Customer Reviews

Tai Chi Thirteen Sword: A Sword Master's Manual

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Poor, small photos that show no detail; as another reviewer noted, "its hard to tell which leg" Olson is bending, I would say, Olson does not seem to be aware that his legs could bend; the worst section is that on the Basic Cuts, the photos from one to other hardly differ & lack clarity of application; the books only redeeming quality is the photo of old masters & these are not the best quality. Try either "Chinese Swordsmanship, The Yang Family Taiji Jian Tradition" if you practice the Yang Family's Taijiquan or "The Art of Chinese Swordsmanship" if you practice Wu Style Taijiquan. Or if you're really serious about swordsmanship, buy 'em both, skip Olson's...

I don't mean to sound mean, but I cannot imagine how anyone could give this book more than a 2 star rating. Its quite disappointing, especially coming from some one who studied with TT Liang. Olsen has to be history's least athletic "swordman." The only reason to buy this book I can see is the historical photos in the back, not for anything Olsen offers But some of these are repeats of Chen Weiming's Taiji Jian translated by B. Davis (buy that one instead).

It's imposible to learn something from this book. The author doesn't explain the movements, he has just token photographs of himself in the final positions, and the reader is intended to guess how to pass from one to another. On the other hand, the text doesn't help at all. As the photographs are black and white, it's hard to know which of the legs is bended and which one is strightened. Disapointing !

Tai Chi Thirteen Sword: A Sword Master's Manual is the latest title in the Wu-T'ang Mountain Martial Arts Series and is the first serious treatment of Tai Chi Sword methods and philosophy available in English. Tai Chi Thirteen Sword clearly demonstrates that Sword practice is not only a complete system, but an art in and of itself. Readers and practitioners need not be trained in conjunction with any other T'ai exercise regime. Going far beyond a mere description of the traditional Yang Style Sword Form, Tai Chi Thirteen Sword also provides detailed posture instructions with photographs; international principles and applications for each of the Sword From postures; Warm-up methods and Two-Person Training Exercises; the Thirteen Secret Sword Meanings and their applications; methods for training the Sword fingers; and a pictorial essay of three famous Sword Masters performing Traditional T'ai Chi Sword Form. Stuart Olson is an internationally recognized teacher, translator, and author of numerous works on martial arts and Asian philosophy.

This book was a big disappointment! The instructions were incomplete and difficult to follow. Many pages are wasted on old photographs of previous masters that are of poor quality. If you are looking for guidance this book is not the way to go!

For the accomplished practitioner of Taijiquan. The photos of the old masters doing the Yang style sword (jian) set are worth the price of the book. The masters are Chen Wei-ming, Hsiung Yang-ho, and Liang Tung-tsai.

- Chip Ellis