The poet Li Baicai is full of affection, arrogant and dry, and is a proper liberal arts student. In fact, Li Bai's "fifteen good swordsmanship" and "self-mastery of swordsmanship" are sports students of the bar. In the thirteenth year of the new century (725), the 24-year-old Li Bai "went to the country with a sword" and traveled around. In fact, there were many people with the same sword control as Li Bai. So many people love swords, there must be something that has to be said.
"The Commander of a Hundred Soldiers"
Similar to knives, swords are one of the cold weapons with a long history. Xu Shen, the "Sage of Characters" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, commented in the Commentaries on the Interpretation of Characters:
"The sword, the soldiers led by man also." From the blade, the sound. ”
The sword, straight ridge and double edge, the sword body is flattened. The hilt of the sword is called "Wen Sword" with a sword spike, and the "Wu Sword" without a sword spike. The sword realizes the conversion of attack and defense through actions such as slashing, stabbing, cutting, chopping and sweeping.
Above_ Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword
According to the "History of the Yellow Emperor Benji", "The bronze cast sword of the emperor cai shou shan is named after the astronomical ancient characters." The Pipe also contains:
"The mountain of Xi ge Tianlu sent out gold, and the clams were subdued, thinking that the sword armor was armored."
It shows that there were swords as early as ancient times. The Henan Provincial Museum collects the jade-handled iron-cored copper sword excavated from the Sanmenxia Yuguo Tomb, which is only 33 centimeters long, and is known as "the first sword in China" because of its huge historical value.
The "History of Zhou Benji" reveals that when the Zhou army invaded Chaoge, King Wu
"First entry, suitable for the king' house. Naik shot it, fired three shots and then got out of the car, and struck it with a light sword, cut it with a yellow sword, and folded the county zhu Taibai... Sanyisheng, Taiqian, and Yu all held swords to defend the King of Wu. ”
These words show that the Shang Dynasty army began to equip swords. At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, "Tiger Ben" became the earliest professional swordsman.
Above_ Spring and Autumn Warring States after oxidation - Bronze Sword
Early swords were short and lean, finely crafted, and resembled a dagger. With the advancement of smelting technology, the body of the sword is constantly elongated, and the hilt of the sword is inlaid with gold and jade, which has both practical and decorative functions. The Book of Han and Geography frankly admits:
"The kings of Wu Yue are all brave, so their people are still good at using swords, and they are easy to die."
The bronze sword created in Wuyue region, whether it is material, craftsmanship, beauty, etc., has reached the peak of the sword.
Compared with long weapons such as ge, halberd, and spear, the sword has deficiencies such as light and short, easy to break and difficult to attack, and unfavorable slashing, etc., and the ring head knife that appeared in the two Han Dynasties made up for the lack of the sword and shined on the battlefield. Even so, allusions such as "exclusively assassinating the king of thorns", "Jing Ke stinging the King of Qin", and "Feasting at the Hongmen Gate" laid the important position of the sword in the weapon spectrum.
Above_ Jing Ke stabbed the King of Qin
"The King of a Hundred Blades"
The sword, which is at a disadvantage in the sword competition, begins a different counterattack. The sword hangs from the waist, light and practical. Compared with the sword, the sword is more in line with the aesthetic standards of the ancient society of low-key and introverted. "Han Feizi" states:
"He who carries the sword gathers his disciples, and establishes discipline to show his name, and violates the prohibition of the five senses."
The sword here became synonymous with chivalry.
The "Wu Yue Chunqiu" records the story of "Yue Nu on the Sword":
"The Tao is very small and easy, its meaning is very quiet and deep, the Tao has a portal, there is also yin and yang, opening the door and closing the door, yin and yang xing."
Yue Nu fuses swordplay with yin and yang to achieve the spiritual realm of human and sword unity. The pre-Qin thinker Zhuangzi further refined the essence of the sword, and he combined the art of swordsmanship with the concept of governing the country, resulting in the political concepts of "Tianzi Sword", "Princely Sword" and "Shumin Sword".
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the chongjian thought began to take shape. Historian Sima Qian believes that:
"Non-faithful, honest, benevolent, and courageous people cannot pass on the sword, which is in line with the Tao, and can heal the body inside, and can strain on the outside, and the gentleman is better than the dede."
The words raised the "discourse on the sword" to the height of "conforming to the Tao", and thus the discourse on the sword that prevailed in the Qin and Han Dynasties was strengthened into kendo. The present life of the "Gentleman's Sword" gives the sword a strong humanistic color.
Dong Zhongshu (179 BC – 104 BC)
"The Elephant of the Green Dragon"
The upper class values the sword more than the sword. Dong Zhongshu, a great Confucian of the Western Han Dynasty, emphasized in the Spring and Autumn Flourishing And Clothing Elephants:
"The sword is on the left, and the elephant of the green dragon is also."
At that time, the emperor who regarded himself as the "True Dragon Heavenly Son" regarded the sword as the embodiment of the dragon, and the two were equated. With the demonstration of the emperor, society has a new understanding of the sword.
In the Book of Jin, the System of Public Opinions says:
"In the Han system, from the Son of Heaven to the Hundred Officials, all of them wear swords, and only the Dynasty carries swords after that."
The Sui Book of Etiquette has a more specific provision: "Yipin, jade sword, Peishan Xuanyu." Erpin, gold-clad swords, peishui cangyu..." It can be seen from this that the sword became part of the feudal etiquette system.
In major events, swords play an important role. In the thirteenth year of the new century (725), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang enfeoffed Mount Taishan,
"The emperor was dressed in dragon robes, hung a deer and a jade sword around his waist, and was dressed in a ribbon with three jade rings, prostrating himself on the ground, first praying to the heavens with a prayer, then offering wine and then worshiping, and finally offering sacrifices to the emperors."
The sword incarnated as a political tool that the sword could not reach, declaring the authority of feudal society.
Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (8 September 685 – 3 May 762)
"Book and Sword"
With the demonstration of the nobility, people went up and down, paying special attention to the value of the sword. In the Quan Tang Poems, nearly a thousand poems by Li Bai are included. Among these poems, the poet mentions the "sword" 107 times, of which 3 times the "sword pavilion" and 1 time "sword wall" are removed, and the verse describing the "sword" is as many as 103 times. In addition, the same as the sword "铗", "Wu Hook", "Wu Hong", "Zhan Lu", "Gan General", "Mo Xie", etc. appeared once, "Qingping", "Qiulian" and "Frost And snow" appeared twice, "Dagger" appeared 3 times, and "Longquan" appeared 4 times, so Li Bai mentioned the sword 122 times, distributed in 106 poems, which shows his love for the sword.
When swinging the sword, the waves are suppressed, the lines are soft, and a series of action combinations produce a sword dance. In the fifth year of Tang Kaiyuan (717), Du Fu, who was only 5 years old, saw the sword dance of Gongsun Daniang in Gaocheng. Half a century later, Du Fu once again watched the sword dance of Li Twelve Niang, a disciple of Gongsun Da Niang, at the mansion of Gong Fu Bei Yuan, and was deeply touched, and Wen Si gushed, leaving behind the poem "Guan Gongsun Da Niang Disciple Dancing Sword Instrument Line".
Above_ Gongsun Da Niang dancing sword diagram
Zhang Xu, a contemporary calligrapher, was inspired by the sword dance movements of Gongsun Da Niang many times in Yixian County and practiced the famous "wild grass" in the history of calligraphy. Pei Min, who was equally famous as Gongsun Da Niang, also danced a good sword, which is described in the "Du Yi Zhi":
Pei Min "threw the sword into the clouds, tens of feet high, if the electric light shot down, Min led the hand to hold the sheath to bear it, the sword penetrated through the air, thousands of spectators, all of them were cold and frightened." ”
During the reign of Emperor Wenzong of Tang, he issued an edict
"Li Baishi, Pei Min Sword Dance, Zhang Xu Cursive"
Listed as the "Three Absolute Tang Dynasties". And Li Bai had learned swords from Pei Min, so the swords invisibly connected the "three absolutes".
The wind of sword dance followed the Northern Song Dynasty. The Wubian says:
Song Taizong "selected hundreds of warriors from all armies and taught them to dance swords, all of whom could throw swords in the air and jump left and right, which was wonderful." ”
He Liangchen, a military scientist of the Ming Dynasty, summed up in the "Battle Record" that "the method of twisting", "the method of rising and falling", "the method of wishing to respond", "the method of lightning", "the method of shooting" and other sword experiences promoted the development of swordsmanship.
Above_ Late Qing Dynasty street performance swallowing sword
The Qing Dynasty, founded by the Manchus, forbade the gathering of people to dance swords, and the folk grafted the favor of swords onto opera. There is a martial artist named Fuyun,
"Good at skill, the dramas of "Selling Art" and "Three Forks" performed by him, rabbits rise and fall, and they are extremely agile."
His swordplay performances have won wide acclaim. Due to the different emphases of swords, swords were reborn in the folk and condensed into a unique sword culture.
The development of the sword has not been smooth. In the Ming Dynasty military work "Wu Bi zhi", he lamented:
"The ancient soldiers will speak of the sword, and now it will not be used for the battlefield."
However, under the nurture of traditional culture, the sword reflects the temperament of freedom, romance, sacredness, friendship, justice, self-cultivation and so on, enriching the cultural core of the sword. "Ander leans on the heavenly sword, crosses the sea to cut the whale" is not only a leap of dreams, but also a realistic vision.
Resources:
[1] Xing Jinshan, "Examination of Traditional Chinese Sword Culture"
[2] Qiao Yuanyuan, "Historical Search of Ancient Sword Culture"
[3] Cheng Li "Analysis of the Connotation of Sword Culture"
[4] Liang Yanling, Li Yang, Wang Chao, "Research on the Historical Development of Ancient Chinese Sword Culture"