Rope dart

The rope dart or rope javelin (

. It consists of a metal spike attached to the end of a 3–5-metre (10–16 ft) long rope.

History

The earliest known reference to the rope dart as a distinct weapon from the meteor hammer or flying claw is a drawing in a 19th-century book about street vendors in Beijing. The context and items in this drawing as well as photographs from the early 20th century of similar content suggest these rope darts are intended for use in performance art. These early versions are shown with bamboo tubes that function as a sliding handle.^[1]

Rope dart play consists of spinning, shooting, and retrieval. One end of the rope, usually a loop or slipknot, is held in or tied to the non-dominant hand to serve as an anchor, while the dominant hand is used to guide the rope, often moving along the length. The dart is kept in near constant motion and the user not only uses both hands, but their arms, legs and neck as part of the manipulation process. A typical action involves using momentum of the dart to wind the rope around specific body parts, using principles of angular momentum to build up speed, and then carefully timing a release to send the dart flying out in a straight line, followed quickly by retrieval. Just like the chain whip, excellent hand-eye coordination is a must for the practitioner to use the rope dart well. In some Wushu training regimens, the chain whip and Changquan are prerequisites for learning the rope dart.

The dart is made of a hard material, usually iron or steel. It can be of variable weight depending on the users preference, and can be variable in shape (conical, triangular prism, pentagonal prism) and is typically blunted. The dart head has a ring or hole at the base which connects to small number of links for attaching to the rope, though some simple variants tie the rope directly to the dart head.

Traditionally, the rope was constructed from Chinese rope and covered with wax to minimize friction.^{[citation needed]} In modern times, the rope is often made of a softer synthetic material and covered with talc powder or some other substance to reduce friction. Some less common variants substitute a fine chain for the rope, though this can be uncomfortable for the user due to the friction. It is common for a cloth flag or ribbon to be attached to the rings or directly to the dart head. These provide a visual for the audience to see the dart's movement as well as creating

to slow the dart's movement, which helps the user maintain control of it.

Older versions had the rope pass through a bamboo tube which was held in the user's dominant hand. This functioned as a handle that could slide along the rope's length, as well as protecting the user's hand from friction burns. It is speculated these fell out of use with the introduction of modern rope materials that have lower friction.

While relatively new, rope dart is used in the

Both of these can be performed in the dark, adding excitement and mystery.[citation needed]

In modern media

• In Season 1 of America's Got Talent: Extreme William Brandon performed a fire dance with the rope dart.
• In the
  Eivor Varinsdottir also employ rope darts in their respective games.^[5]
• In the
  Ta Lo, Xialing acquires a rope dart made from dragon scales.^[6]
• In the Mortal Kombat series, the character Scorpion uses a rope dart.
• In Destiny 2, the Hunter class uses a rope dart as a melee weapon as well as their super ability when using the Strand subclass.

See also

• Aklys – Roman weapon of similar construction
• List of martial arts weapons
• List of premodern combat weapons
• Slungshot – a rope with a weighted end, far shorter, though similar in construction.
• Suruchin
  – Okinawan weapon of similar construction

References

1. ^ Alexander Petty (March 2021). "Of Rope Darts and Meteor Hammers: A Visual History of Flexible Weapons in China". The Ravenswood Academy. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
2. ^ "Fire Rope Dart - tribe.net". Fireropedart.tribe.net. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
3. ^ "fire rope dart (Fire dragon)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
4. ^ "Flowtoys :: toys for flow". Flowtoys.com. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
5. ^ Meer, Alec (27 March 2012). "Talkin' Bout Assassin's Creed III's Revolution". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
6. ^ "Xialing | Characters | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2022-08-07.

Further reading

• Li, Keqin; Li Xingdong (1996). Soft Weapons – Nine-Section Whip and Rope Dart. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
  ISBN 7-119-01883-3
  .

External links

• Description of the Rope Dart
• Jōhyō