Thoughts on The Yang-style Broadsword

By Michael Babin (http://www.angelfire.com/mb/taiji/)

Copyright 2001, all rights reserved

If you compare the form for this weapon as taught by three recognised Chinese yang-family experts (Wen Mei-yu, Yang Zhen-duo and Doc Fai-wong) in the direct lineage from Yang Ch’eng-fu; you may not be surprised to learn that all are quite different from the one that Erle Montaigue teaches as well as the one that I learned from another of my former teachers. However, you may be more surprised to learn that all three are different when compared one-to-the-other.

This may be due in part to the difference in the weapon used/preferred by a particular teacher. It is important to differentiate between the two different weapons that are often called indiscriminately in English “sabre” and “broadsword”. The Yang-style sabre more properly refers to the long, slightly-curved single-edged weapon that Yang Ch'eng-fu used in his later years. It was actually a European cavalry sabre that someone gave him as a gift and he liked the feel of the blade so much that he had a traditional Chinese hilt put on it, even though he kept the western s-shaped hand guard (In other versions of the story, it was a Japanese katana blade that he had mounted in a more Chinese manner).

The yang-style broadsword is the traditional Chinese dao or "knife" whose blade is thicker/wider and shorter in length when compared to the weapon used by Yang Ch’eng-fu and most who follow the Yang-family lineage. It is also heavier at the tip of the blade so that its balance is quite different from the aforementioned sabre. It also quite often has a short, but sharp edge on the topside of the blade near the tip, making it useful for slicing upwards at short range.

There’s an old saying that certainly applies to weapons: “form dictates usage; usage dictates form”. Consequently, the weight, balance and function of the weapon that you use will certainly, to a great extent, dictate the structure and the body mechanics of any form which is designed to allow you to mimic using that weapon. This perhaps explains why the forms that used only the traditional broadsword where the emphasis was the weight of the tip of the weapon for slashing/chopping are different from those using the sabre as the latter is a finer, more evenly balanced weapon capable of more “finesse” in its slicing as well as cutting.

Aside from this, it is very difficult to explain in objective terms how the same form from the same source could end-up being so different; but I think it is also yet another example of how forms and methods tend to differentiate depending on the the skills, experience and body-types of those teaching them. It is also true that quite often forms end up looking and being different because the person demonstrating hasn’t learned the original form properly; but this is hardly the case with the three experts mentioned in this case.

Within reason, I think this is a good example of how you shouldn’t obsess about which form is “best” and which expert is “most correct” as taiji -- and, for that matter, life --- are rarely that cut-and-dried. In terms of training needs, the problem is amassing enough skill and experience to be able to know what suits your physique, skills and personality.

In any case, either the broadsword or sabre is an excellent “entry-level” weapon for those interested in the traditional taiji weapons curriculum. I'm quite fond of the form that I now practice as it is short, doesn't take too much space (well. compared to the other traditional weapon forms) and it's characteristics suit my build. Like Hsing-I, the movements of the broadsword are suited to the larger practitioner who has skill.

Practising with either teaches you about extending your reach and force to the tip as well as the edge of the weapon and, as it (usually) only has one sharp edge, it's a little safer to do so when you first start exploring weapons. Please note that I didn't say better -- I said "safer"! The bold, twisting, wide-swinging tactics of either weapon should have "elegance and smoothness" as well as martial effectiveness. Their use should teach you about angles and the various planes around the body.

Doing a well-structured form properly is like being inside a steel cage or at the centre of a hurricane. Every stroke should cut cleanly along one of the eight cardinal directions the square in the circle and the circle in the square. Have you figured out this taiji conundrum yet?

It is also a useful way of understanding that taiji classic (I
paraphrase): "Going forward, consider backwards". If you don't keep your balance when advancing, you're liable to fall over from your misguided momentum if it fall on "emptiness" (i.e., your target had the skill to move at the last moment). You must learn to use the weight of the sabre, not depend on it to power your stroke. The strikes are chopping slices; not the rise and fall of an axe! This is one way to learn to really relax the shoulder, elbow and wrist; but it is often a rather hard way of learning to do so.

The sabre/broadsword is considered a weapon with a yang nature and it certainly is a challenge to use it properly even when moving in comparative slow motion when compared the fast and furious pace favoured by the harder styles.

If possible, try to understand the basic martial function of this weapon if you can find an instructor who actually knows what they are doing. Even a marginal understanding of combative function will make your forms as challenging and rewarding as they are fun.