Shaolin straight swords

[r.(shaolin)]

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NorthernShaolin wrote:
The other sword sets that

[NorthernShaolin]

r.(shaolin),

At one point in time there were many Shaolin sword sets taught by KYC: Seven Star Sword, Kun Yu Sword, Tamo (Tao Mor) Sword, Eight Fairies Sword, sword vs sword (no name) and Dragon Shape Sword. As the years went by, KYC started to teach the other sword forms, mostly from Wu Tang which were Tai Yu Sword, Wu Tang Sword fighting, and Dragon Phoenix Sword and Flying Dragon Double Swords. Also he taught Tai Chi Sword, and Three Power Sword (Sword vs sword). So the older students learned the many Shaolin sword sets while the younger students only learned one or two Shaolin sword sets: Dragon Shape and/or Seven Star or in some cases Eight Fairies sword.

The idea of teaching Wu Tang Swords over Shaolin Swords was more than likely influenced by General Li Ching Lin who loved Wu Tang Sword Arts and had much influence over the National Arts Schools where KYC taught.

KYC was more into the spear arts and not so much into the sword arts. YSW favorite sword set was Tai Yu Sword. Because of these two facts, it influenced what they taught to their disciples and students and thus down line.

The same was true with Sun Yu Fung’s Shaolin Lo Han: Eight Fairies Sword, Continuous Sword, Tamo Sword and Seven Star Sword. As the years went by he taught more of the Wu Tang Swords: Plum Blossom Double Dragon swords, Dragon Phoenix Sword, Flying Dragon Sword, Wu Tang Sword Fighting which was two sets (Six Rows and Active Steps) and Pa Kua Sword. Sun Yu Fung was not a big sword person. He was more into spear arts and saber arts

[r.(shaolin)]

In our school these are two

[NorthernShaolin]

r.(shaolin)

KYC taught Raise Blocking Spear, Lui Ho Spear, Five Tiger Spear, Snake Head Spear, Liu Ho Great Spear (Long Spear), 24 Iron Spear (another Long Spear), and Spear vs Spear (No Name).

SYF taught Five Tiger Spear, Pear Blossom Spear, Splitting Breaking Door Spear, Raise Spirit Spear, Plum Blossom Spear (Spear vs Spear), and Double Head Spear.

As for the combination sparring sets, both KYC and SYF had their own versions of Spear vs Triple Staff, Spear vs Empty Hands, Spear vs Double Daggers, Spear vs Big Knife, Spear vs Saber.

However, SYF also taught Spear vs Double Tiger Hooks and Spear vs Double Sabers which KYC did not have in his curriculum.

[beiquan]

NorthernShaolin,

Is there a difference between the Long Xing (Dragon Shape) and the Long Xing (Dragon Walking) Sword? The set that I learned (you might have seen my teacher perform it at Berkeley) is called Dragon Walking.

[dezhen2001]

we also have a set called the Yang Family Spear in our system of Shaolin. I don't train that style yet (only wing chun and qigong), but that's interesting

david

[r.(shaolin)]

NorthernShaolin,

The spear contact forms we do are:

[NorthernShaolin]

Beiquan,

I remember your sifu performing this set and it looked really good.

To answer your question concerning the two sword sets, Dragon Walking Sword and Dragon Shape sword, they are two differnt sets. However both are Shaolin Sword sets and there is a text in Chinese and in English on the Dragon Walking sword and this sets is very popular. Many MA associated this set connected to the famous General Chi Chi Kwong of the Ming Dynasty but i really doubt if it is the exact same set. Dragon Shape sword is less popular than Dragon Walking Sword.

I do not recall reading or hearing from the older generation of NSL MA that KYC ever taught Dragon Walking Sword. Whereas he has taught Dragon Shape sword and this set was LTH's favorite sword set and he performed it all the time. YSW perfered the Wu Tang swords and his favorite sword set was Tai Yu Sword.

[roughnready]

would anyone consider the samurai sword to be equal or inferior to the shaolin straight sword?

[premier]

Northern Shaolin

About Tamo sword form. Is that like Bodhidharma's straight sword? I'm asking this because Choy lee fut has that form and I'm wondering if it's the same or similar form. The CLF version could be classified as a hard straight sword form. Here's a small clip of it. http://home.iprimus.com.au/choy/clf/video/darryl.mpg


premier

[NorthernShaolin]

preimer,

Sorry about the being late in answering your question but I knew there was a question out there that I missed and I could not locate it until now.

But to answer your question about your Tamo Sword set and Jing Mo's Tamo Sword set, no it does not appear to be the same set.

[David Jamieson]

roughnready-

they are two different instruments completely.

the Gim or Jian (Chinese sword) is a double edged sword while the katana is more like a knife with a single edge and a parrying side.

It is like comparing Jian to Darn Do, or to further make the difference apparent, a trebuchet to a mace.

peace

[GeneChing]

I've heard of a lot of different forms going by tamo sword. It's a similar phenomena to the 18 lohan - very common for many styles to have a version. Here's the tamo sword (or one of them) currently taught at Songshan Shaolin: http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/pr-gs007.html

What I find interesting here is that I've yet to find any reference of Tamo using a sword. The 18 lohan, sure, that's a funadmaental part of the Tamo myth, but the sword? Tamo is famous for having a walking stick and at Songshan Shaolin, there is a special Tamo crutch that is very common (I did a piece on it in the our Shaolin special in Jan/Feb 2002 titled The Crutches of War : http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsma...magjanisk.html ) Now here's the rub, cane sets are surprisingly uncommon in kungfu - they exist but given the nature of the weapon, I'm surprised that they aren't more pervasive. In BSL, there's a dragon head can form (just to tie it into the earlier thread.) But I haven't heard of too many Tamo canes - anyone else have a tamo cane?