studying dao in depth

[neit]

any comments from people who have studied chinese saber in great depth? did you learn forms from several differnet systems? do you feel that most masters these days have pretty good knowledge of this weapon?

[Stacey]

I have studied a long time...in fact, I killed a Japanese swordsment (kenjitsu) in a duel. He was better at long range, but once I closed distance it was his instinct to push away to get distance. I put my hand on the back of my dao, followed the push as I went back into a mountain collapsing stance and cut his neck. I only meant to draw a little blood from the neck to show him I had won...the effects of adrenaline were too strong. Still it was for him an honorable death.

[Samurai Jack]

Well, the dao that can be spoken of, is not the eternal dao. The name that can be named, is not the eternal name.

When the the ordinary man hears of the dao, he struggles to comrehend it. When the sage hears of the dao he struggles to embody it. When the fool hears of the dao, he struggles to supress his laughter. If the fool did not feel the urge to laugh, it would not be the dao.



































Oh wait, did you mean the chinese saber?



He who knows little says much, he who knows much says little.

[Samurai Jack]

Serves him right Stacy! Darned Japanese swordsment.

[neit]

yah, "chinese saber". not daoism

[Chinwoo-er]

Yep, learnt from different system. Some minute differences but generally the same kinda thing ( that is of course, when you compare it with other weapons like spear, jian and staff.)

Honestly, I think the dao is rather simple to learn and be compotent at compare to the other things in the Chinese arsenal.

There is a chinese saying that goes something like "100 days for dao, 1000 days for spear, 10000 days fors jian". Which kinda means how long it would take you to master each weapon.

I accept that possibility that I got this bit wrong, but I found that when sparring with the dao, the sword itself is basically the least of my concern. Rather, my focus have always been on footwork and that extra hand.

[neit]

chinwoo - interesting, thank you.

[Fu-Pau]

Chinwoo-er,

which different styles/systems did you learn dao in?

[Chinwoo-er]

Mizong, Lohan, Eagle Claw, Northern Mantis, Yang Tai Chi

[GeneChing]

I was really into dao for a while - it was my weapon of choice as a competitor, and might still be my weapon of choice if I had to deal with a home intruder or something.

I studied bak sil lum dao (or do to be more correct), bsl cern dao, bsl lok hop dao, songshan shaolin meihua dao and nibbled at taijidao. The only ones I remember now is the BSL stuff.

[neit]

hopefully i will find sifu with a flexible curriculum. putting large amounts of time into specialized training will require sacrificing other things.