The Two-Handed Sword technique

[JPinoy]

Longswords have been around for more than 2000years, as far back as the Qin Dynasty.

Here's a good video with historical overview (part 1) and clips of sword techniques and movements (part 2).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUiDGat-6rM

[the enigma that is badger]

Fascinating video, although the Mandarin pronunciation of the narrator is suspect (and if I can tell, it has to be bad!).

I'm actually a HUGE fan of the dao style of Chinese weaponry, particularly the dadao. My gal is more of jian fan, but I just love the imposing presence of the dao.

Of course, who says two hands are needed for good Chinese swordmanship?!

Thanks for the great vids!

badger

[JPinoy]

Perhaps because the guy narrating the video is not a native-speaker of Mandarin??? Due his excellent English however, I'd suspect that the narrator is in fact someone from the United States.

[smcginnis]

Thanks for finding this, JPinoy. It was really interesting.

Also, given that it's narrated by Scott M. Rodell, of Washington, D.C., I'd say he is -indeed- from the U.S.

~smcginnis

[Voran_the_Scholar]

Heh...the Yue Fei Dao reminds me of the Elvish Swords in Lord of the Rings...as far as size anyway.

God bless.

Tom

[the enigma that is badger]

Also, given that it's narrated by Scott M. Rodell, of Washington, D.C., I'd say he is -indeed- from the U.S.

Based on the tone of voice and accent, I'm not surprised an American was the narrator. What is surprising is that someone of with his knowledge and experience would chose to pronounce Mandarin so anglicized. Still, the video itself was an interesting overview.

Actually, there is/was a show on Chinese TV recently about the Nationalist dadao unit that operated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII to you and I). Here's a link to the first episode. It's untranslated, but the imagery of the opening is pretty sweet, particularly the dadao-katana showdown.

badger