My friend, who practices White crane and who's father teaches many types of gong fu told me that ba gua was meant for people fighting alone. The circles expand and shrink and the weapon is long, making it rather optimal.
One reason might be that a larger (and heavier) weapon would tend to encourage internal force. It would be fairly exhausting to rely on arms and shoulders alone.
Another reason for the long swords was for training if one was going to attempt the Military officer exams during the Ming and Qing dynasties
. One of the tests involved showing skill with either the broadsword or the Jian, and one would be graded both on form and the size of the weapon used.
Finally the two-handed jian and the Bagua Dao might have often been used in warfare during China's feudal period by officers, enlisted men, and mercenaries.
@ILOVEBAGUA yes the big swords/broadswords are to increase strength, same as taiji uses big staff/ kuan dao, xing yi uses large spear... lots of systems of martial arts use large weapons for strength training.
*against large groups @vennificus
Vennificus 1 year ago
My friend, who practices White crane and who's father teaches many types of gong fu told me that ba gua was meant for people fighting alone. The circles expand and shrink and the weapon is long, making it rather optimal.
Vennificus 1 year ago
I believe the large sword is not necesary.
You can even use a woden sword to learn it,
But I believe that, by tradition, bagua always employs big swords and big braodswords.
ILOVEBAGUA 2 years ago
But why? My question is *why* BaGua uses such huge weapons. You can't say it has much of a tradition, since I've read it's not even a century old.
AndyRaslan 2 years ago
One reason might be that a larger (and heavier) weapon would tend to encourage internal force. It would be fairly exhausting to rely on arms and shoulders alone.
JadeTigerKungFu 2 years ago
Another reason for the long swords was for training if one was going to attempt the Military officer exams during the Ming and Qing dynasties
. One of the tests involved showing skill with either the broadsword or the Jian, and one would be graded both on form and the size of the weapon used.
Finally the two-handed jian and the Bagua Dao might have often been used in warfare during China's feudal period by officers, enlisted men, and mercenaries.
Damienx247 2 years ago
@ILOVEBAGUA yes the big swords/broadswords are to increase strength, same as taiji uses big staff/ kuan dao, xing yi uses large spear... lots of systems of martial arts use large weapons for strength training.
ukguy 1 year ago
Can all this be performed with a 1-handed sword, or are oversized weapons absolutely necessary for BaGua?
AndyRaslan 2 years ago
hao jianfan
thedaoofplus1 3 years ago
Amazing!
I want to learn even if it takes me 30 years just to do half
Yinyangfist 3 years ago
Oh really? I think it may take you just 10 years to master the whole thing, but it also depends on how much time you spend every day to practice.
tunderman66 3 years ago
Oh my goodness... what an amazing performance. Such fluidity. That's why I like Bagua more than Taichi.
bigfatfoot 3 years ago