Thanks, Matt. This looks like a rather nice jian. Finding 'weapons grade' Chinese swords is always a challenge. My own experience is primarily with the dao, but I have been looking for a decent jian and may invest in this one. It cuts water bottles well. After reading various treatises on the jian, I have come to the conclusion that most of them rely on the push and/or pull cut, small snap cuts to the hands or wrists, and horizontal slices across the throat with the tip. (Literally, most of them say 'do this, do this, do the other, and then end with a slice across the throat with the tip). I will have to get my hands on one and try to figure out how to test that. Again, many thanks for this video.
Longquan swords are worth looking into as well. Longquan is a city in China that is famous for the production of swords, they produce everything from cheap decorative swords to multi-thousand dollar/pound functional handmade masterpieces. Of course these swords vary wildly in construction quality and artistic value depending on the smith producing them. Still worth looking into however for a authentic Chinese sword made by hand by Chinese sword smiths. Also just my personal opinion, but now is the time to buy high end Chinese swords from China as I think it's very likely they are going to start going up in price quite dramatically in the coming years. I have personally traveled to China a few times over the last couple decades, and the price, quality and standard of everything in China is rising remarkably quickly, with average workers seeing their wages go up by 200 to 500% in the last 20 years. The time of cheap handmade Chinese stuff is coming to an end. I see a future China looking much more like modern Japan with a premium price. Chinese workers just aren't going to be working for a pittance any longer.
Check Seven Stars Trading Company in Virginia - Scott Rodell vets the reproduction swords for historical accuracy - plus designed his own cutting jian - currently $295! All the sword you'll ever need. Get you that and you'll not be disappointed. I've done a lot of business with Seven Stars and have been happy. Can't say same for SBG; they're overly heavy, overly hyped and overly expensive. SBG is Longquan same issue. Steer clear.
Nice performance. :-) Those movements and transistions are incredible smooth, balanced and fluid. When a true master performs in his field it looks always beautiful. Great channel. Keep up the great work.
Idk for some reason many Chinese people love the Jian, but to be fair, it’s not a actually functioning weapon in the battles compared to spear (quant or mao, which is how we call them in mandarin) and dao (it’s a single edged blade). If u look at the Shaolin, not many monks actually want to learn this weapon but rather some thing like a staff because jian is not very deadly
笱之极意 Probably because of its strong cultural connection to traditional Han Chinese culture. (As opposed to the dao, which has extensive influence from other Central/East Asian cultures) In terms of battlefield usage the jian was supposedly a rather popular weapon among militia during the end of both Ming and Qing. Spear and staff are good too but they’re considered a different range category to swords (dedicated close range weapon vs. pseudo-long range weapon) plus they can’t be worn or carried as easily.
an staff literality doesn't have an point or an blade, and you talk about deadly? i'm pretty sure the monks picked the staff since you can carry it around in china, since you know, CCP doesn't allow civilians to carry any weapon. it's not about being deadly with the modern shaolin, your context is bonkers and ignorant.
Your left hand movement when coming back from some strikes would be almost on point with a buckler. You can try some unusual combinations like jian&buckler, then look for historical sets that would handle similarly. Look up Chinese shields, for example. It'll be fun.
The art of the Jian is that of "Piercing", and the cuts are the "surprise" elements of the skill. When I was first taught the art, I was taught to imitate a snake in striking. It was a very difficult skill to master. The katana was much much more intuitive.
No offense to you, but after reading what you wrote I can't shake off that feeling of... pretentiousness. :) It just sounds like something a teacher that *really* wants to sell his lessons says to make them sound that much more interesting and profound.
No offense taken, but it's the truth. The skill was good, the lessons are fun, just difficult. I stuck with the katana for 20 years since because it's more intuitive.
@@Askorti ..You'd be surprised how utterly immersed Chinese wushu-teachers are in this kind of thing. It's not about translating things badly, or something like that, either - this is actually how a lot of them talk. Even legitimately good wushu-artists use aphorisms like that, and expect it to make complete sense to everyone, including people who don't speak a word Chinese. And he's right, both the typical straightsword forms and even the saber/dao type forms are oriented around piercing and positioning rather than straight cuts. In my easyfied sharp stick form for western simpeltons and brutes (this is the technical name, translated from Chinese, I'm certain), there are.. I don't know.. 10 distinctly different draw-cuts, thrusts, nicks and pierces with the top section of the blade? And they all have distinct names in the manuals, too. And an evenly weighted, high balance point, single-edged blade of course fits perfectly with this kind of swordplay. Basically, anyone who would have worn a sword like that would have recoiled in horror at the thought of just hacking with it :p Or the teachers of the fop who wore it would have been, at least. But I mean, it's not extremely different from how Matt presents his saber in the channel either (or how Waite's manual presents it) - it's not about simply delivering a cut, it's about guarding properly, and delivering a cut without losing balance, or being obviously open to a counter. He says this constantly - that the force of the blow might not look like much in the video, but it's actually quite fast and powerful, or at least more than sufficient to injure, etc. While even the most powerful blows in actual combat would be quite different from what you would do during a test-cut in the backyard, etc. This is basic, basic stuff. And what has survived of the various chinese sword-forms are fairly obvious about this kind of thing - that simply producing a strong straight cut is worthless on it's own.
Random comment of the day. I'm not much of an expert on weapon usage, but I have spent a good chunk of my life learning unarmed combat, kickboxing, tkd, jujitsu, wrestling, watching this video it struck me how similar some of the concepts seem. While the foot position is very different, the concepts seem very similar, you strike while moving off line. The core concept of applying a strike while moving in a way that keeps you away from a strike hold true. There seems to be some things you can get away with when wielding a weapon you couldn't do in an unarmed situation, and I'm sure the inverse is true, but the similarities really stuck out while watching the cuts. Fun times.
A warning to anyone thinking about purchasing this sword! After seeing these reviews I decided to buy a good friend of mine one for his wedding. I suspect they may have spent a little extra time prettying up the one they sent to Matt. While the one he received seems to have come with a pretty good edge, the sharpening job on mine was absolute trash. It was like they never finished the job. Lots of it still had a pronounced berr (as though they started to sharpen one side and then just never flipped it over) while other sections of the blade were flat-out square. It's more then I can fix with a fine Stone, and now I need to decide whether I want to risk ruining their ( admittedly very nice) polish and etch job in order to fix it. Caveat Emptor!
Matt, if you haven't yet, please have a talk with Scott Rodell. He is quite knowledgeable on jian and dao and has studied the historical manuals and such. Quite a source of historical knowledge which is sadly rare in the chinese arts. I came up learning dao, but most of it was form only and the practical application had been lost. Scott help translate and correct much our form.
Why no? He is a multi book published author and he has studied the actual historical texts including the green standard army, etc. Not sure why you would brush that off.
@@chrisfields8077 reverse grip for one. Each of those parries were too weak to displace the tip...even if they did not hit AFTER the tip would have hit their mark had he not dodged or in one of the cases the user basically made an attack that had no chance of hitting. If you dodge an attack, there is NO reason to waste energy tapping thier weapon. With the spear user not moving back after the first dodge, it should have ended there.
Becareful making assumptions of power and such. I made that mistake too. He's showing actual techniques from historical chinese manuals. Demo's aren't always perfect. Certain not worth blowing off a person's studies based on one video.
@@ColdNapalm42"there is NO reason to waste energy tapping thier weapon." www.londonfencingclub.co.uk/news/106-priority-right-of-way-in-foil-fencing There's something called right of way. If you made a habit of NOT considering it, that would be a very bad habit. "In the duelling times it was considered a very dangerous practice to attack your opponent while he is attacking you. This often resulted in both being killed. No winner, no satisfaction, just pure and bloody death. The ability to stop or evade the attack before hitting back was a crucial skill. To teach this, the fencing schools developed the concept of priority which meant the discourage the simultaneous attacks. It is also known as the right of way." (see source above) Tapping the blade establishes right of way, a parry then followed by a reposte. In and of itself, it might not be contextually necessary, if you win you win, BUT always respecting the opponents weapon seems like the better idea.
I'm glad you made the comparison to the Roman Spatha because I was thinking that throughout the video how it looks so much like my Spatha. Nice sword skills too.
I love it. It's strange because isn't it almost instinctive? The moment you grasp a sword, they almost always seem to "tell" you how they "want" to be wielded?
Indeed - I certainly find that with this type of sword, being light but having a lot of tip presence. You have to balance the inertia through movement. I didn't really think about it to be honest, it just seems normal for that type of sword.
Interesting and fun video, Thanks! I have to say, every time I look at a jian I think "Lovely sword! That blade would go really well with a side-sword or basket hilt..."
I'll happily thrust water bottles, but unfortunately it just turns out the same with all point blades - it just goes straight through every time. Kind of boring :-)
@@scholagladiatoria i had presumed that which is why im not doing the stereotypical youtube commenter flying off the handle WHY DIDNT YOU THRUST! YOU CLEARLY KNOW NOTHING! I just hope that one day you may do another pumping dispatching session and bring this little fella along
A suggestion on edge alignment...... Traditionally (at least where I learned it) the index finger or thumb was put in the center of the guard to achieve edge location
There is something strange about the plastic that most soda bottles are made out of. The last time I was cutting with my Albion Principe it was slicing and dicing like a champ. Tatami, no problem. Milk jugs, your kidding right? The first two or three soda bottles flew off the stand neatly cleaved in twain. The next soda bottle was full to the very top. I could tell from the way it felt in my hand that there wasn't any appreciable room for compression. I checked my measure, committed to a well executed oberhau/kesa-giri , and the bottle goes pinwheeling through the air. Intact. I could tell from the way the impact felt that everything was lined up correctly, and at the center of percussion of the sword. Upon inspection, I found that other than a few lawn trimming, there wasn't even a mark at the point of impact. I double-checked my edge, and confirmed its sharpness. I was determined to not let the bottle get the better or me, and put it back on the stand. This time I came straight down, the sword effortless cleaved through the cap, the neck, and down the center to the top of the cutting stand. From one angle this bottle was invincible, and from another it was easily cut. I have no clue why.
Plastic bottles also vary a lot by brand, size, drink type and by geographic location. A Coke bottle in the UK is not exactly the same as a Coke bottle in France. Ginger Beer bottles are terrible to cut - very thick plastic to prevent explosion. Milk bottles in the UK are like paper to cut - very very easy.
scholagladiatoria, also, these are _polymers_ (mostly PET) and their "molecules" consist of thousands of atoms, or more. I'm certain than some compositions are *not* isotropic, and their physical properties depend on the alignment of those molecular strands. So, a localized part of the bottle could really be harder to cut depending on the direction of the hit... I'm not sure about PET, though. We should ask a chemist - I'm not one :)
The Jian is not used in the same way as the Dao at all and the things he is doing with the off hand, while completely appropriate for the Dao, are extremely dangerous with the Jian. Those hand movements with the Dao are meant to push or brace the back of the blade or to grab the limbs or weapons of the other person. The use of the offhand is important in Jian Fa, but using it in the same manner as with the Dao is a good way to slice yourself very badly. I wonder if used to train in Chinese martial arts at some point? It certainly looks like he has zero experience using the Jian. However he does seem to be at least partially reproducing some saber techniques. It looks kind of like a Hema doing half remembered Chinese Dao methods and Filipino stick methods with a Jian. I'd suggest he at least try using it in the manner of Bolognese sidesword. Granted it's not at all the same as the Chinese method. But it's at least a safe way to use the weapon and probably the closest he is going to get in terms of methods he may be familiar with..
I'm curious to know how a jian blade would feel if it were mounted to a Scottish basket hilt or spadroon hilt. What kind of difference would be there when more weight is added to the handle?
I made a pair of jian years ago but I made them a lot stiffer than the standard Tai Chi model... the customer wanted something more serious than what the local suppliers carried.
Legit question: I notice the cutting post rocks somewhat, and this one is not the only one. Is this on purpose to transfer maximum energy into the target, or is it because of their rough life?
You said it was for balance in another comment, but could you do a vid on the sword movement or flourishes you did before cutting? I've seen similar in Bolognese sidesword vids and have done similar in a point work sense in foil fencing, but wasn't sure if it was merely a sort of shadow boxing or some kind of transitional feint.
So this sword is not primarily a cutter. The cuts are small, fluid, and quick, mostly against the arms or hands, but it does parry a lot, almost always with a side movement or some kind of evasion. Its certainly not a katana or long sword. There is a lot of thrusting though.
In a lot of the movies and martial arts demonstrations, it is flexible to the point of being floppy. How flexible is the real thing and does it hurt the cutting ability?
I used to own a jian that was a cheap ($60) spring steel sword. I did a cutting competition against someone with a very expensive katana. I won. Then I went on to see what else I could cut. Someone had a minivan bumper, which fell off. I went right through it. It's the swordsman's technique, not the sword.
I know people will say hes copying skall but would love to see matts versions of the stab test whit his swords kind of curious to see how a tulwar would perform
That Jian looks too short for Mr Easton. Held under the guard by the fingers, with a straight arm, the tip should come approx. level with the top of the ear. At 6', most require a 33" or 34" blade.
Its a slicing,thrusting type blade...use with one hand ...a bit hard to use... Use real one like a saber without protective gear can give u some accidental cut to urself...
It looks somewhat difficult to cut with. My sidesword, also with a diamond-like cross section, seems to cut easier (bottles often stay on the stand and it's possible to cut the remainings of them few times again), but it has lots of distal taper.
It's got quite a lot of tip-inertia, as I said at the end of the video. It also needs touching up on the edge. The factory edge is very good, but not as good as a hand-finish.
@@scholagladiatoria Yeah I find it interesting, as it has more mass near the tip so that should help to cut better. But I think a sword with more mass at the hilt, due to it being easier and more precisely controlled, won't cut much worse even if the edges are of the same sharpness. Or will cut worse only on hard targets. But it's true that before I gave a really sharp edge on my sword, bottles sometimes bounced off similarly to yours, and I had to really power the cuts to cut them. Now, being razor-sharp, you can basically put the sword just 2 inches away from the bottle and cut it clean :D
Ah, there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. A tip-heavy sword will cut water bottles worse, because they are light targets with a hard outside. They are a very specific (and strange) target. For cutting water bottles, you want a very fine edge and a light tip which accelerates very quickly. It's why rapiers are good against water bottles but bad against meat/bone. If we switched to a dead pig, then the tip-heavy sword will hugely outperform the light-tip quick sword. Different targets, different swords perform better or worse. My falchion can happily cut a pig in half, but it is really bad at water bottles because it is slow.
@@scholagladiatoria Well, this sounds logical, but I'm not entirely convinced, I'll have to see it first ... I wanted to sacrifice some meat for this test for a long time, and I think you talked about doing pig test cutting video for a few times now, that would be better than pumpkins ;-) . But talking about slow weapons, when I hit a bottle with a razor-sharp axe, it never bounces off, but it literally explodes into pieces :D
Came rather close to your left arm after the second cut... in a slicing motion no less. Thankfully it wasn't a different type of cut test... testing a jacket against a slice cut.
You look like an Arnisador here in the Philippines doing that sword dance. That said, it doesn't look fitting to a Jian because Jians are double-edged and Bolos are single-edged.
I turned the sound right down to almost zero on the cutting part of this video because it was pointless trying to record any audio out there. I already have a 'dead cat', but that does not solve the problem of a storm in the background.
I hate finding out awful things about celebrities, even Internet celebrities. I don't know if I will be able to separate the artist from the art, where Matt is concerned. Pepsi!!! Really?!
More sabers please ... I would absolutely love to see British 45 VS French 45 cutting and thrusting . Is that something you might ever consider doing ?
If you can cut through it cleanly without knocking the bottle off the pedestal it means you have demonstrated good edge alignment. If you have good edge alignment but still knock the bottle off or the edges of the cut bottle are torn or deformed then the sword is not sharp enough. Basically a test of sword sharpness as much as it is technique.
This is not really true - with my cutting stand being wobbly and with a small top, it's almost impossible to get a bottle to stay on after a cut, regardless of the sword or the person. The reason I use water bottles is because they are free and easily available. Tatami mats or dead pigs are fairly expensive for a quick video.
During the he cutting you can't really hear anything but the wind. If you have time next time you cut, maybe you can just overlay some music and commentary over it.
I saw the Chinese sword in shawn of the dead er no my mistake it was a cricket bat which was sharper.. .ahh so grasshopper. Lol good vide and you've got me into Messrs!
Yes, that's interesting, isn't it. Actually several of the oldest swords from the Petersen typology - the single-edged, lenghtened saxes - they look an awful lot like the early Jian. I'm assuming it's a case of parallel development of the same type of sword going on -- but it's a curious detail, when the longswords and broadswords that came after from the Christian regions were fundamentally differently built compared to those lengthened saxes.
@Jon Goat Well, that's just the thing.. It isn't intuitively practical to have this type of high balance point blade on a sword. It's not something you'd naturally get out of the other end of a forge if you messed around with a bar of steel, either.. Or something you'd automatically leave behind if you had better forges, like some historians suggest would be the evolution towards the longsword, etc. But you see that blade design in several countries even so.. India, Hungary, Turkey, a few others.
@Jon Goat :D sure. But if you hammer something out of a thick steel block, you don't easily get a straight blade. Attempt to heat-treat it as well, and it really, really wants to be something else. For example, a blade that tapers, and possibly also curves slightly towards the thicker side, and things like that.
@Jon Goat btw. since many people here seem to know more about swords - were ancient swords just as shiny as this one? Even the replica swords here in the history museum are more dull and grey. Not mirror like. The one that the host uses in the video is very polished.
Hi Matt， would you please try Han styled Sword, or called Han Jian, which a typically 2.5kg+ single handed, with the center of gravity far from the hand...It seems so hard to use
I have handled many variations of Han jian, and none of them weighed 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds). Even longer jian meant solely for two-handed use rarely weigh that much.
All the swords I see are trying to replicate the historical types, what if gun were never invented, what would a 21 first century ultimate sword that would be impossible to build with older technology look like ?
@Jon Goat I think You're missing the point. The point was " what is a futuristic design that couldn't be made until in 21 century ". Like a carbon fiber titanium sword or something. I didn't ask what should I buy!
@@dondovahkiin7899 Titanium would be unlikely, it isn't exactly a good blade material. For pricier stuff it would probably be some kind of high quality exotic stainless alloy for good performance and easy maintenance in the field. But yeah, if we didn't have guns I imagine the best battlefield weapon for close combat would be a flamethrower. Though I imagine the battlefield would generally look like robot wars, with various kinds of armored vehicles trying to flip one another over because there would be no other way to disable them.
@@raics101 yes flamethrowers are good , even when guns are invented, used in ww2 , Vietnam, etc. However the question is what would be the ultimate sword( don't even bring up light sabers :D) . I think aluminum alloys used in planes, flexible, carbon fiber core, maybe a size changing mechanism for reach adjustments and flexibility, electrocution implemented, or a supper hot edge made by tungsten , etc .
@@dondovahkiin7899 Well, there's a conceptual flaw to weapons that extend as you strike, namely they lose speed because their center of gravity shifts so the coriolis effect kicks in. In any case we haven't advanced to the tech level where we can make things like the ivy sword from soul calibur. I imagine it would be just better quality materials. One thing we have advanced at the most are electronics, I think, but there are limited ways to apply that to melee combat, maybe a sword with a microprocessor that shifts its weight depending on your swing or aligns itself. Combining a tazer and a sword might seem appealing but the battery would add weight and insulating armor would be no problem today.
scholagladiatoria and yours too just for good measure My point still stands regardless you yourself said you where clueless on Chinese swords so my take mock with some slow mo ninja gorilla sheet for?? Why not just cut the damn things as you would with say any other one handed sword?? If I’m mistaken and this is genuinely a style you learn then I apologise but it just looked strange to me is all but then again I’m mainly a katana user
This one certainly is not. Nor are any original jian I have held. Don't confuse the real thing with Wu Shu weapons shown in movies and martial arts demonstrations. :-)
@@scholagladiatoria True I never handled one myself. Just watched people that practice with it and cutting demonstrations. That seemed to be the goal of what they were doing. More Of my interpretation of what was happening...I appreciate the insight
@@scholagladiatoria I wonder though if the modern makers are getting something wrong. Much like some medieval longswords that can have the appearance of an original longsword found in history, when someone takes the time to get the exact dimensions of an original and make it, it can have profoundly different handling characteristics but would be hard to tell much difference just looking at it. They recently uncovered one that was in pristine condition from the bottom of a flooded valley. The historians were blow away by how different it felt in hand
It's good to see that those dancing lessons from Lindybeige are really paying off Matt.
He dance the waterdance ;)
Catsincages the Easton shuffle
Lol and hi btw
"I am not an eastern martial artist"
1:55 *strikes Neo pose from the Matrix*
Thanks, Matt. This looks like a rather nice jian. Finding 'weapons grade' Chinese swords is always a challenge. My own experience is primarily with the dao, but I have been looking for a decent jian and may invest in this one. It cuts water bottles well. After reading various treatises on the jian, I have come to the conclusion that most of them rely on the push and/or pull cut, small snap cuts to the hands or wrists, and horizontal slices across the throat with the tip. (Literally, most of them say 'do this, do this, do the other, and then end with a slice across the throat with the tip). I will have to get my hands on one and try to figure out how to test that. Again, many thanks for this video.
Go to SBG Forge Direct Chinese swords, it's the only way to get high end jian and dao.
Longquan swords are worth looking into as well. Longquan is a city in China that is famous for the production of swords, they produce everything from cheap decorative swords to multi-thousand dollar/pound functional handmade masterpieces. Of course these swords vary wildly in construction quality and artistic value depending on the smith producing them. Still worth looking into however for a authentic Chinese sword made by hand by Chinese sword smiths.
Also just my personal opinion, but now is the time to buy high end Chinese swords from China as I think it's very likely they are going to start going up in price quite dramatically in the coming years. I have personally traveled to China a few times over the last couple decades, and the price, quality and standard of everything in China is rising remarkably quickly, with average workers seeing their wages go up by 200 to 500% in the last 20 years. The time of cheap handmade Chinese stuff is coming to an end. I see a future China looking much more like modern Japan with a premium price. Chinese workers just aren't going to be working for a pittance any longer.
@@-Zevin-Bruh forge direct SBG IS Longchuan swords
Check Seven Stars Trading Company in Virginia - Scott Rodell vets the reproduction swords for historical accuracy - plus designed his own cutting jian - currently $295! All the sword you'll ever need. Get you that and you'll not be disappointed. I've done a lot of business with Seven Stars and have been happy. Can't say same for SBG; they're overly heavy, overly hyped and overly expensive. SBG is Longquan same issue. Steer clear.
JKOO a.k.a. Sinosword has a number of great looking Jians. And I hear only positive reviews from their customers.
Nice performance. :-) Those movements and transistions are incredible smooth, balanced and fluid. When a true master performs in his field it looks always beautiful. Great channel. Keep up the great work.
Idk for some reason many Chinese people love the Jian, but to be fair, it’s not a actually functioning weapon in the battles compared to spear (quant or mao, which is how we call them in mandarin) and dao (it’s a single edged blade). If u look at the Shaolin, not many monks actually want to learn this weapon but rather some thing like a staff because jian is not very deadly
笱之极意 Probably because of its strong cultural connection to traditional Han Chinese culture. (As opposed to the dao, which has extensive influence from other Central/East Asian cultures)
In terms of battlefield usage the jian was supposedly a rather popular weapon among militia during the end of both Ming and Qing. Spear and staff are good too but they’re considered a different range category to swords (dedicated close range weapon vs. pseudo-long range weapon) plus they can’t be worn or carried as easily.
an staff literality doesn't have an point or an blade, and you talk about deadly? i'm pretty sure the monks picked the staff since you can carry it around in china, since you know, CCP doesn't allow civilians to carry any weapon. it's not about being deadly with the modern shaolin, your context is bonkers and ignorant.
Dig the Bruce Lee track jacket, kinda fitting using a Chinese sword and all .
It was a very nice impression of pac man with the bottle
On the first bottle you rolled a 1
Naw, a 2. Rolling a 1 would be if he'd sliced his right ear at 0:59 ;)
I have always thought the Jian a very elegant looking sword.
Sometimes it's all too easy to forget that deep inside Matt is a backyard knight just like the rest of us.
The feared English knight.... in a black and yellow waterproof jacket.
I don't think it's a waterproof, but it looks rather smart.
Your left hand movement when coming back from some strikes would be almost on point with a buckler. You can try some unusual combinations like jian&buckler, then look for historical sets that would handle similarly. Look up Chinese shields, for example. It'll be fun.
It will kiiil
Eat will keeel
Forged in Fire- taking the most incompetent blacksmiths and putting them in one place
@@thatguy1153 To be fair they are given awfully little time so they cannot really do their best.
The art of the Jian is that of "Piercing", and the cuts are the "surprise" elements of the skill. When I was first taught the art, I was taught to imitate a snake in striking. It was a very difficult skill to master. The katana was much much more intuitive.
No offense to you, but after reading what you wrote I can't shake off that feeling of... pretentiousness. :)
It just sounds like something a teacher that *really* wants to sell his lessons says to make them sound that much more interesting and profound.
@@Askorti I didn't get that impression from his comment at all. From yours however...
@@Ragesauce lol
No offense taken, but it's the truth. The skill was good, the lessons are fun, just difficult. I stuck with the katana for 20 years since because it's more intuitive.
@@Askorti ..You'd be surprised how utterly immersed Chinese wushu-teachers are in this kind of thing. It's not about translating things badly, or something like that, either - this is actually how a lot of them talk. Even legitimately good wushu-artists use aphorisms like that, and expect it to make complete sense to everyone, including people who don't speak a word Chinese.
And he's right, both the typical straightsword forms and even the saber/dao type forms are oriented around piercing and positioning rather than straight cuts. In my easyfied sharp stick form for western simpeltons and brutes (this is the technical name, translated from Chinese, I'm certain), there are.. I don't know.. 10 distinctly different draw-cuts, thrusts, nicks and pierces with the top section of the blade? And they all have distinct names in the manuals, too. And an evenly weighted, high balance point, single-edged blade of course fits perfectly with this kind of swordplay.
Basically, anyone who would have worn a sword like that would have recoiled in horror at the thought of just hacking with it :p Or the teachers of the fop who wore it would have been, at least.
But I mean, it's not extremely different from how Matt presents his saber in the channel either (or how Waite's manual presents it) - it's not about simply delivering a cut, it's about guarding properly, and delivering a cut without losing balance, or being obviously open to a counter. He says this constantly - that the force of the blow might not look like much in the video, but it's actually quite fast and powerful, or at least more than sufficient to injure, etc. While even the most powerful blows in actual combat would be quite different from what you would do during a test-cut in the backyard, etc. This is basic, basic stuff. And what has survived of the various chinese sword-forms are fairly obvious about this kind of thing - that simply producing a strong straight cut is worthless on it's own.
Random comment of the day. I'm not much of an expert on weapon usage, but I have spent a good chunk of my life learning unarmed combat, kickboxing, tkd, jujitsu, wrestling, watching this video it struck me how similar some of the concepts seem. While the foot position is very different, the concepts seem very similar, you strike while moving off line. The core concept of applying a strike while moving in a way that keeps you away from a strike hold true. There seems to be some things you can get away with when wielding a weapon you couldn't do in an unarmed situation, and I'm sure the inverse is true, but the similarities really stuck out while watching the cuts. Fun times.
There's a reason Chinese martial arts emphasize mastering empty had techniques before moving on to weapons.
Cutting with (two handed) kriegsmesser please, that 2nd you have shown, a nimble one
A warning to anyone thinking about purchasing this sword! After seeing these reviews I decided to buy a good friend of mine one for his wedding. I suspect they may have spent a little extra time prettying up the one they sent to Matt. While the one he received seems to have come with a pretty good edge, the sharpening job on mine was absolute trash. It was like they never finished the job. Lots of it still had a pronounced berr (as though they started to sharpen one side and then just never flipped it over) while other sections of the blade were flat-out square. It's more then I can fix with a fine Stone, and now I need to decide whether I want to risk ruining their ( admittedly very nice) polish and etch job in order to fix it. Caveat Emptor!
A minor critique, you didn't shout wu xia when striking. I hear it aids in cutting with Chinese swords.
Nah...you have to cloud step first. You know, fly in the air several feet while spinning.
Matt, if you haven't yet, please have a talk with Scott Rodell. He is quite knowledgeable on jian and dao and has studied the historical manuals and such. Quite a source of historical knowledge which is sadly rare in the chinese arts. I came up learning dao, but most of it was form only and the practical application had been lost. Scott help translate and correct much our form.
I looked him up and the first thing I see is his spear vs sword video and yeah...no...just no.
Why no? He is a multi book published author and he has studied the actual historical texts including the green standard army, etc. Not sure why you would brush that off.
@@chrisfields8077 reverse grip for one. Each of those parries were too weak to displace the tip...even if they did not hit AFTER the tip would have hit their mark had he not dodged or in one of the cases the user basically made an attack that had no chance of hitting. If you dodge an attack, there is NO reason to waste energy tapping thier weapon. With the spear user not moving back after the first dodge, it should have ended there.
Becareful making assumptions of power and such. I made that mistake too. He's showing actual techniques from historical chinese manuals. Demo's aren't always perfect. Certain not worth blowing off a person's studies based on one video.
@@ColdNapalm42"there is NO reason to waste energy tapping thier weapon." www.londonfencingclub.co.uk/news/106-priority-right-of-way-in-foil-fencing There's something called right of way. If you made a habit of NOT considering it, that would be a very bad habit. "In the duelling times it was considered a very dangerous practice to attack your opponent while he is attacking you. This often resulted in both being killed. No winner, no satisfaction, just pure and bloody death. The ability to stop or evade the attack before hitting back was a crucial skill. To teach this, the fencing schools developed the concept of priority which meant the discourage the simultaneous attacks. It is also known as the right of way." (see source above) Tapping the blade establishes right of way, a parry then followed by a reposte. In and of itself, it might not be contextually necessary, if you win you win, BUT always respecting the opponents weapon seems like the better idea.
I'm glad you made the comparison to the Roman Spatha because I was thinking that throughout the video how it looks so much like my Spatha. Nice sword skills too.
Nice flourishing :-)
I bet you'll love the filipino sword Kampilan. Its a strangely unique sword and i lovw it for its unique grip style and usage.
Should try some thrusting tests. Jians are known to be good at thrusting.
yes Jian is for thrusting. Knives are for cutting.
Honest question : why all the hand movement ?
To daze and confuse the bottles so they're more open to strikes.
Balance. Similar to what you do with a smallsword - it seems to be what they do with this type of sword and it feels kind of right with this.
I love it. It's strange because isn't it almost instinctive? The moment you grasp a sword, they almost always seem to "tell" you how they "want" to be wielded?
Indeed - I certainly find that with this type of sword, being light but having a lot of tip presence. You have to balance the inertia through movement. I didn't really think about it to be honest, it just seems normal for that type of sword.
he's lying. its his mating call
That works better than I thought it would.
Interesting and fun video, Thanks! I have to say, every time I look at a jian I think "Lovely sword! That blade would go really well with a side-sword or basket hilt..."
not bad not bad. I would like to see its trusting capabilities too.
I'll happily thrust water bottles, but unfortunately it just turns out the same with all point blades - it just goes straight through every time. Kind of boring :-)
@@scholagladiatoria i had presumed that which is why im not doing the stereotypical youtube commenter flying off the handle WHY DIDNT YOU THRUST! YOU CLEARLY KNOW NOTHING! I just hope that one day you may do another pumping dispatching session and bring this little fella along
@@BH-rx3ue He has a lot of trust in you
In bottle we trust
A suggestion on edge alignment...... Traditionally (at least where I learned it) the index finger or thumb was put in the center of the guard to achieve edge location
Sometimes I watch these videos during downtime at work, so I have the auto-generated captions on.
Google interpreted the wind noise as (music).
There is something strange about the plastic that most soda bottles are made out of. The last time I was cutting with my Albion Principe it was slicing and dicing like a champ. Tatami, no problem. Milk jugs, your kidding right? The first two or three soda bottles flew off the stand neatly cleaved in twain. The next soda bottle was full to the very top. I could tell from the way it felt in my hand that there wasn't any appreciable room for compression. I checked my measure, committed to a well executed oberhau/kesa-giri , and the bottle goes pinwheeling through the air. Intact. I could tell from the way the impact felt that everything was lined up correctly, and at the center of percussion of the sword. Upon inspection, I found that other than a few lawn trimming, there wasn't even a mark at the point of impact. I double-checked my edge, and confirmed its sharpness. I was determined to not let the bottle get the better or me, and put it back on the stand. This time I came straight down, the sword effortless cleaved through the cap, the neck, and down the center to the top of the cutting stand. From one angle this bottle was invincible, and from another it was easily cut. I have no clue why.
Plastic bottles also vary a lot by brand, size, drink type and by geographic location. A Coke bottle in the UK is not exactly the same as a Coke bottle in France. Ginger Beer bottles are terrible to cut - very thick plastic to prevent explosion. Milk bottles in the UK are like paper to cut - very very easy.
scholagladiatoria, also, these are _polymers_ (mostly PET) and their "molecules" consist of thousands of atoms, or more. I'm certain than some compositions are *not* isotropic, and their physical properties depend on the alignment of those molecular strands. So, a localized part of the bottle could really be harder to cut depending on the direction of the hit...
I'm not sure about PET, though. We should ask a chemist - I'm not one :)
I'm very excited to see those MESSERS in action!
The Jian is not used in the same way as the Dao at all and the things he is doing with the off hand, while completely appropriate for the Dao, are extremely dangerous with the Jian.
Those hand movements with the Dao are meant to push or brace the back of the blade or to grab the limbs or weapons of the other person. The use of the offhand is important in Jian Fa, but using it in the same manner as with the Dao is a good way to slice yourself very badly.
I wonder if used to train in Chinese martial arts at some point?
It certainly looks like he has zero experience using the Jian. However he does seem to be at least partially reproducing some saber techniques. It looks kind of like a Hema doing half remembered Chinese Dao methods and Filipino stick methods with a Jian.
I'd suggest he at least try using it in the manner of Bolognese sidesword. Granted it's not at all the same as the Chinese method. But it's at least a safe way to use the weapon and probably the closest he is going to get in terms of methods he may be familiar with..
I do indeed have zero experience with the jian. I have done Chinese martial arts (before HEMA), but only unarmed stuff.
I'm curious to know how a jian blade would feel if it were mounted to a Scottish basket hilt or spadroon hilt. What kind of difference would be there when more weight is added to the handle?
I think the tassels on Chinese swords were used to distract the enemy? If so, pretty smart.
You are right. And quite often tassels were attached to spearheads as well.
I made a pair of jian years ago but I made them a lot stiffer than the standard Tai Chi model... the customer wanted something more serious than what the local suppliers carried.
Legit question: I notice the cutting post rocks somewhat, and this one is not the only one. Is this on purpose to transfer maximum energy into the target, or is it because of their rough life?
What's the best blade to use to cut out a slice of cheese so that it doesn't give up half way through?
A wet, very sharp kitchen/chef's knife
All the flourishing looks very fun and cool. It just looks right with this kind of sword. :D
You said it was for balance in another comment, but could you do a vid on the sword movement or flourishes you did before cutting? I've seen similar in Bolognese sidesword vids and have done similar in a point work sense in foil fencing, but wasn't sure if it was merely a sort of shadow boxing or some kind of transitional feint.
So this sword is not primarily a cutter. The cuts are small, fluid, and quick, mostly against the arms or hands, but it does parry a lot, almost always with a side movement or some kind of evasion. Its certainly not a katana or long sword. There is a lot of thrusting though.
I loved your videos, hope one day you get your hands on some Qin/Han inspired swords!
Do a review on the Kampilan.
Do it like one of your french swords.
In a lot of the movies and martial arts demonstrations, it is flexible to the point of being floppy. How flexible is the real thing and does it hurt the cutting ability?
Not nearly as flexible, as you can probably see here. That’s more for the sake of style in films and demonstrations.
That flexible tip is literally a noisemaker. It's there to make noise when the blade flexes around. Purely for show. Real jians are very stiff.
I used to own a jian that was a cheap ($60) spring steel sword. I did a cutting competition against someone with a very expensive katana. I won. Then I went on to see what else I could cut. Someone had a minivan bumper, which fell off. I went right through it. It's the swordsman's technique, not the sword.
Awfully windy..near the south downs ? I would have thought it a semi-thrusting sword in this instance.
I would like to see the three section staff and other blunt or flexible Chinese weapons thank you!!
Using it like an arming sword seems to work well.
Swords really are a hassle to maintain aren't they?... Not like maces or axes. Plus there's the whole thing with edge alignment.
That stiff blade is begging for some thrusting action. You should get some ballistic gel and do some Skalligrim style testing.
I know people will say hes copying skall but would love to see matts versions of the stab test whit his swords kind of curious to see how a tulwar would perform
wouldnt the best way to say wich sword is better to use the same techunices with them
Even his cutting style is beating around the bush.
Can you do a review on the movie crouching tiger hidden dragon? About the technique of qian used when versus other counter jian weapon.
That Jian looks too short for Mr Easton. Held under the guard by the fingers, with a straight arm, the tip should come approx. level with the top of the ear. At 6', most require a 33" or 34" blade.
Do you sometimes find Pepsi Max to be too strong? Like it has too much caffeine?
Looks like it handles well!
What kind of gloves are you using?
Cycling gloves.
cutting the cola bottle with water in it, finacially responsible, love it!
Its a slicing,thrusting type blade...use with one hand
...a bit hard to use...
Use real one like a saber without protective gear can give u some accidental cut to urself...
Bet you were proud of that penultimate one.
Matt, what's up with the weird dancing? Is it your interpretation of wu-shu or something?
Pretty sure he just wanted to get a feel of the blade's balance and momentum.
0:37-7:12
This demands a Star Wars Kid edit.
Friendly reminder to everyone cutting plastic bottles to toss them into the recycling afterward.
end it rightly into the bin!
Thank you, Sir
Schola Gladiatora... every video on the cutting edge!
It looks somewhat difficult to cut with. My sidesword, also with a diamond-like cross section, seems to cut easier (bottles often stay on the stand and it's possible to cut the remainings of them few times again), but it has lots of distal taper.
It's got quite a lot of tip-inertia, as I said at the end of the video. It also needs touching up on the edge. The factory edge is very good, but not as good as a hand-finish.
@@scholagladiatoria Yeah I find it interesting, as it has more mass near the tip so that should help to cut better. But I think a sword with more mass at the hilt, due to it being easier and more precisely controlled, won't cut much worse even if the edges are of the same sharpness. Or will cut worse only on hard targets. But it's true that before I gave a really sharp edge on my sword, bottles sometimes bounced off similarly to yours, and I had to really power the cuts to cut them. Now, being razor-sharp, you can basically put the sword just 2 inches away from the bottle and cut it clean :D
Ah, there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. A tip-heavy sword will cut water bottles worse, because they are light targets with a hard outside. They are a very specific (and strange) target. For cutting water bottles, you want a very fine edge and a light tip which accelerates very quickly. It's why rapiers are good against water bottles but bad against meat/bone. If we switched to a dead pig, then the tip-heavy sword will hugely outperform the light-tip quick sword. Different targets, different swords perform better or worse. My falchion can happily cut a pig in half, but it is really bad at water bottles because it is slow.
@@scholagladiatoria Well, this sounds logical, but I'm not entirely convinced, I'll have to see it first ... I wanted to sacrifice some meat for this test for a long time, and I think you talked about doing pig test cutting video for a few times now, that would be better than pumpkins ;-) . But talking about slow weapons, when I hit a bottle with a razor-sharp axe, it never bounces off, but it literally explodes into pieces :D
Right, but now hit a tree with your sidesword :-P Very sharp edges always cut waterbottles, but for waterbottles the faster it is moving, then better.
Came rather close to your left arm after the second cut... in a slicing motion no less. Thankfully it wasn't a different type of cut test... testing a jacket against a slice cut.
If it's mainly a civilian sword (but still cut and thrust), is there a reason it retains such a shit guard?
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's most likely because of the fighting styles it was used for (or maybe it's just more comfortable to wear?)
You look like an Arnisador here in the Philippines doing that sword dance. That said, it doesn't look fitting to a Jian because Jians are double-edged and Bolos are single-edged.
Is there ever good weather where you live?
You might need to get some "dead cat" for the microphone to use in windy conditions.
I turned the sound right down to almost zero on the cutting part of this video because it was pointless trying to record any audio out there. I already have a 'dead cat', but that does not solve the problem of a storm in the background.
Taking proficiencies in exotic weapons, I see...
It's not that exotic, really. It's a pretty basic straight sword design. You want exotic, try double hook swords, or deer hook swords.
LOOKS GOOD DID THE JOB NICELY
why am i getting kill bill flash backs?
I hate finding out awful things about celebrities, even Internet celebrities. I don't know if I will be able to separate the artist from the art, where Matt is concerned. Pepsi!!! Really?!
That first cut pissed him off...
More sabers please ...
I would absolutely love to see British 45 VS French 45 cutting and thrusting .
Is that something you might ever consider doing ?
You've got some interestingly shaped bottles.
Is this a hitman new game?.jpg
6:55 Aah, my kind of footwork.
Why are swords tested by cutting against water bottles?
If you can cut through it cleanly without knocking the bottle off the pedestal it means you have demonstrated good edge alignment. If you have good edge alignment but still knock the bottle off or the edges of the cut bottle are torn or deformed then the sword is not sharp enough.
Basically a test of sword sharpness as much as it is technique.
This is not really true - with my cutting stand being wobbly and with a small top, it's almost impossible to get a bottle to stay on after a cut, regardless of the sword or the person. The reason I use water bottles is because they are free and easily available. Tatami mats or dead pigs are fairly expensive for a quick video.
I see. Thank you very much C:
During the he cutting you can't really hear anything but the wind. If you have time next time you cut, maybe you can just overlay some music and commentary over it.
Good cuts.
I love these eastern swords
I saw the Chinese sword in shawn of the dead er no my mistake it was a cricket bat which was sharper..
.ahh so grasshopper. Lol good vide and you've got me into Messrs!
looks similar to some swords i have seen here in the Þjóðminjasafn Íslands. I think most swords there are ancient Viking swords.
Yes, that's interesting, isn't it. Actually several of the oldest swords from the Petersen typology - the single-edged, lenghtened saxes - they look an awful lot like the early Jian. I'm assuming it's a case of parallel development of the same type of sword going on -- but it's a curious detail, when the longswords and broadswords that came after from the Christian regions were fundamentally differently built compared to those lengthened saxes.
@Jon Goat Well, that's just the thing.. It isn't intuitively practical to have this type of high balance point blade on a sword. It's not something you'd naturally get out of the other end of a forge if you messed around with a bar of steel, either.. Or something you'd automatically leave behind if you had better forges, like some historians suggest would be the evolution towards the longsword, etc. But you see that blade design in several countries even so.. India, Hungary, Turkey, a few others.
@Jon Goat :D sure. But if you hammer something out of a thick steel block, you don't easily get a straight blade. Attempt to heat-treat it as well, and it really, really wants to be something else. For example, a blade that tapers, and possibly also curves slightly towards the thicker side, and things like that.
@Jon Goat btw. since many people here seem to know more about swords - were ancient swords just as shiny as this one? Even the replica swords here in the history museum are more dull and grey. Not mirror like. The one that the host uses in the video is very polished.
Jon Goat I’m sure there’s been some kind of research into polishing methods from before the 20th to 21st century.
Hi Matt， would you please try Han styled Sword, or called Han Jian, which a typically 2.5kg+ single handed, with the center of gravity far from the hand...It seems so hard to use
I have handled many variations of Han jian, and none of them weighed 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds). Even longer jian meant solely for two-handed use rarely weigh that much.
All the swords I see are trying to replicate the historical types, what if gun were never invented, what would a 21 first century ultimate sword that would be impossible to build with older technology look like ?
@Jon Goat how about the first in all of the questions.
@Jon Goat I think You're missing the point. The point was " what is a futuristic design that couldn't be made until in 21 century ".
Like a carbon fiber titanium sword or something. I didn't ask what should I buy!
@@dondovahkiin7899 Titanium would be unlikely, it isn't exactly a good blade material. For pricier stuff it would probably be some kind of high quality exotic stainless alloy for good performance and easy maintenance in the field.
But yeah, if we didn't have guns I imagine the best battlefield weapon for close combat would be a flamethrower. Though I imagine the battlefield would generally look like robot wars, with various kinds of armored vehicles trying to flip one another over because there would be no other way to disable them.
@@raics101 yes flamethrowers are good , even when guns are invented, used in ww2 , Vietnam, etc. However the question is what would be the ultimate sword( don't even bring up light sabers :D) . I think aluminum alloys used in planes, flexible, carbon fiber core, maybe a size changing mechanism for reach adjustments and flexibility, electrocution implemented, or a supper hot edge made by tungsten , etc .
@@dondovahkiin7899 Well, there's a conceptual flaw to weapons that extend as you strike, namely they lose speed because their center of gravity shifts so the coriolis effect kicks in. In any case we haven't advanced to the tech level where we can make things like the ivy sword from soul calibur. I imagine it would be just better quality materials.
One thing we have advanced at the most are electronics, I think, but there are limited ways to apply that to melee combat, maybe a sword with a microprocessor that shifts its weight depending on your swing or aligns itself. Combining a tazer and a sword might seem appealing but the battery would add weight and insulating armor would be no problem today.
Wind's howling...
Witcher reference?
Thanks Matt. Makes me feel better about all my poor cuts...
I am Chinese and this makes me happy :)
06:28 minutes was perfect!!!
You drank them before!! XDD
Maybe if you did more cutting and less dancing you would’ve had all clean cuts
You just liked your own comment, didn't you?
scholagladiatoria actually I didn’t
scholagladiatoria now I did see
scholagladiatoria and yours too just for good measure
My point still stands regardless you yourself said you where clueless on Chinese swords so my take mock with some slow mo ninja gorilla sheet for?? Why not just cut the damn things as you would with say any other one handed sword??
If I’m mistaken and this is genuinely a style you learn then I apologise but it just looked strange to me is all but then again I’m mainly a katana user
Cornered Fox good response, thank you for explaining:)
Some of these clips are so memeable. 5:49
These swords are very "whippy"..They are fast and hard to see to defend. Only small movements needed to whip around guards
This one certainly is not. Nor are any original jian I have held. Don't confuse the real thing with Wu Shu weapons shown in movies and martial arts demonstrations. :-)
@@scholagladiatoria True I never handled one myself. Just watched people that practice with it and cutting demonstrations. That seemed to be the goal of what they were doing. More Of my interpretation of what was happening...I appreciate the insight
@@scholagladiatoria I wonder though if the modern makers are getting something wrong. Much like some medieval longswords that can have the appearance of an original longsword found in history, when someone takes the time to get the exact dimensions of an original and make it, it can have profoundly different handling characteristics but would be hard to tell much difference just looking at it. They recently uncovered one that was in pristine condition from the bottom of a flooded valley. The historians were blow away by how different it felt in hand
@@heresjonny666 No I dont mean whip like with the blade structure, purely by movements
@@scholagladiatoria Here is the sword I was talking about...ua-cam.com/video/1vafgf6SgBQ/v-deo.html
I feel like I'm watching a Cold Steel video but with a thinner and cooler Lynn Thompson.
Them fancy moves😂
I don't know about plastic bottles, but you definitely tore up my ear drums, mate.
Waving the sword around must be what’s causing all that wind.
Horror movies for Pepsi bottles.
It will cut!
Hammer grip is totally fine, there are too many styles… jet li did both in different footage, depending on style of Jian he was performing