The Major Methods of Wudang Sword Paperback – April 13, 2010

There are now several books widely available in English on Tai Chi sword. This book will provide the student will some clear guidelines on the basic cuts associated with the style, interesting historical notes, and other lessons.It's important to note from the start, this book does not contain a form to learn, if that's what the student is looking for.As the contents show, there are chapters on a variety of topics, however, many are fairly short at a page or two. And while the basic cuts are described and photographed, other chapters, like the two person form exercises, are not, giving only terse A then B then A guidelines. Nor are there any application photos. It seems the book's main virtue to the novice, as I am, is the chapter on basic cuts with grainy but decipherable photos from the original work (see the cover for an example).I was excited to see the translated forewords to the original edition by many famous masters. And while I enjoyed them (to say nothing of grasping them), they are, however, quite obscure. They come across like the classics, a riddle inside an enigma..., or they are encomiums of the sword master Lin, whose student compiled the book.As for other books available on the subect, I have 3: Rodell's, Yang Jwing-Ming's (YJM) and Petra Kobayashi's. These three books all have their individual strengths. However, for the beginner without a teacher, I highly suggest Kobayashi's book. It is the only book of the 3 that has arrows drawn from each hand and foot showing its exact path into the next picture. This is the only way to know from a book if one is moving through the postures properly. It also has a legend for each photo that shows weight distribution on the feet, angle of the sword as seen from above, and angle of the torso. The legend completely clarifies the already good photos. In short, it's a book you could actually learn the form from--as far as one can without a teacher. One should note though, Rodell has video of the form on his website, which if of course clarifying, and YJM has a DVD for purchase.Rodell's sword book has extensive information on sword history and construction, wonderful photos with applications, and discussions of basic cuts. For the ambitious, it also has two complete sword forms.YJM's book likewise has a good deal of info, applications and a form, but with the two person drills described and photographed as well. These drills are a strength of YJM's book.So, why acquire "The Major Methods of Wudang Sword" with these other books seeming more modern, complete and user friendly with 100's of more photos? Because while all the other books have descriptions of the basic cuts, they are not in agreement with each other. "Wudang Sword" clarifies the basic cuts by explaining how to hold and move the hand and what foot is weighted for certain cuts. It's quite systematized. As such, one gets a clearer idea of the cuts themselves, and this would be of use for any of the form books mentioned. Classical T'ai Chi Sword (No Series)Chinese Swordsmanship: The Yang Family Taiji Jian TraditionTaiji Sword, Classical Yang Style: The Complete Form, Qigong & Applications (Martial Arts-Internal) Forgive a novice like me for being so bold as to comment on the above books.

This book emphasizes the inner work of Wudang sword as well as showing a step-by-step practice method. All the writers are Taoist sword adepts.

Written in 1930 by Huang Yuan-xiou, a disciple of the legendary Li Jing Lin, "The Major Methods of Wudang Sword" is an indispensable book for any martial arts manual collection, especially for those into the internal arts of Wudang.While the title implies this is a book for sword stylists alone, the lessons provided within are beneficial to practitioners of all the internal arts, particularly Tai Chi (as a fighting art), Xingyi, and Baguazhang. With detailed chapters on proper practicing techniques, training, application, and martial theory, books of this quality are rare indeed, and in English, rarer still.As a student of Wudang martial arts, and as a collector of quality martial arts manuals, I cannot recommend this book enough.It's also worth noting that typically books such as this have limited print runs, and when they're gone, they're gone. And finding decent out of print copies of such books gets pretty expensive, pretty fast.

This book goes into the mental and artistic aspects of the martial art, as well as VERY detailed descriptions of every point in of each strike. Very helpful, if a little complex.

This is the magnum opus of an important martial artist who spent his life engaged in the pursuit of this craft and it's techniques.

A good review of the essentials.

useful for practioners of the art

Generally, this book is a translated manual which covers the basic principles of Wudang sword; specifically jian. It is evident upon fist opening that it is simply another book which covers the basic "thirteen taiji jian postures".The book includes:Excellent forwards by various well known masters.History of the jian.Some very interesting history on Wudang with regards to martial arts.Use of weaponry in the Wudang Style.Many vintage photographs of postures and application.A written description of a two-person set along with various drills for the jian.Collectively, I consider this book to be a great read for someone interested in the "taiji jian", or Wudang jian play.With regards to someone new to the jian, I would not recommend it as a sole source text because it's often difficult to ascertain what the author is trying to say. The pictures are not much help either since they are usually grainy and in black & white. To be fair, the pictures are also vintage so that preserves an ascetic value to this text; similarly translation makes it difficult to pinpoint exact descriptions while remaining faithful to the text. So these negative points can be forgiven.I place this book at 5 stars because it is priced right, the information in it is edifying, and it is an old text worth having on the bookshelf for reference.

Very Pleased with this product thank you

Bought for husband who studies tai chi, he was very happy with it

This book is simply a must for anyone interested in the Chinese Taoist Arts and Taijiquan. The authors have written this factually and simply with no frills. Simply a superb text book which should help any practising appreciate the finer points (no pun intended there) of Taoist Swordsmanship.

It's an interesting book, but very uncompleted, because it does not compare the Wudang Sword methods to the other numerous ones taught in China.