Attn: Glw

[Sam Wiley]

Just posting this in case you don't see the post in the iron shirt thread...

I was wondering if you could either email me some video footage of good swordsmen, tell me where I could donwload some good footage, or else email me a set of guidelines as to how the tassels should react during the techniques. What you posted about the tassels a while back was good, but didn't cover everything. I have some footage from a tournament but the practitioners are not the best. Any help would be apreciated.

Thanx.

[GLW]

Sam,

thanks for the compliment.

To be honest, I have trained with the tassle and have seen my teacher, classmates, and many others demo and such with the tassles...but I never did any videos of them.

On methods to do, I can give some descriptions and such...if that would help. There are a number of drills such as Liao (a counter attack method with a cut) for example that work well for showing if you are connecting to the waist is you use the tassle.

Then you have Wu Hua or wrist flowers that show if you get the block out from the body and et the blade flow or if you cut it too close - the tassle will wrap up your arm if you do it wrong...

If the descriptions would help, I would be happy to work something up and e-mail it to you.

[Sam Wiley]

Liao, as in an "upward slide" in Yang Jwing-ming's book? Where you kind of end up in a posture like White Crane Spreads Wings? Deflect the opponent's sword to the left, step up into a left foot forward toe stance, and slide the blade up along his belly? If that's the one, I think I've got that one pretty much. The tassels sort of circle around clockwise there. Is that right?

"Wrist flowers," neat name. I usually only have the tassels wrap around my wrist during one part of the form, somewhere around section 29 of Dr. Yang's form in his book, but it's not the same movement. I've been working on it, though, and it doesn't happen as often any more. It's a sort of rolling movement, and if I do it with a flick of the wrist the tassels wrap. So I just have to break the habit of flicking my wrist.

Yeah man, write up everything you can and send it to me. Any other training methods you can think of or any other kind of exercises. I'm determined to master this blade.

And thank you.