Saturday, December 08, 2007

Sword Master - Character

"In ancient China, the way of the sword was widely respected. This was so not just because sword techniques and skills were difficult to learn. The main reason was that moral and spiritual qualities were required in order to attain the highest levels of its art. In order to build a proper foundation for the study of the sword, the martial artist had to master other short weapons, which meant that he had to spend a long time in preparation. Therefore the sword master (know in Chia as Jian Ke) had to have willpower, endurance, and perseverance in order to get through the long and hard years of training. It was said that the word is: "The lord of a hundred arms and the king of short weapons."
Because the sword is mainly a defensive weapon, it requires a strategy of calmness in action, and to achieve this quality one needs patience, calmness, and bravery. Sword users commonly practiced meditation to acquire the calmness they needed. In addition to these qualities needed to develop the required level of skill, sword students learned about ethical virtues from their masters."
- Yang Jwing-Ming, Taiji Sword, Classical Yang Style, p. 17

Taiji Sword, Classical Yang Style: The Complete Form, Qigong and Applications. By Yang, Jwing-Ming. Edited by James C. O'Leary. Boston, Mass., YMAA Publications, 1999. Index, glossary, list of form postures, 205 pages. ISBN: 1886969744.

Taiji Sword, Classical Yang Style: the Complete Form, Qigong and Applications. Instructional VHS videotape and DVD. Presented by Yang, Jwing-Ming. YMAA Publications, 1999. 82 minutes. ISBN: 1886969817. The standard 54 Yang sword form. This instructional media is now available in both VHS and DVD formats. Multi-language Menu: English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Polish.

Classical Taiji Sword - Yang Style Taijiquan. By Mike Garofalo. This webpage includes a bibliography, links, media resources, detailed and simple lists of the movements in the long Yang Taiji sword form (55 movements), history, 13 sword techniques, comparison with the 32 Taiji sword form, and quotations. 116 Kb.

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