5 Elements of Chinese Swordsmanship

A short presentation of Scott M. Rodell's Chinese swordsmanship program at Great River Taoist Center, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.grtc.org.

Edited by Greg Wolfson with music by Simon Cohen.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• chinese swordsmanship
• taijijian
• swordsmanship
• tai chi
• jian
• test cutting
• scott m. rodell
• grtc
• kung fu
• martial arts
• sword
• 5 elements

[wuming108]

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.

[Miledha]

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.

[TheDarkKnightFalls]

Sifu Rodell has one serious face. In all seriousness though, great clip.

[gonefishingstudios]

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

[galahad237]

don't matter what others say. I like it ;)

[Protherium]

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.

[Baihu108]

@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...

[Miledha]

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.

[Xiox047]

@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..

[Baihu108]

@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.

[Xiox047]

@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]

@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.