butterfly knives versus broadsword

[jdhowland]

Good responses, all.

One thing to consider is why weapons are taught in a particular order. Many styles teach staff first because it is such a basic and readily available weapon, but also because it ties in with Shaolin mythology. Many instructors prefer double knives first because all of the techniques can also be done barehanded and it fits in nicely with basic training. The advantage of the daan dou is that you learn to balance the weapon hand with the complimentary action of the opposite hand--slightly more advanced concepts, but many of the moves work with any size knife or even a short stick.

Personally, I teach daan dou before seuhng dou, but it makes little difference, really. You will learn both soon enough.

jd

[CLFFU]

If you haven't spent much time with either weapon, maybe you could ask your Sifu about trying each of them for a training session. That way, you may be able to get a more intuitive sense of which weapon seems right for you at this point (a little more of a "hands on" approach.) If he's given you the option of choosing for yourself, you might even want to ask his opinion again, as each weapon will help to develop a different aspect of your overall skill set. My Sifu arranges weapon sets with their approximate corresponding open hand forms (double butterfly swords w/butterfly palm set, etc) so that there are more similarities between the open hand and weapons forms being trained in succession. Staff is the first weapon in our school also, with straight sword actually being second because of the open hand form. But kwan dao was the second weapon that I learned, and I've found that to be a bit better in my case, as techniques from both weapons can be applied nearly equally to other objects (pool cue, mop handle, etc.) Over time, I've come to learn that Sifu has specific reasons for my learning specific techniques and applications in a particular order, and I'd bet that your Sifu does too.

[HSCLFCPA]

My Sifu does suggest doing the 2 butterfly knives first. Thanks.

[David Jamieson]

My Sifu does suggest doing the 2 butterfly knives first. Thanks.

enjoy!

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