In your wing chun training you will learn to wield the two weapons of wing chun.  The 61/2 point pole and the butterfly swords.

These two weapons have deep tradition in their own right and have been brought into the wing chun kung fu system by various masters.  During the history of wing chun a lot of its teachings where underground and part of secret society.  One major society was the travelling opera boat group. They had a perfect cover that allowed them to use various tools that can be considered part of their act. So in a way their training and practice was camouflaged buy their artistic endeavours.

Also a key aspect of kung fu training was that most of the weapons stemmed from your everyday nondescript farming equipment.  Such as rice flails, or boating such as poles and staff. Staffs where used to carry water to and from wells thus techniques for self defence where developed from familiar objects to hand.

The 6/12 inch pole is named as such as it refers to the 6 main movement of the form.  The main theory behind the pole form is to attack opponents from a distance the poles length is used to keep opponents at bay.  The pole is used to thrust at the opponent-keep the distance and strike in a straight linear form- keeping the centre line principles intact.

The butterfly swords on the other hand have a different function. They are for more close quarter fighting where you can slice and dice your opponent. The moves are essentially used as deflections and the hand from of the wing chun training system are closely adhered to.  Indeed its key principle is that the swords are extensions of the hands of the wing chun practitioner. 

Legend has it the pole and swords where introduced when two masters confronted each other.  One using the pole the other the swords.  The tactics where obvious the master using the pole would keep his opponents at furthest length while the swordsman would try to deflect the attacks and get in close to strike. The end result saw the butterfly swords triumph. However the efficiency and skill that the pole utilised so impressed the swordsman that it was to be embraced as part of wing chun training systems and remains the cornerstone of the system even today.

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