Praying Mantis Grand Ultimate Sword
Not all the classical "Grand Ultimate" (Taiji Jian) sword forms are the same. There is the famous classical "Grand Ultimate" sword form of Taijiquan system, but what about the classical Grand Ultimate sword form of the Chao Chu Chi's Northern Praying Mantis style. Are they similar? Do they have the same principles? Let's see.
Let's briefly discuss the classical "Grand Ultimate" sword form of the Yang family. It consists of fifty-three postures. It contains thirteen sword techniques, which are to hit (ji), to thrust (ci), to block (ge), to lift (ti), to wash (xi), to draw (chou), to bring back (dai), to explode (beng), to chop (pi), to point (dian), to move (jiao), to press downward (ya), and to intercept (jie). So, let's compare. The Nothern Praying Mantis classical "Grand Ultimate" sword form consist of one hundred six postures. It's a long form, trust me. It contains fourteen sword techniques, which are to stab (ci), to point (dian), to file (cuo), to clip (jian), to split (pi), to chop (kan), to cut (zhan), to expand (huo), to cut sideways (heng), to stir, (liao), to cloud (yun), to cover and press downward (gaiya), to to pluck (tiao), and to smear (mo). Just to let you know, they are not the same sword form and they each adhere to a different set of sword techniques. Though some similars can to found, each sword style has its own distinct set of sword rules and principles.
When I learned this sword form, I found it easier to learn these fourteen sword techniques by placing them into categories. I used the "TCP formula" (thrust cut parry). For example, let's take a situation where someone tries to attack you. If you had a sharp weapon or a sharp object in your hand, your first instinct would be to try and stab or try to lash out at your attacker. Stabbing and slashing are natural offensive movements. They represent the thrusting and cutting categories of the "TCP formula." To block, to deflect and to control. I have placed them into the parrying category. Now, let's see how easy it is to learn the "Grand Ultimate" sword form. The thrusting techniques consist of four basic techniques, to stab, to point, to file and to clip. In the first thrusting technique, you learn to stab (ci). You are using the tip of the sword to thrust forward. The stab is further divided into four kinds of stabs. The first is the level stab (ping ci), the front downward stab (qian xia ci), the turnover level stab (fan ping ci), and the reverse vertical stab (fan li ci).
The level stab can be found in posture 42, "White crane cools its wings." The front downward stab is found in postures 22, 51, and 70, "Yaksha searches the ocean," in posture 32, "Rotate the body, then at the tail end needles," in posture 80, "White snake spits out its tongue," and in posture 93, "An immortal points the way." The turnover level stab is found in posture 103, "Flying dragon guides the phoenix." The reverse vertical stab is found in postures 20 and 68, "Thunderbolt strikes the tree."
If you consider yourself a "swordsman," you might want to practice other stabbing techniques as the front upward stab (qian shang ci), the backward upward stab (hou shang ci), the backward level stab (hou ping ci), the backward upward stab (hou shang ci), and the backward downward stab (hou xia ci).
In the pointing sword (dian jian) techniques, you hold the sword blade vertically, using the lower part of the sword tip to point downward attacking your opponent's wrist. There are three pointing techniques in this "Grand Ultimate" sword form. They are the front point (qian dian), the downward point (xia dian), and the backward point (hou dian). The front point is found in posture 33, "Strength to split the scaly dragon." The downward point is found in posture 79, "The male and female phoenix bow." The backward point is found in postures 13 and 90, "Wai Chi lashes out his whip" and in posture 52, "The jade girl lotus steps."
The third, is the filing sword (cuo jian) techniques, used to cut your opponent's wrist by thrusting your sword away from your body. There are three filing techniques, the upward file (shang cuo), the inside or internal file (nei cuo), and the outside or external file (wai cuo). You can find the upward file in posture 45, "The young boy prays to Buddha" and in posture 87, "Needle affixes to the sun." The inside file is found in posture 52, "The jade girl's lotus step." And the outside file is found in posture 79, "Male and female phoenix bow." The fourth thrusting sword technique is the chipping sword (jian jian), which uses the tip of the sword to attack in a downward motion. Hidden techniques of chipping is found in postures 20, 40, and 68, "Thunderbolt strikes the trees."
The second category of sword techniques is the cutting sword. There are five cutting techniques. They are to split (pi), to chop (kan), to cut (zhan), to expand (huo), and to cut sideways (heng). The first cutting technique is the split, which uses the top third of the sword blade to cut downward in a vertical splitting movement. You can find this sword technique in postures 26 and 28, "A single chop to the Wah Mountain," and in postures 37, 63, and 96, "The skillful hand chops the wrist."
You probably think you're pretty skillful by now. Don't stop yet: practice other splitting techniques such as the front split (qian lun pi), the backward split (hou lun pi), the front half split (qian ban lun pi), and the turnover body flick and split (fan shen tiao pi). The second cutting technique is the chopping sword (kan jian). In this technique, you use the top third of the sword blade to cut from sideways to forward. You can find this technique in posture 17, "Horizontal clouds cut off the mountain peak" and in posture 23, "Horizontally sweep the host of troops."
The third cutting technique is the cutting sword (zhan jian), using the horizontal sword blade to cut sideways. You can find this in postures 57, 59, 61, and 88, "Woodcutter cuts firewood," in posture 84, "Scatter the clouds to see the moon," and in posture 98, "Waves spring upon the river rocks."
The fourth cutting technique is the expanding sword (huo jian), to diagonally or horizontally cut the opponent's torso, his wrist, or his neck. This is found in posture 12, "Empty form divides the gold," in posture 18, "Black dragon swings its tail," in posture 25, 27, and 29, "Jade bracelets fly diagonally," and in posture 86, "Fine guests rides the dragon."
The final cutting technique is the sideways cutting sword (heng jian), using the horizontal sword tip to attack the opponent from the side. An example would be to attack your opponent's temple. You can find this technique in posture 84, "Scatter the clouds to see the moon."
The third category of sword techniques are the parrying techniques. There are five parrying techniques, to stir (liao), to cloud (yun), to cover and press (gaiya), to pluck (tiao), and to smear (mo). The first parrying technique is the stirring sword (liao jian), using the sharp edge of the sword to slide upward from the bottom. There are three stirring sword techniques, the left stir (zuo liao), the right stir (you liao), and the back stir (hou liao). The left stir is found in posture 36, "Tin Wang carries the pagoda on his palm." The right stir is found in postures 14, 53, 72, 76, and 91, "Sword turns over negative then positive." The left and right stir is found in posture 71, "Green dragon plays in the water." Finally, there is the back stir, found in posture 48, "Point at the star gaze at the moon," in posture 73, "Carp turns over its body," in posture 77, "A single hand lifts up the sky."
The second parrying technique is the cloud sword (yun jian), which is a horizontal circling of the sword overhead. There are two kinds of cloud techniques, the front cloud (qian yun) and the upward cloud (shang yun). The front cloud sword is found in posture 43, "Jade belt surrounds the waist." The upward cloud is combined with the embracing sword (bao jian), found in postures 21, 41, 50, and 69, "Embracing the moon," in postures 31 and 47, "Hand embracing the Chinese lute," and in posture 49, "Snowflakes cover the face."
The third parrying technique is to cover and downward pressing sword (gaiya jian). You can find this technique in posture 15, "Outline of a heroic eagle descending," in posture 64, "Seizing sword crouching posture," in posture 73, "Carp turns over its body," and in posture 102, "Quickly ferry across the river."
The fourth parrying technique is the plucking sword (tiao jian), using the vertical blade, you deflect or attack from a bottom to an upward movement. You can find this parry in posture 44, "Spirit of the dragon ascends to the sky" and in posture 56, "Raise the fire signal to the sky." The fifth is the smearing sword (mo jian), using the middle part of the horizontally held sword, to pull and slide the blade from front to back. There are two kinds of smearing techniques, the left level smear (zuo ping mo) and the right level smear (you ping mo). Smearing techniques are found in posture 43, "Jade belt surrounds the waist," in posture 104, "Horizontal sweeps the host of troops" to posture 105, "Rotate the body and rub."
By now you can consider yourself an "expert" in using the "TCP formula." You can now effectively understand and learn any sword form. It just takes quality time for you to put that extra effort into analyzing sword techniques.
Mahalo,
Professor Randy Choy
Founder of the Chinese Athletic Arts Academy
Advisor to the Hawaii Martial Arts International Society
Chuk Kai Tai Chi Praying Mantis Organization, Hawaii
Contact Sifu Fong at: gregoryfong@i-chuan.net
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