What is Tai Chi Sword?

Tai Chi Sword is an excellent tool for developing energy, the chi. What makes it different from the say Japanese sword, the Nihonto is that it is a double-edged sword thus the technique is essentially different. However I think it is better to look at the sword as the leaf that you hold in your hand rather than the sharpened piece of metal meant to cause damage. Because when you see sword in the way, you are compelled to carry it around carefully and not just jam it in to the air trying to make a cut, which is in turn great for developing the jin - internal energy that Tai Chi is known for. That is Tai Chi done right.


The cuts and thrusts done with the Tai Chi Sword are accomplished using weight shifts and turn of the weight, considering that you have already finished the form and familiar with the push-hands practice. In fact this basic body technique is so crucial that without it the sword won't even properly work. Yes I realize that the sword is heavy enough and being sharp enough can cut just by application of its own weight. However, this is not enough to know the sword. Grounding and the weight distribution are crucial.


As the hands are only "manifestations" of the energy - so is sword a manifestation of the energy. As such it requires a very accurate technique and a very precise vision of how it works and what doesn't and would not work. After all our ancestors used it for combat and relied on it in some complicated life-and-death confrontations. So looking from this perspective working with the practice sword, made out of wood won't necessarily have you mastered the whole of the art. And yet, steel Tai Chi sword may be deceptively easy it wield thus compromising the necessary practice needed to have the aforementioned body technique.


Tai Chi repertoire of cuts and thrusts, blocks and deflections has no match in my opinion - everything else looks simply brutish in comparison. Doesn't mean that it is not aesthetically pleasing or effective. I am talking more about the richness of the glossary. This puts in light other double swords of the world - the Western one for example, used from Russia to Scotland for many century, a very evolved weapon. Applying the Tai Chi principles it becomes clear that sword wasn't used to bang it up against other warrior's shield, which would simply break it or have it stuck in the wood. Neither it is a great practice to apply hard blocks to stop one sword against the other, which would nick the blade, or bend it.


To add to the problem of understanding swordsmanship - a steel sword was a weapon of the upper classes, expensive, exclusive, and many times unique. Why would anyone want to ruin that treasure?


So, looking at the graceful Tai Chi weapon, developed by ages of application I think to myself - is this a weapon or a beautiful leaf, dropped from the tree of life by the great God?
Is it a weapon of gore and destruction, or a double-holed straw breathing in and out the energy and the jin, feeling its practitioner with knowledge of what is it really like to wield a tool of self-cultivation, peace and health?