Sword in Chen Taiji?

[Internal Flow]

Can anybody tell me if straight sword is used in Chen style Taiji?

All things return to it as to their home, but it does not lord it over them.
Thus it may be called "The Great"

[Prairie]

Yes, the straight sword is used in chen style taijiquan.

[Internal Flow]

What other weapons are used in Chen style?

All things return to it as to their home, but it does not lord it over them.
Thus it may be called "The Great"

[Prairie]

weapons in chen style:

saber
straight sword
pole
spear
spring and autumn sword

these are the ones that I'm aware of, but there may be more.

[eightgates]

The remaining that I am aware of are the twin double-edged swords, double sabres, and double steel whips (these are metal rods and not chain whips).

[Internal Flow]

Thanks :)

All things return to it as to their home, but it does not lord it over them.
Thus it may be called "The Great"

[Kumkuat]

Straight Sword

Broad Sword

Staff

Spear

Spring and Autumn Broadsword (Kwan Do)

Double Straight Sword

Double Broad Sword

Double Iron Maces

Two Section Staff

I don't know about metal whips though...

[Josh _f]

See Herb Rich's taiji page (http://www.digidao.com/nweap.htm)for a complete list of Chen weapons.

The steel whips are not a traditional weapon, nor are they practiced in lineage that I know of. In my opinion chain/rope weapons should not be adopted into the taiji curriculum as jing can not be conducted through such weapons.

Do not attempt to share your interest in martial arts with pedantic, narrow-minded scholars. As soon as they find out, they will quote from the classics and regale you with all kinds of irrelevant non-sense. This is infuriating. You can deal with this by either avoiding them or keeping your art secret.
--Ch'ang Nai-chou

[eightgates]

Hi Kumkuat and Josh_f,

I mentioned the term "steel whip" because this is another common term for this type of weaponry. It is not to be confused with "chain whip." Whips can be classified as hard whips (gan bian) or soft/flexible whips (ruan bian). The hard whips are rods sometimes engraved with bamboo or other designs (Michelle Yeoh used one in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" although it did seem somewhat thick). The soft/flexible whips are the 3, 5, 7 or 9 sectioned chain whips which most Westerners are familiar with. I prefer not to use the term "double maces" because people generally associate maces with rods that have some sort of headpiece attached for striking. The original Chinese name for the weapon is "shuang jian" (not to be confused with the same pronunciation for the double swords) or "double jian." Proof of this can be found on page 130 of the 3rd volume of 19th generation Master Chen Zhenglei's compellation of the Chen Taijiquan hand and weapon routines.

Best wishes,
Eightgate

[Rory]

The Sabre, spear, Sword were the first 3 weapons but over time masters have added in others so if your school only teaches these three thats fine it just shows that somewere in your lineage no one trained with someone that new them.

[unclaimed effort]

There might have been some really secreted weapon forms not shown to someone in a level not high enough. You have to put in mind that the weapon forms of any internal art is considered to be a very important part of jing training, and form training. Or, simply there were weapons used in Chen style that distinguished from society and public usage from lack of expanding, effectiveness, or equipment to create the weapon.

I can be like one of those philosophers who hide everything in poems, but instead I can tell you the true secret of martial arts in one word:

PRACTICE!

[Stumblefist]

Why just be satisfied with words .? Get Chen Zhen Lei's videos/vcd's on sabre , push hands etc. He is the best of the "4 big steel buddhas" in Henan province today.

[RAF]

If you can get a hold of the old Journal of the Chen Style Taijiquan Research Association of Hawaii, April/May/June 1994 there is a note of translations on the Taiji sword.

http://www.artofchina.com/Journalindex.html#anchor27807

http://www.artofchina.com/NewJournal.html At this site there is the Two man sword Chen style by Wu Ben Hong.