Monkey Weapons

Light as a Feather, but only to Sun Wukong

The simple looking rod Sun Wukong is often depicted carrying is called a Rúyì Jīngū Bàng 如意金箍棒  and is the Monkey King’s most powerful weapon.

Origin: After being shown several weapons as potential gifts, Sun Wukong claimed they were “too light, far too light” despite being thousands of pounds and demanded to see more. Fearful of the Monkey King’s wrath since he was an “immortal” and had immense power, the Dragon King of the East Sea’s wife quickly pointed out to him an enormous bar (20 feet long and very thick) that was glowing ever since he arrived at the Sea Palace which they could not bring to him because it was so heavy no one could lift it.

Historical Function: once used by the former emperor Da Yu of the Xia Dynasty (2205-1767 BC) to measure the depth of the flood waters destroying ancient China. He said, “whoever controls the Yellow River controls China,” and proceeded to “tame” the river by dredging banks, creating artificial islands, and changing the course of the river.

Special Features: With a single strike he can kill powerful demons.  By chanting “shrink, shrink, shrink” the Monkey King’s great iron pillar could shrink to needle size and be hidden in his ear.  When he chants “grow, grow, grow” the needle can grow back to twenty feet long and be as thick as a peck of grain.  He can control the actual size by the number of times he chants.

Weight: Tremendously heavy, weighing in at 13,500 jin or 7.5 metric tons only Monkey King can actually carry it

Appearance: The novel describes it as being made of “black iron” (烏鐵 wūtiě) with two gold bands (Chinese: 金箍 jīngū) at opposite ends but it has also been depicted in different colours: red, black, copper, silver or even fully gold.

Trivia:

(1) The translation by Anthony Yu simply calls the magic cudgel, “The Compliant Rod” since it changes size according to Sun Wukong’s wishes

(2) Rúyì 如意 means “as-one-wishes”

(3) There is actually a tàijíquán太极拳 move called “needle at the bottom of the sea” which is based on the historical function mentioned above.