Wushu Straightsword

The straightsword (jian) is a double-edged straight sword and a wushu discipline. "Jian Shu" (straightsword art) is in particular practiced by women, but men with good back and shoulder flexibility often also do this discipline. Everybody who practices jian (straightsword), also practices qian (spear). Traditionally the wushu straightsword was a stiff, heavy weapon, but today most jian are flexible and have very thin and light blades. The reason for this is that in modern wushu, you have to do very fast movements and acrobatic jumps with the sword in your hand. Find more wushu related topics at wushu main.

Style Description

• The wushu straightsword is a stabbing weapon, but there are also slicing techniques.
• It was designed for close fighting in environments where spears etc. were too inconvenient. For example in forests.
• Hold the straightsword with your right hand. You can either hold the handle with the pointer surrounding one side of the hilt or hold the upper part of the handle between the pointer and the thumb (without the pointer around the hilt).
• The right length of your straight sword:
  When you hand stand upright with your arms relaxed, the distance from the hilt to the top of the sword should equal the distance from your wrist to the ear. (or slightly longer)
• The right weight of a straightsword:
  Straight swords used for modern wushu should be as light as possible and the blade should be flexible. A taiji straightsword can be slightly heaver (solid), but you can also use a super-light and flexible straightsword for freestyle forms. Heavy stiff straightswords are now only used for decoration or very traditional forms without acrobatics.
• Popular wushu straightsword styles: Taiji straightsword, drunken straightsword and double straightsword.

Advice

• Learn the wushu basics, the jumps and the basic longfist forms before you start with your weapon training.
• If you decide to do straighsword, you should also do spear (qiang shu)

Suggestions

• Qi Gong
• Tai Ji Quan
• Stretching

Videos/Images

• How to Carry the Wushu Straightsword
• Fife Flower Wushu Straightsword Circle
• Point Straightsword
• Wushu Straight Straightsword Stab
• Up Slice Circles with Wushu Straightsword
• Wushu Straightsword Flick
• Wushu Straightsword Cloud
• Front Sweep with Straightsword

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