In middle school, I picked up "The Martial Arts Encyclopedia" by a "Winderbaum" in a Library discard pile. I've been endlessly fascinated with the various swords, staffs, knifes, and other weapons.
Flipping to this page, something catches my attention. Item "N" is what the book refers to as a "Tsow," and to me it's such a novel idea for a weapon. The book gives it this unsatisfactorily short description.
It's such a novel idea for a weapon and, in my opinion, would lend itself greatly to any fictional universe! And that's what I'd like to do! But I can't find any information about it otherwise.
Was this weapon useful? Was it one handed? Was it used in battle? What martial art is it used in? If it were a one handed weapon, It might lend itself nicely to various martial arts in the Philippines (Kali, Escrima)
Is this thing even real? Google thinks I'm misspelling the thing and won't give me anything. I'd love to know the history of this thing, if it has one!
Perhaps this book is just fucking with me, I dunno. Help me out here guys, it's been sitting on my mind for about 12 years.
"Tsow", The Chinese word is 撾(挝) (zhua). It is mentioned in Chinese weapon list, so certainly it was a thing. However as far as I know, there is no historical record about it being used in actual battle. This weapon did appear in folklore or stories, for example 李存孝 supposedly used it (story was he used short spear in one hand and this in another) even though the official history didn't say so.