Cheng Hsin Sword Work

The Sword Course is an opportunity for the Cheng Hsin student to develop familiarity and skill with weapons. The sword used in this class is the straight, double-edged Chinese Kim. The course is designed to take the student from the beginning basics to an intermediate stage of skill. First, basic handling skills are taught and then the T’ai Chi Kim set, which is the basis of Cheng Hsin sword fighting. Next, a short two-person set is taught, designed to introduce the students to basic principles of sword fighting. Finally, we study freeplay with swords to develop fighting skills. Intermediate and advanced students also have the option to learn the Lung Feung Kim, a longer Mo Tang sword set with a more advanced character of movement than the T’ai Chi Kim.

Freeplay with the sword is another functional art or practice. It is a great testing ground and training for so many of the things we’re here to train. One of the beauties of sword play is that strength and gender don’t have nearly as much influence as they can have in the other practices. A blade, whether it’s pretend or not, equalises characteristics like size, weight, strength, etc. The skill of fluidly manoeuvring changes in both sword and awareness decide the victory.