The hook swords are also known as tiger hook swords or qian kun ri yue dao. Traditionally, the hook swords(钩/双钩) are associated with Northern styles of Chinese martial arts, but they are also practised with Southern styles of Chinese martial arts as well.

The blade of the hook sword is similar to the jian’s blade, but might be thicker than the jian and has an additional hook around the tip of the blade. The crescent guards of the hook swords is an important part of the weapon and is in a similar style to that of the butterfly swords.

When used in pairs, the hook swords can be used to trap or deflect other weapons. The modern routines for the hook swords are often flashy, and involve linking the swords to wield them as one single long as well as flexible weapon. There are different ways of using the hook sword and they include:-

-using the back of the hook sword as regular swords;

-using the hook of the hook sword to trip enemies, catch weapons and to slash;

-using the end of the hilt of the hook sword as daggers;

-using the crescent-shaped guard of the hook sword to block as well as to slash and;

-using two hook swords to connect together freely, while the wielder swings one of the swords, to allow the second sword to be extended further and have the hilt of the sword slash the target. This allows the wielder to reach out from three to six feet away from himself/herself.

Source:-

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_sword

-http://thedarkblade.com/wp-content/uploads/Chinese-Hook-Sword-Set-Black.jpg

-http://0.tqn.com/d/asianhistory/1/0/f/8/-/-/HalfmoonCancanChuGetty.JPG

-http://0.tqn.com/d/asianhistory/1/0/i/8/-/-/OrangesocksCancanChuGetty.JPG