Chinese weapons basics & resources...

[Wes Tasker]

Greetings-

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for instructionals (books and/or videos) on Chinese weapons basics (mainly broadsword, spear, and staff). I know there are plenty of videos out there on forms for these weapons, but I would really like to find a resource on how the basics were drilled before one got to the actual forms. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-wes tasker

 

[RHD]

Greetings-

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for instructionals (books and/or videos) on Chinese weapons basics (mainly broadsword, spear, and staff). I know there are plenty of videos out there on forms for these weapons, but I would really like to find a resource on how the basics were drilled before one got to the actual forms. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-wes tasker

That's a very interesting question Wes. My intuition tells me that you will have to search far and wide to find what you are looking for other than extremely simply things such as solo practice for base movements. You can get some info from videos and I reccommend www.wle.com for both Hung Gar and Bak Sil Lum. If you are looking for more complex material, feel free to PM me as I would be interested in further discussion about Chinese weapons training as it relates to some of the Philipino and Indonesion counterparts.

Mike

 

[Dronak]

Hmm. Well, our teacher covered broadsword and staff with our class. I think he did more in some special classes I opted not to take, but anyway. For the most part, learning a basic form was the main point. But we did start off with a few basic moves, I guess to get the feel of the weapon and how it's used. With staff, we did some basic strikes, moving from a Half Horse Stance to Half Horse Stance using the staff to strike either upwards or sideways, as well as spinning the staff vertically from the right side to left side and repeat, both stationary and while walking forward and backward. With broadsword, there was a sword spinning move, taking it from behind the back, to vertical circles in front of you, on the left side, on the right side, then back behind you again to repeat, and one I can't explain very well in brief that involved swinging the sword around your body in a blocking and striking combination. I doubt that will help much, but basically we did some practice on these simple moves first, and after a bit of practice with them, we went on to start the basic form. I couldn't really suggest any particularly good sources for information, sorry. I hope this is of some help though.