Let us deal now with the names of sword techniques. Logically speaking, if we are doing the form outdoors at daybreak, we should start off facing West, with the rising sun at our backs, as fairly early on we have "Golden Needle Pointing South" on the left-hand side. The poetic nature of certain of the cultural references in the names of techniques helps us to remember the sequence and to understand better the eponymous technique.
In 'Male & Female Phoenix Spreading Their Wings' the sword hand and free hand make simultaneous and equally large intersecting circles. 'Li Guang (famous general of Han Dynasty - died 119 B.C.) Shooting An Arrow at The Tiger' requires us to draw back the sword at shoulder level like a bow and arrow before firing it with maximum power to pierce the hide of the tiger (your enemy). Li Bai refers to him in the poem 'Horses of the North', "Who now pities fast-moving Li Guang of Han...?" . 'Fisherman Casting His Net' is an expansive movement where both arms are flung upwards and out while the front leg is also raised; it can be used against two opponents, simultaneously kicking one while parrying or cutting the other.
'Pei Gong (courtesy title of Liu Pang (247-195 BC), first emperor of the Han Dynasty) Cleaving A Snake' is a reference to an incident which occurred one night during his time as a village headman when he sliced into bits a large snake which threatened some villagers. In the sword form when doing this technique, we retract in what is a defensive technique then pulling the sword and front leg up, in what can be an offensive or defensive technique (all this resembles pulling back to draw the sword from its scabbard, before slashing the opponent's leg. 'Tai Gong (Great Grandfather) Fishing' refers to a story about Jiang Shang of the Western Zhou dynasty (BC1100-771). He is supposed to have spent years fishing on the banks of the Weishui River in Shaanxi, often dangling his line in midair without hook or bait, claiming he was waiting to catch a virtuous ruler. In his eighties he was finally made Prime Minister by Wen Wang (Cultural Ruler). Finally there is 'Sparrow hawk Turning Round' followed by 'Peng Spreading Its Wings', a reference to the gigantic mythical bird of the philosopher, Chuang Zi, which indicates that the eponymous techniques should be small contracting and large and expansive respectively. These are just some of the more obvious examples. Of course only two people ever knew these stories; one of them is dead and I can't remember who the other one was.
Next let us look at the technicalities of Tai Chi Swordplay. The principles of spear include adhering, connecting, entwining and stabbing; lifting and hitting, dragging and dotting, often using the opponent's weapon to unbalance him or as a platform to bounce into a thrust, thus making attack out of defence. Though the range is somewhat different, we can use all of these skills with the sword also.
There are 8 major ways of using the Jian. These are:-
I should also mention that unlike the Dao, the Jian should not be used to cut over the crown of one's own head. This is not because, as one Tai Chi book has it, that we would thereby sever our contact with Heaven and no longer have the much-beloved "suspended headtop", but because it is simply dangerous to have a double-edged weapon passing over the crown of the head in this way as any misjudgement or impact with the opponent's weapon at this point might result in us being cut with our own weapon.
The unreliability of weapons means greater emphasis must be given to footwork and body evasion and we should try to avoid direct hard impact with the opponent's weapon. The grip should be light. But tighten when impacting with the opponent's weapon or body.
The use of the freehand in Chinese swordplay is as far as I'm aware unique because the index and middle fingers are extended and kept close together while the other fingers are bent. In techniques such as 'Rhinoceros Facing The Moon (Wu Tu-nan calls this 7 Stars Style)' and 'Spin to Rein in The Horse', the sword tip points to the fingertips of the extended fingers of the free hand acts. In techniques such as 'God of Literature Raising The Wine Vessel' and 'Hanging The Golden Bell Upside Down' the 2 fingers form a triangle with the sword tip and the raised foot. In 'Shooting Star Chasing The Moon' and 'Spin & Sweep Across' the free hand acts as a counterpoint to the sword, facing up if the sword hand is palm down and vice versa.
On a more practical basis the free hand was held in this sword-like two-fingered manner because it also facilitates the use of Dim Mak thrusts with the fingers to vital areas of the opponent's body or gripping and closing or tearing veins, arteries and pressure points. Instead of holding the free hand in this way, we could equally well hold a poniard (short dagger) or buckler. Poniard is an interesting word and comes from the Medieval French "poignard", which in turn comes from the French "poing", meaning a fist. In Tai Chi Chuan there is a specific method of pushing hands called Zhou Lu, which is practiced with the fists clenched. This is designed both to make it second nature to grapple even with clenched fists and to use pushing hands skills to control or cut with a weapon when at close quarters with the opponent. As with the other weapons either foot could be used in defence or attack including specific kicks to the opponent's sword hand to disarm him. This completes my review of Tai Chi weapons.
CONCLUSION I don't believe you can truly consider yourself a martial artist unless you possess a whole range of skills which are often inter-related. Weapon training is an essential part of this training. Yet to be good with weapons you need to be agile, calm, focused, relaxed, strong and good in grappling and with the feet. Nei Kung (24 Yin & Yang Internal Strength Exercises) is particularly useful especially some of the more challenging static exercises such as 'Rhinoceros Facing the Moon' and 'Monarch of The Mountain Coming out from A Cave', both of which are particularly useful in training the hips, and strengthening the joints and stance.
In Chinese martial arts the weapons are an excellent form of aerobic exercise, with plenty of leaps and spins, they are also fun and, if you are lucky enough to have a good teacher, highly effective methods of self defence.