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Today, a century later, the world's impression of the Tang Dynasty may still be stuck in "poetry, dance, music, calligraphy" and so on.
But the historical Tang Dynasty was not like this.
Since the beginning of the New Century, "Shangwu" has formed a social custom, both men and women, love to dance swords, and regard carrying swords as an elegant and fashionable thing.
At that time, in addition to reading books, the greatest pleasure of reading books was to practice swords. They often used the sword to meet friends, or used sword art to examine each other's virtues, thus forming the habit of writing and sword together.
The imperial court also set up a special military band, and even had a special place for practicing swordsmanship, the sword weapon factory.
In the private sector, military events of various scales have been held many times in the name of the imperial court or localities, and many folk swordsmanship masters have jumped into the ring to practice swordsmanship.
They regarded the sword as their destiny, and many others compiled their own ideas into sword techniques and spread them.
Why is "Shangwu" so popular? How did the Tang Dynasty cultivate the style of "Shangwu"? All this may have something to do with the chivalrous culture since ancient times.
It is forbidden to use martial arts
As the saying goes, "Confucianism is chaotic with the law, and heroes are forbidden by martial arts", and when the order of the world is no longer stable, Xia will appear in the public eye, fighting against unjust social order with violence.
During the Tang Dynasty, this chivalrous culture was further developed and became synonymous with the people of the whole country to strengthen their health and help each other.
The culture of "Xia" is very ancient, dating back to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period. At that time, the meaning of "chivalry" was similar to today, a group of extravagant people with a righteous heart.
It's just that on this basis, a layer of sword chill is added. Ordinary taxis kept under the door can be regarded as rangers, while dead soldiers kept indoors are closer to the original narrow meaning of "Xia".
They are the forbidden warriors Han Feizi said, with a strong spirit of sacrifice, belonging to the same stream as the assassins.
Some people also believe that Mojia is the source and model of the word "xia", and think that they are social practitioners who can really do it.
But in fact, the temperament of chivalry exists in the hundreds of families, not only the Mo family.
Let's take the Confucianism that we often think is reasonable, hands-on. Confucius traveled around the world, why did he reason with the king, when few people threatened and intimidated him, or drove him away?
Usually when we look at the portrait of Confucius, most people think that he is a kind and kind person, and he looks very knowledgeable, like a teacher who can speak esoteric truths.
History books once recorded that Confucius was "nine feet six inches", converted into today's common units, Confucius had a height of nearly 2 meters. At that time, people would be very surprised and surprised to see him, they had never seen such a tall person.
At that time, people were still eating corn, and the diet was not as delicate and rich as that of the later dynasty, and the nutrition was average, so the average height was not too high.
When the king of a country hears that sons are coming to lecture, he opens the door and invites people to come in: a giant man is coming towards him, and he will still be a little startled no matter what.
So how can we maintain the majesty of the king of a country, then the only way to listen to Confucius reasonably, and then politely send people out.
Moreover, Confucius was in good health, and it was easier to travel around the world, so he worked tirelessly to study and lobby and firmly convey his teachings. How is this not a kind of chivalry?
The martial arts atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty was also inherited from the ancient Xia culture, and there were many literary works about rangers and chivalry during the Han and Wei dynasties.
Such as Gan Bao's "Soushenji" or the well-known "The World Speaks New Words", all of which have created many male and female heroes in it.
There are those who walk the rivers and lakes with swords and dark weapons, and there are those who warn villains with mysterious methods... Flowers are indiscriminate and dashing.
At the same time, they were also baptized by the customs of ethnic minorities, and thus formed a social atmosphere that belonged exclusively to the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty was formerly known as the Sui Dynasty, a short-lived dynasty that left a mark on China's feudal history.
The founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Jian of Sui, was originally an official in the Northern Dynasty, and his ancestors were nobles of Western Wei and Northern Zhou.
Winning the throne with "Zen Rang" and opening the Sui Dynasty, in terms of living habits and politics, it somewhat integrated the customs of ethnic minorities in the Northern Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang rulers had deep ties with ethnic minorities.
The Li family started in Northern Wei, and later generations of descendants served as officials in Northern Wei. Later, when Northern Wei was destroyed, they again defected to the Northern Zhou Gate, and they were also a family with a high status.
And Tang Gaozu's maternal grandfather was Duguxin, a Xiongnu who accepted the Xianbei culture, and a famous general of Northern Zhou.
And Tang Gaozu himself also married ethnic minority women, going down, Li Shimin's wife Changsun Shi is a Xianbei person.
The first three generations of the Tang Dynasty intermarried with other ethnic groups, and naturally they would exchange and learn from each other and influence each other in daily interaction, and most of the royal family of the Tang Dynasty liked to be good at riding and shooting.
With the ruler taking the lead in advocating force, the common people below will follow suit, which is the second reason for the formation of the martial atmosphere.
The third reason was that there were still many wars in the early Tang Dynasty, and the imperial court demanded that the whole people strengthen their health and strengthen the country's military strength.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty was just beginning, fledgling, and the surrounding ethnic minority regimes were watching the tiger. One of the most arrogant was the Eastern Turks, who, at the instigation of the remnants of the Sui Dynasty, wanted to destroy the Tang in the name of the Yang clan.
At this time, the Tang Dynasty did not dare to act rashly, and could only passively defend. However, this khan was incompetent and militaristic, and many ministers could not stand his direct defection.
After Emperor Taizong of Tang ascended the throne in the first year of Zhenguan, Jieli Khan still did not die, and colluded with other forces behind his back in an attempt to overthrow the Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Taizong couldn't bear it anymore, and led tens of thousands of horses in a fit of anger. It took 5 years to eliminate the Eastern Turks and kill the Jieli Khan.
Subsequently, the re-emerging Western Turks were wiped out, and the Western Regions became the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty.
In this process, people were very encouraged to join the army and participate in the war within the society of the Tang Dynasty at that time, and even had the idea of preferring to be a centurion rather than an ordinary scholar.
With the development of the imperial examination system, the imperial court gradually reversed this atmosphere, advocated that there was no separation of culture and martial arts, and also opened a martial arts department to recruit good talents, which formed a healthy shangwu atmosphere.
Immediately afterwards, in the era of Wu Zetian, people began to tinker with swordsmanship on the basis of martial arts.
The sword qi endures
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the "Shangwu" custom has prevailed, and this custom is also closely related to a war in the early Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, launched two foreign wars, one was the "Change of Xuanwumen" and the other was the conquest of Goguryeo. In both foreign wars, more was won with less.
The rulers of the Tang Dynasty believed that "the prosperity of martial virtue is not like this", and attributed military success to Li Shimin's bravery.
Shangwu is to ensure "war superiority."
The New Book of Tang contains: "Emperor Taizong ruled the world with martial arts, and ruled the world with culture." Because everyone values morality over martial arts. ”
Therefore, the ruler of the Tang Dynasty, Shang Wu, was not only conducive to improving combat effectiveness, but also conducive to the long-term peace and stability of the country, which was very beneficial to the development of society.
And this understanding was strengthened during the Wu Zetian period. At that time, in order to select martial arts talents, Wu Zetian specially set up a martial arts system, giving people who were good at martial arts the opportunity to shine.
She believes that the recommendation system in the early Tang Dynasty was limited to the descendants of the generals, so the range of choices was very narrow, and it was easy to bring some bad influences.
As soon as the martial arts opened, people who were good at martial arts under the sky flocked to the imperial court, wanting to prove their strength.
In addition, the ruler also wanted to promote the development of martial arts through martial arts, and at that time, if a person had a skill, and used this skill to help many people in ordinary life.
In addition to material rewards, the imperial court also bestowed unique honorary titles. Under this guidance, the whole people set off a wave of learning martial arts, from fist and foot kung fu, to long guns and short swords, or good use of dark weapons.
In the Ming Dynasty, a literati reviewed the martial arts of the Tang Dynasty and commented that among these eighteen martial arts, spears and halberds were the best to use while they were light.
Therefore, the sword became one of the first choices for the people of the Tang Dynasty to practice martial arts. In addition, the swordsman played a very big role in the "Xuanwu Gate Change" launched by Li Shimin, and Li Shimin himself had a record of thousands of blades on the battlefield.
The importance of the swordsman in politics and power is self-evident.
The sword is one of the oldest weapons of mankind, as far back as 5,000 years ago, there were various weapons such as "Changge", "Ge spear" and "armor", but at that time it could not be called a sword.
The earliest swords in China appeared in the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period, and by the Warring States Period (475 BC), the sword had become a common weapon among princes and nobles and scholars.
"Zuo Chuan": "Wei Ren Fa Qi, then to Ji". The "Ji" here is Jishui, which refers to today's Yellow River.
The New Book of Tang contains: "When the upper ascended the throne, he sent an envoy to send Wei Yuan loyal to Mobei with troops and obtained his sword."
Judging from this record, at that time, in order to show his martial arts, the emperor of the Central Plains Dynasty not only sent envoys to Mobei to meet Wei Yuanzhong, but also obtained a sword.
It can be seen that the sword is very important to the Tang people, not only a symbol of glorious status, but also a proof of martial arts.
In addition, the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of Chinese swordsmanship, and its swordsmanship was characterized by:
(1) Judging from the swordsmanship routines circulating among the people, because a large number of foreign techniques have been absorbed, its routines are relatively rich, the movements are stretched, there are many changes, and there are more obvious folk characteristics.
(2) From the perspective of sword art performance, it absorbs various art forms such as folk dance, acrobatics, and martial arts to enrich the content of the performance.
(3) From the perspective of the characteristics of the sword culture of the Tang Dynasty, the sword culture has a great relationship with the Confucian culture and the Buddhist culture. In the Tang Dynasty, "Confucian Buddha Swordsman" was a four-word word that people often mentioned when talking about swordsmanship.
At that time, people were very close to Confucian Buddhist culture, so the meaning of "xia" changed and its semantic scope expanded.
At that time, as long as a person walked the world with a sword, was unrestrained, and acted righteously, no matter what his identity was, he could be a chivalry.
Based on the above analysis, the "sword worship" and chivalrous culture of the Spring and Autumn Warring States took root again here in the Tang Dynasty.
It is no longer the exclusive property of the nobility, but comes to the people and becomes a part of people's strength and life.
No wonder the people of the Tang Dynasty loved swords as much as their life, regarded the sword as their own heart and liver treasure, and matched the sword wherever they went.
In the atmosphere of "Shang Jian", the people of the Tang Dynasty created a unique custom of Shang Jian.
All kinds of swordsmen
During the Tang Dynasty, the most popular shang sword custom was the sword dance, and the source of this custom is very ancient, which is directly inherited from the "dry qi dance" of the Zhou Dynasty, showing the fierce and simple shang wu spirit.
The scene of displaying the sword dance is very wide, from the court to the street, from the celebration to the festival, as long as the interest comes, you can come to the previous section, others will not think you are strange, but will stop to watch, clap your hands.
In "Taiping Guangji", the story of Pei Min's sword dance was written, when Pei Min's mother died, and he was wearing a mourning dress.
At that time, he wanted to ask Wu Daozi to paint to accumulate yin virtue for his mother, and Wu Daozi agreed. But he said that he hadn't painted for a long time, and it would be great if the general could dance his sword to help him and avoid evil spirits.
Without saying a word, Pei Min immediately took off his clothes, took his sword and danced.
When he danced the sword, it was like a horse galloping, spinning to the left, drawing a sword to the right, and finally throwing the sword into the cloud, holding the scabbard to catch the long sword that fell from tens of meters. Its technique is robust and dazzling.
Coincidentally, the master of sword dancing in the folk is Gongsun Da Niang. She was a sword dancer during the New Year, and when Du Fu watched her sword dance as a teenager, he wrote poems praising her skills like a dragon.
And she has innovated in traditional sword art and created many sword dances, among which the more famous ones are "West River Sword Weapon" and "Sword Weapon Hun Detachment" and so on.
In addition, the literary warriors of the Tang Dynasty all loved swords, especially the literati swords, which were definitely not flower shelves. According to legend, Li Bai studied under Pei Min, learned a good sword art at the age of 15, went out with a sword, and once worked as a ranger.
He once wrote in his poem "Kill one man in ten steps", and the sword was also a defensive weapon for him and many literati.
Similarly, the more chivalrous poet Cui Ya, who often carried a "three-foot iron", that is, a short sword hidden in his sleeve, if he heard that someone was in trouble, he would say goodbye to his wife and children and embark on a journey to rescue that person. This kind of righteous pride is really rare.
The Tang Dynasty was an open era, and under the guidance of the Shangwu spirit of the rulers of the Tang Dynasty, the society of the Tang Dynasty was permeated with the chivalrous atmosphere of Shangwu monks.
This is shown in Tang dynasty poems, and you can also feel the sturdy posture of Tang dynasty warriors and warriors.
During the first year of the Tang Dynasty, the economic prosperity and culture were at their peak, and the prosperity of the martial arts atmosphere gradually increased the military strength of the Tang Dynasty, and only then did the result of defeating the Tubo and Dashi countries and shocking the four directions.
The customs of Shang Jian and the inheritance of chivalrous culture enabled all rangers in the Tang Dynasty to find their own purpose in life.
Whether it is a knight who is good at swords or a hermit who is proficient in flying knives and qimen weapons, they all take shang wu for pleasure and saber as fashion.
And this cultural symbol has been passed down to this day, deeply rooted in everyone's cultural subconscious.