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Kung Fu Tea

Martial Arts History, Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Studies.

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Mythology of the Kukri: Sign and Symbol

Introduction: The Symbolic Language of Weapons Victor Turner, the cultural anthropologist, famously argued that all symbols are "multivocal," meaning a single symbol can take on a multiplicity of meanings.  Humans have a way of looking at complexes of symbols, perhaps... Continue Reading →

Hunting a Tiger with a Kukri

  The reader will probably notice that whatever may be their form, there is a nameless something which designates the country in which they were produced.  No matter whether the weapon has belonged to a rich or a poor man,... Continue Reading →

Through a Lens Darkly (28): Three Visions of the Kukri

        The Kukri in Three Symbolic Registers     As regular readers will know, I have a keen interest in both the history of bladed weapons and vintage postcards.  The kukri, a type of fighting knife from... Continue Reading →

Mythology of the Kukri: Sign and Symbol

Introduction: The Symbolic Language of Weapons Victor Turner, the cultural anthropologist, famously argued that all symbols are "multivocal," meaning a single symbol can take on a multiplicity of meanings.  Humans have a way of looking at complexes of symbols, perhaps... Continue Reading →

Identifying and Collecting the Nepalese Military Kukri.

Introduction: The Traditional Military Kukri. New projects are always a learning experience, and one of the things that I have found most surprising here at Kung Fu Tea has been the persistent popularity of the one post which I wrote... Continue Reading →

The British Army Kukri: An artifact of western orientalism or the 20th century’s greatest combat knife?

  Collecting the Military Kukri As I have mentioned in other posts, not all of my martial studies interests fall within the domain of Chinese culture.  The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal is also fascinating.  It’s political, religious and military history... Continue Reading →

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