Word of the Day -- Monk's Spade

A monk's spade -- literally "Crescent Moon Spade" --  also called a Shaolin Spade, is a Chinese pole weapon consisting of a long pole with a flat spade-like blade on one end and a smaller crescent shaped blade on the other. In old China, Buddhist monks often carried spades (shovels) with them when travelling. This served two purposes: if they came upon a corpse on the road, they could properly bury it with Buddhist rites, and the large implement could serve as a weapon for defense against bandits. Over time, they were stylized into the monk's spade weapon.