Duck Double Hooks. For myself, I would prefer a longer section along the forearm so the elbow is covered; bigger claws and a longer spearpoint. I e-wrote to the esteemed Tom Bisio: "Unless there is some top secret vault of unreleased recordings, the late Grandmaster Kwok Wing Lam never recorded a set with these. I certainly do not ever recall him having a pair around his school, so I would wager the weapons are NOT from a Northern Shaolin or Hung Gar tradition. They are not one of the listed 53 weapons of Choy Lay Fut either. I have outlived my last knowledgeable Mantis historian so I am not clear how to make progress if indeed there is anywhere to go.

After a few hours I can say the weapons don't handle anything like a Okinawan tonfa or Rooster claw sickles from Xing Yi Chuan. I learned Cheng style Lujiaodao (鹿角刀), which was usually translated as [Deer] Antler Knives, many years ago. These weapons don't function especially well in that set, although to me, speaking an an amateur, the weapons do have a Bagua feel to them."
Tom kindly replied: "They are Ba Gua Weapons used in the Liang Style - Li Zi Ming's group is pretty famous for using these weapons: Ba Gua Meridian Yin-Yang Rooster Claw Knife 八卦子午阴阳鸡爪锐
Ba Gua Zi Wu Yin Yang Ji Zhao Rui. We train them in our Ba Gua System. They are like Tonfas and also not like tonfas. Not sure why the Zi Wu which often translates as 'meridian'".

Some more information is available at https://www.internalartsinternational.com/ba-gua-zhang/
Cost: $140 per pair from WLE.com (search for W554).
Mandarin duck hooks Mandarin duck hooks

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