Do not favor a particular weapon

The rule against favoring a particular weapon rejects preference as a guide to martial practice. It requires weapons to be judged by their practical fitness and the user’s ability to handle them, rather than by decoration, habit, or another person’s example.

Practical Fitness

The passage measures weapons against the demands placed on them. A horse must have endurance and be free of defects; weapons likewise must be sound in use. Horses should walk strongly, swords and companion swords should cut strongly, spears and halberds should withstand heavy use, and bows and guns should be sturdy. The comparison makes reliability—not visual appeal—the governing standard: weapons should be hardy rather than decorative.

This test concerns function across different kinds of equipment, not a claim that all weapons do the same work. Each is expected to meet the practical demands associated with it. A weapon’s value therefore rests on whether it performs properly under use, rather than on appearance or prestige.

Preference and Competence

The rule states that no weapon should become a favorite. Over-familiarity with one weapon is identified as a fault, but so is insufficient knowledge of it. The passage thus distinguishes disciplined familiarity from dependence: practitioners need enough experience to use weapons properly without letting habitual preference narrow their competence.

Nor should practitioners copy other people’s choices. They are instructed to use weapons they can handle properly, making individual capability the immediate basis for selection. This does not endorse arbitrary personal taste; the surrounding demand for durable, effective equipment and thorough learning constrains the choice.

Command and Training

The principle applies to commanders as well as troopers. Their likes and dislikes are not treated as private matters separate from martial practice: both roles must learn the rule thoroughly. By extending it across rank, the passage frames weapon choice as a shared discipline rather than a preference reserved for an individual fighter.

The rule’s balance is deliberate. Ignorance of a weapon is a deficiency, but exclusive familiarity can also become one. Sound practice therefore joins broad knowledge to competent use, resisting both the weakness of not knowing enough and the limitation of clinging to one favored tool.