290pp, Seven Stars Books and Video, www.sevenstarstrading.com ISBN 0- 9743999-0-6
I have not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Rodell personally though in 1990 I sam him perform most creditably in Taiwan at the Chung Wah Cup International Pushing Hands Tournament and subsequently have heard of him through his chief Russian student, my friend Mr. Albert Yefimov.
Mr. Rodell has done considerable service for the Wang Yen-nian and Yang Family sword lineages in particular and the Chinese martial arts sword enthusiast as well as the general weapons enthusiast in general by publishing this work which is a Tai Chi Chuan equivalent of works on European swordsmanship by the likes of Amberger (whose encomium appears on the back of the book) and Clements.
One of the unusual qualities Mr. Rodell brings to the subject is his extensive knowledge of Chinese imperial swords and weaponry as he is a dealer in the same and thus has handled many more weapons than the average practitioner. Indeed given the low ability of many an average practitioner, they will find the book “challenging”.
The book is well-illustrated throughout, especially the most diverting and somewhat impetuous discussion of the differences between the “public Yang” hand and sword forms and application and that of the Michuan (hidden/secret Yang transmission) from Wang Yen-nian which the author clearly favours.
As with any new book, there are some mistakes, the biggest howler being the confusion with the Wu (this character means martial) family of Wu Yu-xiang and his brothers with the Wu character (to vociferate or brag) adopted by the Mongolian Quan-you as his Chinese name. Some of the other history is dubious also, but this charge can be laid against almost any Tai Chi history ever written.
There is some contradiction where he suggests that in public Yang sword form and Michuan hand form (“having drawn on …Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolinquan and snake boxing”) the footwork is active and advanced and active and versatile respectively while in Yang hand form and Michuan sword form there is “none” and it is “straight in and out respectively”. Yet later he has the techniques of the later Yang sword form paralleling those of the hand form. On a personal note as can be expected from someone coming from a different tradition I have some technical disagreements with the author.
These are minor criticisms. The fact remains that this a vastly better and more informative book than that of Chen Wei-ming, (one of Yang Cheng-fu’s top students) on Taiji sword (a creditable translation by Barbara Davis is available through North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-333-6) and that alone is a considerable achievement.