Tai Chi Sword Tassel

[brody]

What is the significance of the Red tassel at the end of the Tai Chi Sword? I've seen people use yellow tassels as well.

[Kaitain(UK)]

Some say it's merely ornimental, others say that it is vital for the correct balance of the blade.

It might also be a distration to draw the enemy's eyes, or in some interpretations actually used to strike the eyes when blocked.

I have no idea if the colour is relevant.

[GLW]

It is also a training tool. If the sword is flowing smoothly and in correct lines, the tassel won't readily wrap around your arm....it will also flow with the sword.

[Fu-Pow]

It's also been postulated that it started out as a lanyard ie a thing you tie around the wrist so you don't lose your sword in battle.

As well as something you can tug on to pull the sword out of your enemy if it gets stuck.

Apparently, wet sticky internal organs tend you create a "suction" making it difficult to pull you sword out...or so I've heard.

[NorthernShaolin]

{Apparently, wet sticky internal organs tend you create a "suction" making it difficult to pull you sword out...or so I've heard.}


This really pertains more to sabers because of the larger surface cutting area of the blade as comparied to swords. That's why there are blood groves on sabers (and Quan Do) and not on swords.

[Sam Wiley]

I've never heard any meanings attached to the colors, but maybe someone out there knows better than me.

And for the record, the human body is a bit of a vacuum, hence the term "sucking" chest wound. I have heard so many times that a Fuller is included in a blade so you can pull it out of a body easier and still can't figure out where that came from. As far as I know, that's baloney. A fuller is included in many blades to lighten weight without reducing structural strength, increasing speed and ability to wield the blade accurately and with skill. In some of these blades, it also serves a decorative function, leaving a pattern-welded section of the blade inside the fuller while the rest of the blade is polished to a high luster so observers can see the quality of the blade is above average.

Remember that the earliest steel blades featuring fullers were meant for hacking and slashing, having very broad blades and rounder tips not necessarily meant for thrusting. Later thrusting blades, meant to find their way into gaps in armor, had long, very thin blades with a diamond cross section, and as a general rule, had no fuller except as decoration. And if the suction story holds true, these were the blades to need them.

Granted, this holds true for double edged blades. But I doubt it's any less true for sabers and machete-type blades. The double fullers on my gung fu broadsword would't help me pull it out of someone if I chose to thrust because they're simply not deep enough. And once again, we are talking about weapons meant to cut/hack/slash, over thrust.

On top of that, I've never heard any murderer who stabbed his victims 30 or 40 times to say they had trouble pulling the knife out for another stab, unless they hit bone or something. Length of blade wouldn't matter, it's still a vacuum.

[Sam Wiley]

Back to the subject...
If tassels were used to attack, then why don't swords made now include the same type, like leather or wire? Why are they always those same same crappy kinds?

Also, Are sashes supposed to have the same purpose in training as tassels?

[brody]

I just received an email saying the tassel was originally horse hair died red to distract your opponent in battle. Though I'm not sure if Yellow has any specific meaning other than I've noticed Wushu players using it.

[GLW]

As for the tassels being the crappy kind...well that is plain old economics and what the traffic will bear.

First, a GOOD tassel costs more than the cheapo ones. I have one that was hand made and much heavier...if flows well but even so, it should be a bit thicker. and that one cost me three times as much as the cheap ones...

Second, people put up with it. You buy a sword. It has a crappy tassel on it. You take the tassel off and either put it on your rear view mirror or throw it away.

Then, if your training with someone that uses the tassel, you go get you a good one...and spend more money in the process...

And if you are training with someone that doesn't use the tassel, you save your money...

From the manufacturer's point of view, if you don't use it, you won't care if they give you crappy ones.

If you do use it, they KNOW you will buy one so why not "encourage" you to do just that by giving you a crappy one.

Caveat emptor....sort of.

[count]

Originally posted by brody
What is the significance of the Red tassel at the end of the Tai Chi Sword? I've seen people use yellow tassels as well.

All tassels are yellow, until they have been used a few times.

[Tak]

Originally posted by Sam Wiley
And for the record, the human body is a bit of a vacuum, hence the term "sucking" chest wound.

The significance of a sucking chest wound is that you've punctured a lung. The sucking is from the person trying to breathe. If the whole body was a vacuum, then, when you cut yourself, stuff would get sucked INTO the wound instead of blood running OUT. And it would be a lot harder to take a dump.

[Sam Wiley]

The body, as in the torso, not the limbs. As in the sac containing the organs and not the lungs. Inside that bag is a vacuum, outside is not. I understand why you would say the lungs, though. And things can be sucked up into the anus, with muscles or sometimes a vacuum and an accident. But that's another story.

Figures, though, about the crappy tassels. You know, you'd think paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a sword would get you the whole package. With some companies, it does, but apparently they don't produce any of the swords I have bought.

[brody]

Sam,

-------------------
With some companies, it does, but apparently they don't produce any of the swords I have bought."
--------------------

Where are you buying your swords? It seems that most all places are either selling real flexible swords or something that is assembled poorly." I'm looking for a good pratice sword that doesn't have the competition flexiblity (spring steel?).

[Sam Wiley]

Some of the swords I've had in the past, I can't even remember who made them. I've bought a great many swords through martial arts suppliers just to try them out, and every sword I bought from a martial arts supplier was horrible. So I no longer buy from there. Some were nothing but wall hangers billed as "combat steel" whose blades were chrome plated slag metal that bent the first time they were swung. Some were plastic and chrome plated slag metal fittings adorning what I could swear were chrome plated copper blades. I don't even know who made them but I remember what they looked like because every sword made by these same manufacturers looked the same. So I won't buy stuff even resembling them any more.

I used to have a Lung Chuan sword, which several distributors tout as real high quality. They're real, all right. Real garbage. I gave it and a couple of other of the crap swords to a student of mine, who put together a pretty good sword using the lung chuan blade and some of the other fittings, filling the handle with that gray epoxy you repair concrete with and shortening the blade by about 4 inches. It's tough, with a blade impossible to sharpen, though fairly well-balanced, and enough epoxy to keep it from falling apart. You couldn't cut butter with it, but you could break an opponent's sword and then bludgeon him to death with it.

So anyway, I don't buy their stuff, either.

Right now, after having given away most of the crap, I'm left with several swords that I believe were designed by Paul Chen. Probably my best jian is damascus steel with bronze fittings, rosewood handle and scabbard. The blade is fairly rigid, but still flexes, and the tip vibrates nicely when doing thrusting or splitting moves, etc. There is a distal taper to the blade, so the parts nearest the hilt doesn't take a great edge, but the tip is razor sharp. (I think this is what they mean in all those books when they talk about how the part near the hilt was meant for blocking and therefore left duller, not that flat edge you commonly see on lung chuan and other blades.) It's fairly well built and is balanced well. Cost me about $400, but the tassels are as long as the blade (which isn't that long anyway, but the tassels are way longer than normal, so much so that they scrape the ground if I practice with them attached.

My dao I think is also designed by Paul Chen, if I'm not mistaken. Very nice blade and fittings, though in my opinion the handle is an inch too short. This one is really tough. But again, the sash is nearly as long as the blade. And this is the one with very shallow fullers, no doubt about them being decorative.

I also have several practice swords and some wooden ones as well.

Anyway, the place I choose to get them from is Museum Replicas, which is about 20 minutes from my house. Every now and then they come out with another jian made by their own manufacturer, and that's what I'm waiting for because the last one was just awesome. But they haven't had one in a while, instead focusing on katanas. You can get Paul Chen's stuff from his own website, though.

My next sword purshase is going to be an Iai To, once I get up about $1200. A friend of mine moved here from Colorado recently and brought back an excellent sword he used for his Iaido school out there, bought from some custom sword maker whose name I can't remember. Real rayskin, silk, and hand-forged blades. I can even pick out the kind of temper line I'd like to have.

Anyway, I don't thin the swords I have are in MRL's catalog anymore, but I believe you can still find them on Paul Chen's site. Someone told me he had come out with newer models improving on flaws in the older ones, but I don't know for sure.

I've been thinking about going to MRL and talking to their designer about making their own jians again, and maybe their own daos as well. But they probably won't go for it unless they know they have a market for them. I'll have to remember to tell them to keep the tassels just so long.

[Sam Wiley]

Sorry for rambling. I'm incredibly bored right now.