Two Handed Straight Sword - SC 238  
by Mao JingYu & Mao Jing Guang
$18.95  54 pages, English/Chinese text, illustrations and accompanying VCD showing exercises also with minimal English/Chinese narration.

The extra length of the blade for two-handed sword is compensated by the additional length of the handle which also allows a double grip. The movements for this weapon often alternate between the single and double grip. This is a good weapon if you are familiar enough with straight sword and the so-called “hidden sword” of the correct left hand position to make the transition to double holding. This form is comprised of 49 movements with many spins, turns and off-angle techniques. This can be a good practice weapon for wrist strength and a great performance weapon if handled well. Overall, another beautiful form with this two-handed sword.

 

KC047 The Complete Jian Shu
Chinese Combat Sword for Sport
Jason Tsou and Arthur Schonfeld
Accompanying DVD

This truly lives up to its title as a “complete” presentation of the art of the sword. The manual starts with basic warm ups, progresses through static postures to individual movements and finally to sparring. The best thing about the writing, though, is that it continually circles back to the meaning and the cultural background of the art.

Of great importance, to our minds, is the general growth of the fencing art. We spent some time over ten years ago watching Adam Hsu, from the same lineage as Jason Tsou, doing his best to promote Chinese style weapons sparring. In fact we were some of the first judges certified to do this and we saw that the addition of weapons sparring—which we had tried to promote even earlier—would be an invaluable addition to a real understanding of Chinese Kung Fu. What do we mean by real?...

All of Kung Fu's funny stances and stretched out limbs make one hell of a lot more sense in the context of weapons training. These would allow a practitioner to immediately adapt to either empty hand or weapons at a moment's notice. Weapons training, in Kung Fu history, often took precedence over empty hand training which was sometimes seen only as a foundational method for weapons training. On a higher level there are many special skills which people can use in empty handed combat which originated in the weapons division of the art. Fencing will allow people to see these presently weakened connections.

This book is an important step not only in preserving a great tradition but also a contribution to setting a standard. As weapons sparring progresses we must use the hard-won lessons of hundreds of years of experience to keep the art from disintegrating into smashing one another with plastic poles. Real movements, well explained, with both the Dragon and the Tiger sides shown, footwork clarified and strategy revealed. Not only important, but great fun!

 

Quantity  
$49.95, 237 pages, photographs, spiral bound for easy display

KM013 The Major Methods of  WuDang Sword
by Huang Yuan Xiou
Translated by Dr. Lu Mei-hui with commentary by Chang Wu Na

Written by a student of the famous sword master Li Jing Lin, this is a historic document on the use of the sword. All the methods of the sword are described with a single accompanying picture. The original text, though a valuable historic document, is very light on actual information with, for instance, the two person set described with no accompanying pictures. Coming as it did from the teachings of Li Jing Lin this should be a major source of information but, through no fault of translators, we find it important more for its documentary than informational content. Almost half the book is commentary added by Chang Wu Na to the texts and, while some of it does indeed clarify, much of it is explained in terms almost as difficult to fathom as the original. All this raises an interesting point: though the period in which this book was written was one of the high points in history for recording information on Chinese martial arts, we are right now living in the Golden Age of this venture.

For instance, consider the book above, Jason Tsou's Jianshu. The presentation of information for clarity, completeness, illustration and organization is unquestionably of very high quality. Many of the old texts, which we love, come from impeccable sources with, admittedly, quite 'peccable' vehicles of communication.

KT029 A Practical Guide to Test Cutting
for Historical Swordsmanship
Scott Rodell

This new book on Test Cutting by sword enthusiast and teacher, Scott Rodell, is one of the fullest explanations in English of the practice of Test Cutting or cutting through objects to test your skill and the quality your blade. He covers a lot of ground here including many words on safety, how to built test equipment, how to make sure you don't kill someone, what objects to cut, the basic principles of cutting, historical background on the practice and the art of the sword including battlefield conditions and much more. Though the book has the occasional typo (we should tlak) and we think it could use even fuller discussions on almost every topic: this is one of the first texts of its kind and must be on the shelf of anyone with an interest in the blade. We encourage people to buy and read this text. We strongly feel that the actual testing should not be done without supervision or at least a willing witness. Not play time.

Quantity  
$13.95, 84 pages, softbound, photographs

KC012 Chinese Swordsmanship
Scott Rodell

Long time teacher of Taiji, Scott Rodell, has an authentic enthusiasm for this subject. This oversized book contains a lot of photographs and historical notes on the jian (Chinese sword), Way of the Sword, basic cuts, Forms and Martial applications. He presents what he calls the "public" Yang style sword and another version from the branch he has studied called Mi Chuan or Secret Teachings. We find some of Mr. Rodell's ideas about the sword to be still developing but we are delighted to see books like this where subjects in Kung Fu which have been taken so lightly for so long are now beginning to attract a deeper attention. Some of his notes on the sword in battlefield conditions are very interesting and his knowledge of the weapon itself is thorough with many insights into the practical application of the art and the instrument in real battlefield condition. He has also produced a DVD as a companion piece .

KI003 Intelligent Swordplay of the Lama Kung Fu
Lo Wai Kung & Yan Sang
$8.95, 74 pages, softbound, photographs ,

This is a sword set from the LaMa (also known as Hop Gar or Tibetan White Crane Style). This particular set is from the LaMa branch of the art and shows the movements annotated in both Chinese and English. A nice set in an inexpensive edition.

KC070 Classical T'ai Chi Sword
Petra & Toyo Kobayashi
$18.95, 174 pages, Softbound, photographs

One of Tuttle's better new books. For years Tuttle has a high reputation as one of the best Asian (and Vermont) special interest publishers. they also produced beautiful texts (try to get some of the old ones if you can). Now too many of their titles are small, cheap with inadequate photographs. But this book is an exception. Full page photos illustrate this version of the T'ai Chi Straight Sword. Topics covered include ... History of the Sword • History of T'ai Chi Sword • Taoist background • Posture and energy
The 13 basic techniques explained • Footwork • Partner work • The entire T'ai Chi sword set

An intelligently written and informative book. While not exhaustive it gives good solid information and some new insights.

Quantity  

NOTE: WE are out of stock on full price editions. See our discounted copy to save more than 40% ...

KT031 T'ai Chi 13 Method Sword
by Li Zhen
$9.95, 92 pages, Chinese-English, softbound

A basic book on Chinese sword practice with a set comprised of 130 movements. English-Chinese text (en face, practice your Chinese reading while learning the set!) explains the actions often giving twin camera views. Color photos section in the front. Clear instructions with decent photography. Not only are the pictures and poses clear and succinctly explained, but the introduction gives some background on the "13 methods" of T'ai Chi swords practice. Definitely our least expensive book on the subject and in both languages!

KT002 T'ai Chi Thirteen Sword
Stuart Olson
258 pages, Softbound
$24.95

"T'ai Chi Thirteen Sword is the first serious treatment of T'ai Chi Sword methods and philosophy in English. Although Sword is usually just considered an aspect of T'ai Chi Chuan, this book clearly shows that Sword practice is not only a complete system but an art in and of itself, and need not be trained in conjunction with any other T'ai Chi exercise. "

Subjects include:
Author performing the movements of the set
Internal principles and applications for every posture
Warm up methods and the San Chiao two-person exercise
Secrets of the Eight Sword Hands
Thirteen Secret Sword Meanings and their applications
Methods for training the Sword fingers
Pictorial comparison of master Chen WeiMing, Hsiung Yang Ho and T. T. Liang performing sword.

For the Record: Stuart Olson's books are good. We look with askance at his continued need to claim "the first serious" and "secret" and all this, but the information is there and well designed.

Quantity  

 

OUT OF STOCK! Please place me on your WANT LIST for this item.

KT021 TAI CHI WEAPONS:
(Weapons of Primordial Pugilism)
by Dr. Tseng PUI
$11.95, softbound, photographs,

This is one of the first books ever written in English on the subject of Tai Chi weapons. It comes from Dr. Tseng Ju Pai. He originally wrote it in 1976 and published it through the estimable Crompton Ltd. in 1982. There are some interesting notes and, since Dr. Tseng was translating from the Chinese directly and was obviously educated, he often used terms which are different from the accepted jargon. Thus Chi is "intrinsic energy" and a good phrase it is. Photo breakdowns are given of the Yang style Tai Chi sword and saber. There are short, basics sections on Tai Chi Spear and the even more rare Tai Chi Halberd (Ge). Tseng appears to have studied from Yang Chen Fu.

Quantity  

KCB015  BaGua Zhuan Jian (BaGua Turning Sword)
by Liu Xing Han & Huang Xin
Translated and compiled by Joseph Crandall
$25.00, 84 pages,

This is a combination of two versions of the same Ba Gua sword set. The first is very close to a version Joseph Crandall learned from Zhang Jie one of Liu Xing Han's students. The second, by Huang Xin, a grand-student of Liu Xing Han,is from a series of articles in Wu Hun magazine. Each set runs, of course, to 64 moves. In this case, though the reproduction on the photographs is not great, there is more breakdown in the photographic second section of the text than in the illustrated first section. The names of the moves are correlated so the illos and photos aid one another .

Also, see our selection of Tai Chi books in Simplified and Traditional Chinese...