Banshay

Focus	Weaponry
Country of origin	Myanmar
Famous practitioners	Maung Gyi
Olympic sport	No

Banshay (Burmese:ဗန်ရှည်,pronounced[bàɰ̃ʃè]) is a weapon-basedmartial art fromMyanmar focusing primarily on the sword, staff and spear. Influenced by bothIndian andChinese sources, it is closely related to similar Southeast Asian systems such as Thaikrabi krabong, Cambodiankbach kun boran andMalay silat.

Banshay makes extensive use of thedha (sword) in pairs. Sword-fencing demonstrations and performances often begin with a pre-fight war dance in which the swordsman spins one or two swords very close to the body without cutting themselves.

There are 37 swordforms. Sword training is conducted with the weapon still sheathed. Traditionally when a master first presents the student with a sword, the scabbard would be fixed on so that the trainee is discouraged from killing opponents. Under extreme conditions when the sword must be unsheathed, the scabbard may be broken with a rock or other object.

• 
  Defense with the staff
• 
  The panther dance

• Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith (1969).Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts. Kodansha.ISBN 978-0-87011-436-6.

This article related to themartial arts is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This article related to sport in Myanmar is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Burmese martial arts
• Martial arts stubs
• Burmese sport stubs

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Burmese-language text
• Pages with Burmese IPA
• All stub articles