origami_itto wrote:DiaitaDoc wrote:origami_itto wrote:I do like that idea. I've seen discussion of using it like a buckler for blocking, an interesting dynamic to add for sure.
That’s the idea. Also holding the scabbard with secret sword allows the scabbard to be held more securely against the forearm, and the open end can also be used for a thrusting strike.
I’ve always wondered about the term “secret sword”. It could be 秘剣, which could be read as “secret/mysterious sword”, but as a verb 秘 also carries with it the meaning of “block/obstruct”. So it could also mean blocking/obstructing sword.
There’s also the term 剣韬, which could translate as “sword concealing” or “sword secreting”, but what’s interesting in this case is that 韬 also literally means scabbard, and 剣韬 therefore means “sword scabbard”.
Either way, when I studied Jian, I took the scabbard to be integral to the training and the form.
In
"Tai Chi Sword: Classical Yang Style" by Yang Jwing Ming he uses jian 剑
jue 诀.
This meaning indicates that the sword fingers are the secret (of the) sword (art), they are not a sword that is a secret, but the practice of projecting energy into the off hand to balance your movements is the secret of properly practicing the form. If you're not doing that, then you're not projecting it into the weapon either.
A martial sword with a metal scabbard would definitely use the sheath for blocking. A wood one, not so much. The Wudang form is very much a "scholar's form" so you don't see that practiced normally.
So I dug a little into this and the modern source, Chen Weiming
https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... iji-sword/Brennan wrote: "your left hand, pinched to make a swordsman’s hex, is in front of your chest"
Barbara Davis, Taiji Sword and Other Writings, p. xv. wrote:"Chen Weiming calls the empty hand (predominately the left hand) literally "the hand pinched into a secret sword (shou nei jian jue), which is know elsewhere as "finger sword." I have rendered it "feigned sword." "
ChatGPT, the definitive martial arts translation authority preferred by 8/10 Australians wrote:左手揑劍訣在胸前。
Pinyin:
Zuǒ shǒu niē jiàn jué zài xiōng qián.
English:
The left hand holds the sword's secret in front of the chest.
Original Characters:
左手 (zuǒ shǒu) - left hand
揑 (niē) - hold
劍 (jiàn) - sword
訣 (jué) - secret
在 (zài) - in
胸前 (xiōng qián) - in front of the chest
Now google translates 劍訣 (Jiàn jué) directly as "Sword Art"
But looking up "swordsman's hex" gets you a ton of results.
https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/08/16/sundial-sword-ziwu-jian/
子午劍
SUNDIAL SWORD
順德黃漢勛編述
by Huang Hanxun [Wong Honfan] of Shunde
劍雖未换手作刺擊劈殺之用，但劍訣乃練劍者必經之階段，㪽謂未練劍先練訣必修之課。
Although the sword has not yet switched hands to do any stabbing or chopping, the swordsman’s hex still has to be practiced. It is said: “To train with the sword, you must first train your swordsman’s hex.”
(liàn jiàn xiān liàn jué)
練 (liàn) - practice
劍 (jiàn) - sword
先 (xiān) - first
練 (liàn) - practice
訣 (jué) - secret
And check this out even, white guy dressed like a monk makin kung fu movies.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1287692424645115
Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 2:29 pm
