Sword Tassel

[AidanO]

Historically, tassels did exist, in the same design for both Jian and Dao, which is strange that what is currently passed on between the two is very different between them. However, the historical tassel bears little resemblance to what is currently sold/displayed on swords today.

It was also a useful addition to a blade. Here's a picture of what I mean: http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com/

The use of the Chinese tassel was that same as that of European cavalry sabers. It looped around the wrist in battle, so if your blade was knocked out of your hand for whatever reason, you didn't lose your sword. It dropped and dangled until you could recover it. I'm sure that people would have trained skills to flick it back into their hand, but it wouldn't have been regimented.

The big tassels that are so very common these days on Jian and the brightly coloured cloth on Dao are from the Chinese Opera and gradually took over.

In modern practice is there a need for a tassel of this type? Probably not unless physics suddenly breaks down and guns stop working, because even if you are interested in restoring Chinese swordsmanship and sparring with real weight weapons, it's unlikely that you are going to be charging around on horseback with a live blade shopping at people and risk dropping your blade.

Although I have seen clips on youtube that are remarkably similar.

 

[GordonM]

I just remembered where I read it
http://swordforum.com/forums/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=css&Number=60837&page=&view=&sb=

Very interesting explaination in fact.

Scoot Rodell (the guy who wrote this) is a tai chi chuan teacher, and he has trained with several famous people.

So in fact tassle is useful.

salute
:asian:

The post from Scott Rodell is no longer available so I thought I would throw in my .02.

I studied with Master T. T. Liang for many years and learned most of his sword forms. He taught all of them with sword tassel. He had learned from Li Jin Fei who was considered one of the last masters of Sword Tassel art.

When the two of them first met LJF proved his abilities by constantly disarming Liang (who was already quite accomplished with sword).

Liang taught that sword tassel was used for three purposes.

1. Entanglement of the opponents sword leading to a disarm.

2. Cutting the opponent's face, arms and hands. The tassel in this case was made of wire or a particular silk that could cut. These movements were swipes and slashes to the opponents face and arms areas.

3. Blinding or distracting the opponent. These movements were done so that the tassel was blocking the opponents view of the sword. Unable to anticipate where it would be next lead to the next strike landing.

Liang used different objects to weight the tassel but not because it was meant to counter balance the sword. If your sword needs counter balancing, get a new sword. The tassels were weighted so that they could more easily be moved and controlled. The tassels were long and light without weighting.

Liang also added small bells to the tassel. If he was able to hear you 'ring the bell' it signaled poor control. Throughout his forms the tassel and sword had to be in constant motion and well controlled. Any time you momentarily lost control of the tassel the bell would sound.

Liang told his students many stories related to the sword tassel but this covers his basics. Hope you find it useful.

Gord Muir

 

[QASIMARA]

I just remembered where I read it
http://swordforum.com/forums/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=css&Number=60837&page=&view=&sb=

Very interesting explaination in fact.

Scoot Rodell (the guy who wrote this) is a tai chi chuan teacher, and he has trained with several famous people.

So in fact tassle is useful.

salute
:asian:

Do you have a good link for this? I searched the forum and it did not find "tassel" or "chinese sword"

 

[donald1]

I know my instructor has a jian he practices with, it has a tassle. In my opinion it does seem to draw attention (like bob said, good for distractions)

 

[Wudang108]

"Distracton" is the main use given, but this is just the surface. Analysis of medieval swords in "Iron and Steel Swords of China" validates that tassel was common, especially in the Ming and later. Yen Chi-tan's teacher, the one who woke him from bed by beating him with a stick to make him practice kung fu, is famous for tassel, so I would't discount it re: real martial application. Here are the other uses, and some details on proper use, based on my own instruction and validation of those uses:

1. Distraction
Low-level because this applies even for tassels too short to wrap the wrist.

2. Higher skill
It is significantly harder to do these forms with a tassel long enough to wrap the wrist, because one has to have perfect control both the blade and pommel with every part of every movement in order not to wrap the wrist. (If you see someone who can do this and you can't, trust me they have higher skill If the tassel does wrap the wrist, which happens even to the best, it must be unwrapped naturally as part of a following movement, without breaking the form or movement.

3. Wrapping the wrist
There are some techniques where it's not a bad thing to have the tassel wrapped around the wrist because it adds structural strength to the overall frame (wielder and sword.) But it also limits versatility and extension, so use is rare in an art that acknowledged and rejected basket hilts. (Li Jinglin specifically mentions this.)

4. Wrapping a polearm
This requires the tassel to be affixed to the pommel at the base of the handle, or through a sturdy hole, so the tassel doesn't get pulled off. If you study long tassel sword forms, you will see that many cuts lead with the pommel, and this allows the tassel to precede the blade. The same technique can be used to wrap a pole-arm haft and pull the wielder into the sword slice, which is assured by pressing the blade into their body as you draw it across their body.

5. Tangling blades
Blades do not do well if they get snared or tangled in fabric, and a basic form of knife defense is still to wrap the forearm with a shirt or jacket to diminish the effectiveness of the knife. (Current consensus seems to be that realistic knife defense requires willingness to take non-lethal cuts to avoid lethal stabs, where the maniac with the knife has any degree of competence In the same way, blades do not interact well with tassels, provided that *the tassel has slack*. If the tassel has no slack, it can be cut. The real technique of tassel, and long tassel sword in particular, is that the wielder puts the *minimum* energy required into the tassel to cause it to follow the intended path. Very few in any generation put in the time to be able to do this, and most long tassel you will see features tassels with no slack--not real martial art.

6. Gauge of wasted energy in techniques
The most important use of tassel, and why so many of the modern casual practitioners have rejected it, is the amount of energy in the tassel at the end of an execution of a technique is proportional to the amount of energy lost in the technique, especially chops, proper cuts and jabs. If the tassel bounces too much or wraps your wrist, your cut was not optimized. If you see a legit high-level wudang master, of which there are very few in any given generation, you will notice there is very little bounce in their tassel.

There are probably a coupe I'm forgetting, but that's a good basic primer.

Everyone should train with a tassel to improve their ability to maximize the action of the weapon. If you're not constantly looking to increase difficulty, you are not training sufficiently.

I don't recommend tassel for sparring in general however, because I think it can distract from the primary concern of Wudang sword which is controlling the opponent's weapon with your blade to strike cleanly without the possibility of reply--the only viable sword art. In this photo of Si Tai Kung, the father of modern secular Wudang sword, he is gloved which indicates preparation for real use and his blade has no tassel.

All the top descendants of Li Jinglin to the present day seem to use tassel in training and exhibition, but as Sifu might have said, "not necessary" for real swordplay.

 

[Wudang108]

As far as I know, which isn't much, there is no historical evidence that the tassle on swords where ever used in actual combat. There is however evidence that swords would sometimes have a lanyard attached so your sword would be secured at the wrist.

Like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Manchuguard.jpg

I believe that the tassle we see now has evolved into modern chinese martial arts from these lanyards.

Great point, and definitely supported by the holes for such lanyards in Chinese straightswords in "Iron and Steel Swords of China". I just did a post on the use of tassel in training, and ways it can be used in combat, but conclude that it's "not necessary", where attaching the sword to the wrist by a lanyard for battlefield use would have definite utility.

Valuable insight. Respect!