Taiji Sword is one of the most important weapons of the Chen Style Taijiquan system. The use of the sword is the same as the way energy is manipulated in the barehand form. We talk about two aspects in this lesson.
- The sword movement is not restricted. It moves in all directions. However, the main mode of movement should move lengthwise, not widthwise.
Lengthwise is to go with the flow of energy. Widthwise is to go against the flow of energy.
These are the requirements for local movements of the sword. Globally, there must be no restriction to the movement of the sword. This means that when you are in combat, the sword has to be where the situation calls for.
The local and global requirement therefore pose a conflict.
The training of the sword is to learn how to resolve this conflict.
The key is in the use of waist. This part will be given in a different lesson. - The energy must be distributed proportionally according to where the pivoting point is.
In the graph below. C is the pivoting point. In term of physical size, the portion from the handle to the pivoting point is much larger than the rest. Therefore, the energy must be manipulated lengthwise to move outside of the tip of the sword in order to balance the energy.
