Formosa Neijia

This is an example of Joseph T. Oliva Arriola doing a type of knifework that he refers to as “external.”
This is a clip of what he calls “internal” knife work. Can you see the difference? The second clip shows the knife and the hands constantly sticking to the target. The flow from one point to [...]

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Below is a wonderful post made by Wuyidizi over at EF some time ago. I wanted to archive it for future reference. The info on taiji saber here is more than I’ve seen from other sources, making it a good reference. Since this was posted, I’ve come across several of the distinctive Wu style sabers [...]

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IMO the sword form is even harder than the hand form. It takes all the skills of the hand form to a higher level. You have to become much more refined when handling the jian. For example, the form has chansijing in it, but doing it with the jian can add a whole new dimension [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWUe3PfY_o
This is one of the best examples of IMA spear/long pole work that I’ve seen in a while. This guy really knows how to work it.
Interesting points: he does the basic beng (thrust) movement with the correct turn in of the right knee and hip at 0:02. He then does thrust with a half step [...]

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We had a lively discussion about this over at EF. I need to archive this post here because it took me over two hours to research and write it. I looked at about 8-9 Chinese books I have on sword to write this. The research can be a bit exhausting, but it’s very interesting. [...]

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I recently had the pleasure to spend an afternoon with author Brian Kennedy in Taipei’s military history museum. They are currently having an exhibit on infantry weapons, and we decided to go check it out. Here are some of the pics I took.

This is obviously the front of the museum. They have torpedo launchers and [...]

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It’s going to be weapons this week, folks. Lots of good info out there right now that happens to show up at the time that my curiosity over these matters is already high. Enjoy.
The following is a post made long ago by Bob over at KFonline. I’m listing it here because it’s a great [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DCLybmCSKs
This is excellent sword work done by Fu Xu Yuen (傅淑雲). She is one of the most famous martial artists in Taiwan, known for her expertise in Sun style taiji, bagua style taiji, Yang style, mian quan, bagua and xingyi. Her husband Meng Zhao Xuen(孟昭勳) was equally well known for his tongbeiquan (通臂拳). In this [...]

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So let’s take a break from Chen style for a minute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCo0EEUTCMI
Zhao laoshi’s performance in this clip is awe inspiring. What great movement for any age, let alone an advanced age. I know that he’s one of the top teacher’s in Kaoshiung, and from this performance I can see why.
Notice anything interesting about the background? This [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iibeHPY6yt0
I was discussing which saber is used in Chen style recently: oxtail (niu wei dao) or willowleaf (liu ye dao). I asked because I’m looking to learn taiji saber and I want to buy the right one. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anyone from the village branches that really seems to know that much about [...]

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