The martial arts manual is a core piece of modern martial arts lore. The book that contains secret techniques and methods for defeating your enemy is story that is told in countless movies, TV shows, and novels. What surprises most Practitioners of Chinese martial art, is that in China, the grand majority of the oldest… Continue reading Dan Dao Fa Xuan: part one
The third entry from Mao Yuan Yi's ChaoXian Shifa 朝鮮勢法 (Korean Stances) we will look at is the "ban tou" or Leopard Head Strike. The technique is familiar to a great many arts and find a number of iterations within the Wubei Zhi. Ban tou is related to two previous entries, Ju Ding and Zuo… Continue reading Bao Tou: Leopard Head Strike
Sorry for the lack of activity lately. Summer has been quite the busy time. It has also been a while since we looked at some translation material. So, in service of these facts, lets us examine the Zou Yi Ji: The Left Wing Strike from Chao Xian Shi Fa. 3.*左翼勢者即左翼擊也法能上挑下壓直殺虎口右脚右手， 直符送書勢向前掣步逆鳞刺看法The “Zuo Yi” stance represents… Continue reading The Left Wing Strike
The Wubei Zhi 武備志 by Mao Yuanyi contains the oldest record of two handed sword use in the Chinese literature. Not only is it the oldest it is one of the very few pre-Qing Dynasty document detailing the use of the straight sword or "jian"劍. The bulk of this text consists of 24 entries for… Continue reading Ju Ding: Raise the Cauldron
Below is my translation of the 24 stances of longsword found in the Wubei Zhi (武備志). I continue to work on and improve my translation and interpretation for ChaoXian Shifa(朝鮮勢法), and the challenges of translating old texts like this are myriad. But I enjoy the effort. Figuring out the changing meanings for words in their… Continue reading ChaoXian Shifa: Korean Stances-The Art of the Chinese Longsword.
