• GENERAL
  
• WUDANG SANFENG
  
• ZHAOBAO
  
• CHEN
  
• YANG
  
• WU (Wu Yuxiang)
  
• WU (Wu Jianquan)
  
• SUN
  
• HULEI
  
• OTHERS INTERNAL STYLES
  
  • XINGYI QUAN
  • BA GUA ZHANG
  • LIU HE BA FA
    
• WEAPONS
  
  • SWORD
  • SABER
  • SPEAR
  • STICK

TAI-CHI (taiji) WEAPONS: SWORD

The sword is straight and double edged, in contrast with the broadsword, which has curved and single-edged blade. Before entering into matter, let me show you some pictures of swords and explain how to check if a sword is correctly balanced.

LONG QUAN

The best well-known Chinese swords and broadswords (saber) come from the city of Long Quan. One of the companies that manufactures them, named Chun Qiu, has a website (www.lqcq.com) where you can find many pictures of Chinese weapons.

The sword on top, on the other hand, is also a taiji sword but not from Chinese origin: it comes from Toledo, Central Spain. Zhang brought it for me after a workshop he gave there. It is from an excellent quality and handmade, in such a way that never the same design is repeated twice. If you are interested in getting one, they are manufactured by Artesanía Trinidad, C.B., and their address is Trinidad 14, Toledo, Spain. Their phone number is Int+34-925-225-287. No webpage available.

BALANCE OF THE SWORD

To check if a sword is correctly balanced, you can try to hold the sword on your index finger from its center of balance: the most horizontal it holds, the better balanced the sword is. The center of balance of the sword should be typically located at a distance of one cun (about the width of a fist) from the hand shield. However, this distance may vary a bit depending on the length of the sword: longer swords have their center of balance further away from the hand shield.