Description
2-Hour Immersive SeminarWelcome to the Historical Chinese Knife Throwing Workshop — an exploration of one of the lesser-known yet highly sophisticated traditions within Chinese martial culture.
Today’s training is not based on modern sport knife throwing or theatrical performance. Instead, this workshop draws from Republican-era Chinese martial arts manuals, historical accounts, and reconstructed practice methods connected to traditional Chinese hidden weapons systems, especially the Willow Leaf Throwing Knife (柳叶飞刀) and Feijian (Flying Dagger/Sword).
Across Chinese history, throwing weapons were not viewed as standalone battlefield tools, but as secondary weapons integrated into a larger martial system. Historical practitioners combined throwing knives with swordsmanship, movement training, timing, deception, and tactical positioning. The goal was often not simply accuracy, but disruption — creating openings, controlling distance, and unsettling an opponent before closing with another weapon.
The workshop focuses especially on the traditional Chinese Willow Leaf Knife, a distinctive throwing weapon described in historical manuals as having a leaf-shaped blade, compact handle, and specialised back-carry system. Unlike modern rotational knife throwing, many Chinese methods emphasised controlled low-rotation or “no-spin” throwing mechanics designed for practical use at varying distances.
Historical manuals describe several different throwing methods:
- Half-spin methods common in many cultures
- Three-finger direct-release techniques similar to dart throwing
- Natural-grip no-spin methods emphasizing fluid body mechanics and wrist control
These systems required coordination of posture, breathing, relaxed power, and precision release rather than brute force alone.
Throughout this seminar, participants will examine:
- The historical development of Chinese throwing weapons
- The structure and design logic of traditional throwing knives
- Historical carry systems and tactical applications
- Foundational no-spin throwing mechanics
- Distance control and release timing
- Integration of throwing with traditional Chinese martial movement
- Safe modern training progression for beginners
We will also discuss stories recorded in historical texts describing highly skilled martial artists demonstrating extraordinary precision with throwing knives during public exhibitions and martial gatherings. These accounts help illustrate how seriously these skills were regarded within traditional Chinese martial culture.
Most importantly, this workshop approaches knife throwing not as fantasy or movie choreography, but as a reconstructed martial discipline rooted in documented historical sources. While many legends surrounding “flying swords” became exaggerated in fiction over time, the systems we study today are practical physical methods that real practitioners trained and transmitted across generations.
Over the next two hours, participants will have the opportunity to safely experience these methods firsthand — gaining insight into both the technical skill and cultural heritage behind historical Chinese knife throwing traditions.
Date: 28th June 2026 – 1.30pm to 3.30pm
Location: Betteshanger Park, Deal
Cost: £30
