I think that the jian and its techniques are very effective in one on one combat , as intended for its purpose as a self defense weapon for scholars etc
You still keep hearing that "Chinese swords were blunt and used for stabbing only".
-- h t t p : / / w w w .chinese-swords-guide . c o m /images/antique-swords-Rodell-jian .j p g (Remove the spaces). --
-- h t t p : / /i406 .photobucket . c o m /albums/pp148/2ndgig/l6xr_DSCN2551 . j p g --
Real swords do not show any thick ricassos and their points are spatulate, clearly intended for cutting. It seems that flimsy blunt Wushu props used in fancy shows are also guilty for the myth.
I would never call anything Rodell Laoshi does "stiff and hard". Having trained with him for eight years,this is what I've experienced: in push hands, he can guide most students right off balance without them ever feeling what he did. In emptyhand, he sends people flying quite a distance with quite small movements.His fahjin is so powerful. I've experienced many shocks that went right through my body with tiny movements.He uses the same softness and internal power in swordsmanship.
@frostek That is what you would call a teacher's habit, you always check your partner's technique. Look at the parts about freeplay, it's all different there.
@Xiox047 It's the steel inside the cotton, that's supposed to be there in all taijiquan. It's a martial art, after all, not sharing healing energies ;)
@ninjamimic Eh, no I don't really have a problem with anything he does, its just the cutting portion that bothers me a bit. Also I think you misunderstand when I said too much strength into his movements. It's just pertaining to the cutting portion, I'm sorry I should have specified that I'm my comment in retrospect.
I would call this a nice little video, promoting the way how a swordsmanship learning should be done, a systematic way that's pretty much lost nowadays, with most people being content doing only form. Hope more people will start doing it in similar manner (and posting videos about it :) ).
Instead of nitpicking on some seemingly semi-significant divergence from a "perfect technique", see the bigger picture here.
Mr Rodell has done lot to bring the art and knowledge of Chinese swordsmanship back from it's near extinction. For decades it has been "common knowledge" that there is Japanese Swordsmanship and all the rest is crap - well, that is just not true.
Chinese sword art (both as in the art of sword making and as in art of sw
@Xiox047 Don't c how there can be too much strength in sword movements, no one is going to to cut thru a solid bamboo stalk wrapped in a rice mat softly using not enough strength, also notice with each cut demonstrated, the sword ends up facing toward the target, i.e. focused for a follow on cut, as opposed to pointing toward the rear. Within taijiquan, the idea is that steel is hidden in cotton, but the steel is exposed at the moment of fajin, then hidden again. Test Cutting helps train this.
@Baihu108 I can see the validity in your argument, but sword cutting with these swords are meant to be smooth, I'm not saying soft and weak cuts, that will not cut. But he's using mostly shoulder power to cut the bamboo. With cutting, actually typically any type of strikes empty handed as well, you don't put strength into your shoulders. With cutting it causes the path of the sword to make a wave pattern instead of a straight linear path.
@Xiox047 Take a look at the mats & bamboo, they are cut clean & straight, no offense (I don't think you are being a troll), but watch the Basic Cuts sequence- note how the power is clearly coming from the legs thru the body, if it was mostly coming from the shoulder, the sword wouldn't pass thru the target so cleanly & there wouldn't be the control of the after cut that there is. I think you are missing that because the cutting sequences are tight shots where the legs aren't seen.
@Baihu108 Oh god, I didn't see the bamboo inside the mat, well that changes things somewhat... Well that was my bad, I apologize for whatever trouble I may have caused. That makes this video actually impressive cutting wise as well..
@Xiox047 No worries, we're just having an honest conversation, after all, should all of us in Chinese Martial Arts helps each other? All the best in your training...
@mikeymarshful Hey no reason to flame honest comments... Rodell only trained in Chinese Swordsmanship (jianfa) with TT Liang & Wang Yen-nien, no training in European styles. Having said that thought, there are quite a few techniques in common between some schools of European swordsmanship, such as Scottish Highland Broadsword & jianfa. Undoubtedly, that's the result of different cut & thrust systems arriving at the same solutions to similar or same problems.
@mikeymarshful I don't think anyone is taking you as a troll... comparing Chinese jianfa with Scottish Swordplay for example, the Deflect-Pi Cut combination that is common in Chinese Swordsmanship is exactly the same as the Pirme Parade. In fact, that technique seems quite common across divergent systems. Just 1 example of lot of people finding the same simple solution to the same action.
I just read Mr Rodells most excellent book on Cutting for historical swordsmanship. It's a great book that'll save me tons of work in getting started with my training and probably the best book written so far on the subject. Easy reading, full of insights and stressing the point of safety.
-Scott, if you're readning this, many, many thanks for this book.
@mrosecan Seven Stars recently negotiated a deal with CAS allowing them to drop their price on Rodell's Hanwei Cutting Jian to $195.99. That's the lowest price out there.
The Japanese mastered the way of THEIR sword and ITS techniques far greater.
The Chinese mastered their own swords. The Japanese sword-styles originated in China. The Chinese peoples had a much greater variety of swords, battles, war-doctrines, warriors, and environments.
Quite a silly suggestion to make after watching this video, after all, I recall hearing the same type of comments from Japanese Sword practitioners stating Chinese swords don't cut. Then Rodell Shifu came along & cut tatami they were with one handed cuts with his jian.
@wuming108 katana fanboys dont realized that all swords can cut. one most know the mechanics. they have it easy with modern industrial steel swords. back in the days of hand forge a master would never let a student cut unless he reached masterhood for one reason. katans with even the stightest misentry into the tatami will mave sever bendage or lopsidedness hence i regard of lots of teh socalled cutting pros who are still young of age to still be novices
You obviously haven't studied much swordsmanship. The true principles of swordsmanhip are universal, and are found in Chinese, Japanese and European martial arts, and those of any other culture whose existence depended on swordsmanship. The particulars change with the individual weapon, but the end result is the same. I study both German and Japanese swordsmanship, and the similarities are striking. I also see a lot I recognize in this video.
Very nicely made video. It shows the main features that go right through good Chinese swordsmanship training. We have groups that do this in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, Australia. Also, some of this will be happening at our Sword Festival in April 2010, so if you plan to see Australia about then, you could do some training in sword to make it even more fun.
Sifu Rodell has one serious face. In all seriousness though, great clip.
TheDarkKnightFalls 6 months ago 2
I think that the jian and its techniques are very effective in one on one combat , as intended for its purpose as a self defense weapon for scholars etc
gonefishingstudios 6 months ago
don't matter what others say. I like it ;)
galahad237 6 months ago 2
You still keep hearing that "Chinese swords were blunt and used for stabbing only".
-- h t t p : / / w w w .chinese-swords-guide . c o m /images/antique-swords-Rodell-jian .j p g (Remove the spaces). --
-- h t t p : / /i406 .photobucket . c o m /albums/pp148/2ndgig/l6xr_DSCN2551 . j p g --
Real swords do not show any thick ricassos and their points are spatulate, clearly intended for cutting. It seems that flimsy blunt Wushu props used in fancy shows are also guilty for the myth.
Protherium 8 months ago
I would never call anything Rodell Laoshi does "stiff and hard". Having trained with him for eight years,this is what I've experienced: in push hands, he can guide most students right off balance without them ever feeling what he did. In emptyhand, he sends people flying quite a distance with quite small movements.His fahjin is so powerful. I've experienced many shocks that went right through my body with tiny movements.He uses the same softness and internal power in swordsmanship.
Miledha 9 months ago
@frostek That is what you would call a teacher's habit, you always check your partner's technique. Look at the parts about freeplay, it's all different there.
@Xiox047 It's the steel inside the cotton, that's supposed to be there in all taijiquan. It's a martial art, after all, not sharing healing energies ;)
ninjamimic 10 months ago
@ninjamimic Eh, no I don't really have a problem with anything he does, its just the cutting portion that bothers me a bit. Also I think you misunderstand when I said too much strength into his movements. It's just pertaining to the cutting portion, I'm sorry I should have specified that I'm my comment in retrospect.
Xiox047 10 months ago
I would call this a nice little video, promoting the way how a swordsmanship learning should be done, a systematic way that's pretty much lost nowadays, with most people being content doing only form. Hope more people will start doing it in similar manner (and posting videos about it :) ).
ninjamimic 10 months ago 3
It is always easier if you're outside the ring.
Instead of nitpicking on some seemingly semi-significant divergence from a "perfect technique", see the bigger picture here.
Mr Rodell has done lot to bring the art and knowledge of Chinese swordsmanship back from it's near extinction. For decades it has been "common knowledge" that there is Japanese Swordsmanship and all the rest is crap - well, that is just not true.
Chinese sword art (both as in the art of sword making and as in art of sw
luolong 10 months ago 4
I feel that he's putting too much strength into his movements, the movements are rather stiff and hard...
Xiox047 10 months ago
@Xiox047 Don't c how there can be too much strength in sword movements, no one is going to to cut thru a solid bamboo stalk wrapped in a rice mat softly using not enough strength, also notice with each cut demonstrated, the sword ends up facing toward the target, i.e. focused for a follow on cut, as opposed to pointing toward the rear. Within taijiquan, the idea is that steel is hidden in cotton, but the steel is exposed at the moment of fajin, then hidden again. Test Cutting helps train this.
Baihu108 10 months ago
@Baihu108 I can see the validity in your argument, but sword cutting with these swords are meant to be smooth, I'm not saying soft and weak cuts, that will not cut. But he's using mostly shoulder power to cut the bamboo. With cutting, actually typically any type of strikes empty handed as well, you don't put strength into your shoulders. With cutting it causes the path of the sword to make a wave pattern instead of a straight linear path.
Xiox047 10 months ago
@Xiox047 Take a look at the mats & bamboo, they are cut clean & straight, no offense (I don't think you are being a troll), but watch the Basic Cuts sequence- note how the power is clearly coming from the legs thru the body, if it was mostly coming from the shoulder, the sword wouldn't pass thru the target so cleanly & there wouldn't be the control of the after cut that there is. I think you are missing that because the cutting sequences are tight shots where the legs aren't seen.
Baihu108 10 months ago 2
@Baihu108 Oh god, I didn't see the bamboo inside the mat, well that changes things somewhat... Well that was my bad, I apologize for whatever trouble I may have caused. That makes this video actually impressive cutting wise as well..
Xiox047 10 months ago
@Xiox047 No worries, we're just having an honest conversation, after all, should all of us in Chinese Martial Arts helps each other? All the best in your training...
Baihu108 9 months ago
On the two person drill he falls into the trap of watching his opponent's sword, rather than his opponent. Some interesting items here though.
frostek 10 months ago
not bad but why such a glum face lol
MrOttmandus 1 year ago
respect to this guy
mikeymarshful 1 year ago
From what I think... I hope I don't get flamed for this... It looks like european fencing
mikeymarshful 1 year ago
@mikeymarshful troll
andresrojas22 1 year ago
@mikeymarshful Hey no reason to flame honest comments... Rodell only trained in Chinese Swordsmanship (jianfa) with TT Liang & Wang Yen-nien, no training in European styles. Having said that thought, there are quite a few techniques in common between some schools of European swordsmanship, such as Scottish Highland Broadsword & jianfa. Undoubtedly, that's the result of different cut & thrust systems arriving at the same solutions to similar or same problems.
Baihu108 1 year ago
@Baihu108 I'm not trying to troll or anything. It just... looks like that to me.
mikeymarshful 1 year ago
@mikeymarshful I don't think anyone is taking you as a troll... comparing Chinese jianfa with Scottish Swordplay for example, the Deflect-Pi Cut combination that is common in Chinese Swordsmanship is exactly the same as the Pirme Parade. In fact, that technique seems quite common across divergent systems. Just 1 example of lot of people finding the same simple solution to the same action.
Baihu108 1 year ago
lol'd at the guy :P
NLmonsterNL 1 year ago
look up serial killer in websters and you'll see rodell's face
blueprophet9 1 year ago
I just read Mr Rodells most excellent book on Cutting for historical swordsmanship. It's a great book that'll save me tons of work in getting started with my training and probably the best book written so far on the subject. Easy reading, full of insights and stressing the point of safety.
-Scott, if you're readning this, many, many thanks for this book.
Fargbollen 1 year ago 2
Scott Rodell has designed a new Huanuo cutting sword available at Seven Stars Trading.
mrosecan 1 year ago 2
@mrosecan Seven Stars recently negotiated a deal with CAS allowing them to drop their price on Rodell's Hanwei Cutting Jian to $195.99. That's the lowest price out there.
Feilu888 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
makin comments about people you dont know again?
why dont you take your david carridine lookin ass to china and tell the various secret societies what and who isnt real.
punk bitch
MTAKATA7 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
makin comments about people you dont know again?
why dont you take your david carridine lookin ass to china and tell the various secret societies what and who isnt real.
punk bitch
MTAKATA7 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
hello scott.
i read what you said that the lineage of professor and lu is doubtful.
have you even been to the home village of the professor or LU?
perhaps you should visit teacher LUs wife and make your statement.
otherwise you are just an internet martial artist who looks like david carridine and who fights like him.
keep talkin and perhaps you'll piss off a secret society
punk bitch.
MTAKATA7 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
hello scott.
i read what you said that the lineage of professor and lu is doubtful.
have you even been to the home village of the professor or LU?
perhaps you should visit teacher LUs wife and make your statement.
otherwise you are just an internet martial artist who looks like david carridine and who fights like him.
keep talkin and perhaps you'll piss off a secret society
punk bitch.
MTAKATA7 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
hello scott.
i read what you said that the lineage of professor and lu is doubtful.
have you even been to the home village of the professor or LU?
perhaps you should visit teacher LUs wife and make your statement.
otherwise you are just an internet martial artist who looks like david carridine and who fights like him.
punk bitch.
MTAKATA7 1 year ago
It always has to be a white guy doesn't it!
polarization243 2 years ago
@polarization243 yeha i know...
kutari 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
The Japanese mastered the way of the sword and their techniques are far greater.!!
The Chinese still had a lot of catching up to do.
Dimitri0809 2 years ago
You're statement is a bit ignorant.
The Japanese mastered the way of THEIR sword and ITS techniques far greater.
The Chinese mastered their own swords. The Japanese sword-styles originated in China. The Chinese peoples had a much greater variety of swords, battles, war-doctrines, warriors, and environments.
KuKulzA28 2 years ago 4
Quite a silly suggestion to make after watching this video, after all, I recall hearing the same type of comments from Japanese Sword practitioners stating Chinese swords don't cut. Then Rodell Shifu came along & cut tatami they were with one handed cuts with his jian.
wuming108 2 years ago 9
@wuming108 katana fanboys dont realized that all swords can cut. one most know the mechanics. they have it easy with modern industrial steel swords. back in the days of hand forge a master would never let a student cut unless he reached masterhood for one reason. katans with even the stightest misentry into the tatami will mave sever bendage or lopsidedness hence i regard of lots of teh socalled cutting pros who are still young of age to still be novices
kaindrg 1 year ago
@Dimitri0809 BULLSHIT!
shengchenfan 2 years ago
@Dimitri0809 Ilike to see your sword skills,upload some.
shengchenfan 2 years ago
You obviously haven't studied much swordsmanship. The true principles of swordsmanhip are universal, and are found in Chinese, Japanese and European martial arts, and those of any other culture whose existence depended on swordsmanship. The particulars change with the individual weapon, but the end result is the same. I study both German and Japanese swordsmanship, and the similarities are striking. I also see a lot I recognize in this video.
Kunstdesfechtens 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Awesome :D, can u make a video of u two guys fighting with real swords plz? I wanna see some sparks from the blades clashing against each other :D
Pumpkin4life 2 years ago
this was very beautiful, thanks for uploading this
rudeawakeningxxx 2 years ago 4
Interested in Chinese Swordsmanship - check out the GRTC Forum.
wuming108 2 years ago 4
Very nicely made video. It shows the main features that go right through good Chinese swordsmanship training. We have groups that do this in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, Australia. Also, some of this will be happening at our Sword Festival in April 2010, so if you plan to see Australia about then, you could do some training in sword to make it even more fun.
Miledha 2 years ago 8