Lo Family Sword

In 1962, a movie entitled, "The Tale of Zatoichi, Zatoichi Monogatari," was the first of twenty-five Japanese cinema treasures, featuring the life of a blind swordsman played by Shintaro Katsu (Toshio Okumura). He used a "Turnover Negative Sword Style" in his fights against the samurai clans, the ronins and the yakuza.

In 1970, Shintaro Katsu's twentieth movie entitled, "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo" displayed two very different and unique sword styles. It featured the very popular Toshiro Mifune against Shintaro Katsu.

The Lo family sword style of the Taiji Praying Mantis Boxing School had also used the "Turnover Negative Sword" in such movements as, "Wind blowing the snow," or "The sun's rainbow comes out" to "The eight immortals celebrating long life."

The Lo family sword style uses the tip, the blade, and the handle butt for attacking and defending. The tip of the sword is used for stabbing and piercing. The front third of the sword's blade is extremely sharp and is used for cutting and slicing. The middle third of the blade is used for parrying while the lower third of the blade is dull, used for blocking. Even the handle butt of the sword was used for striking.

I first learned the Taiji Mantis Lo family sword form from Mr. Kwong Kwun Wai in Kowloon. This sword style had a lot of stomps and flicks with a lot of quick wrist movements. In Honolulu, Hawaii, I learned Mr. David Cheng's version (aka The Vietnam Version) of the Taiji Mantis Lo family sword. It utilized more jumps, lighter and quicker footwork. Both versions consisted of seventy-three movements and twelve basic sword techniques. The twelve techniques are: to stab (Ci), to lift (Gua), to cloud (Yun), to embrace (Bao), to point (Dian), to split (Pi), to drill (Zuan), to stir (Liao), to support (Tuo), to block upward (Jia), to smear (Mo), and to pluck (Tiao).

The first sword technique is to stab. There are five methods of stabbing: the vertical stab (Zheng Li Ci), the front downward stab (Qian Xia Ci), the backward level stab (Hou Ping Ci), the backward downward stab (Hou Xia Ci), and the reverse vertical stab (Fan Li Ci).

You can find the vertical stab in movement 5, "Girl holding the sewing needle," in movement 33, "Through the stone to check what's in the front," in movements 36, 38, 45, and 47, "The God Tian Shan writes the good luck paper," and in movement 50, "The white crane spreads its wings."

The front downward stab is found in movements 9, 19, and 65, "Golden needle shoots the knee," and in movement 53, "Throwing the stone to check what's in the front." The backward level stab is found in movements 13 and 57, "The snake comes out of the cave." The backward downward stab is found in movements 40 and 64, "Golden needle shoots the knee" and in movement 42, "Yasha searching the sea." The reverse vertical stab is found in movement 52, "Thunder is like needles striking the wood." The second sword technique is to lift. The upward lift (Shang Gua) is found in movement 6, "An immortal points the way," in movements 14 and 16, "Golden rooster stands on one leg," in movements 15 and 59, "Butterfly piercing the flower," and in movement 58, "King Wang picking up the heavy jar."

The third technique is the clouds. It is found in movements 7 and 17, "Waving the large flag," in movement 61, "Dragon, tiger, and phoenix dancing," and in movement 62, "Beautiful girl flies to the moon." The fourth technique is to embrace. The level embrace (Ping Bao) is found in movements 8, 18, 32, and 63, "Playing the Chinese lute" and in movements 41 and 49, "Embracing the moon."

The fifth technique is to point. There are three methods of pointing: to point upright (Dian Li), to point downward (Xia Dian), and to point backward (Hou Dian). The upright point is found in movements 10, 20, 34, and 43, "The judge uses his pen to write" and in movement 54, "The judge shakes his tail." The downward point is found in movement 22, "King Wang whips the stone." The backward point is found in movement 60, "The dragon swings its tail." The sixth sword technique is to split or to chop. There are three kinds of splitting, the front upward split (Qian Shang Pi), the turnover front split (Fan Qian Pi), and the front level split (Qian Ping Pi). The front upward split is found in movements 11, 35, 44, and 55, "Wind's breeze making flowers" and in movement 21, "Wind blows the leaves." The turnover front split is found in movement 25 and 68, "The wind blows the snow." The front level split is found in movement 30, "Standing on the mountain alone."

The seventh sword technique is to drill. There are two methods of drilling: the front level drill (Qian Ping Zuan) and the backward level drill (Hou Ping Zuan). You can find the front level drill in movement 24, "Knife the tiger," in movement 28, "The sun's rainbow comes out," in movement 70, "The eight immortals celebrate long life" and in movement 71, "Turning around one time." The backward level drill is found in movement 67, "The bee shaking its stinger."

The eighth technique is to stir. The backward stir (Hou Liao) is found in movement 31, "Turning your head around and return to where you started."

The ninth and tenth sword techniques, to support and to block are used together, found in movement 37, "Right hand playing with the sword," in movements 38 and 48, "Left hand playing with the sword" and in movement 46, "Supporting the building."

The eleventh technique is to smear, found in movement 51, "Sweep of a thousand troops." And finally, the twelfth sword technique is to pluck. Plucking is found in movements 10, 20, 34, and 43, "The judge uses his pen to write" and in movement 54, "The judge shakes his tail." The plucking technique uses a stomp while in a "Climb the mountain horse stance," using the front third of the sword's blade to attack. Another variation of the movement is the upright point executed from a "Hanging horse stance," with the emphasis of sinking the sword's butt downward in order to parry an attack.

When performing sword techniques, each martial arts instructor will have his own interpretation of its movements and techniques. Not all the postures and movements are executed the same, or with the same emphasis on a particular technique or set of techniques.

To best summarize the benefits of practicing the sword, there is a quote from the late Mr. Chen Zhaopei which states as follows: "Thrusting, pointing, chopping, and stabbing, draws into spirals, rendering an attacker's power useless. Plucking and splitting is the correct way while pushing and supporting is the orthodox method. There are numerous ways of advancing, drawing your attacker in. Horizontal and vertical movements are like flashing a wheel. Releasing energy feels as if you had reached the end of the rainbow. A sun's rays are boundless and with long practice, you can perfect your sword skills. You can achieve enlightenment."

Mahalo,
Professor Randy Choy
Founder of the Chinese Athletic Arts Academy
Advisor to the Hawaii Martial Arts International Society
Chuk Kai Tai Chi Praying Mantis Organization, Hawaii

< PREVIOUS | Article Index | NEXT >