Collected Illustrations of the Three Realms

Utensils, Volume Six Weapons Category

Continued compilation by Wang Siyi, style name Yunmingfu, of Yunjian

Yunjian is a poetic name for the Songjiang region near modern Shanghai. Wang Siyi was the son of the primary compiler, Wang Qi, and assisted in finalizing this massive project.


Shield	Ancient Dagger-axe	Large Battle-axe	Long Spear	Feather Standard	Banner
Dagger-axe	Broad-axe	Short Spear	Bludgeon	Yak-tail Banner	Signal Flag

The weapons listed here, such as the dagger-axe (original: ge 戈) and the bludgeon (original: shu 殳), represent the "Five Weapons" of ancient Chinese chariot warfare. By the time this encyclopedia was published in 1609, many of these were ceremonial or historical rather than practical battlefield tools.

Long Spear and Short Spear Original: Yimao (夷矛) and Qiumao (酋矛). These are ritualized names for spears of different lengths used in the Zhou dynasty. The Long Spear was approximately 24 feet long, while the Short Spear was roughly 20 feet.

Shield and Dagger-axe Original: Gange (干戈). While listed here as individual items, these two characters joined together form the standard Chinese idiom for "warfare" or "arms."