Weapon-play is a quintessential and iconic aspect of the practice of martial arts. The drama, beauty, and physical prowess inherent in martial forms are amplified by the flashes of light off of whirling sword-blades, the whoosh of a staff or rope-dart twirling through the air, the spectacle of the weapon as an extension of the human form. In my study of the Northern Shaolin Chinese martial arts, I note it is common also to add a splash of bright color: silken flags are often appended to the pommels of broadswords, or "horsetails" to the necks of spears. When in motion, the aim of this sudden blur of color and material was to startle and thus distract the opponent - and in the case of the broadsword, should the blade find its mark, to clean his or her blood off of it afterwards! Nowadays, in times when guns have supplanted swords, staves and spears as primary weaponry, this aim is less about startling the enemy than it is about embellishing the weapon and delighting the audience at a martial arts tournament.
Still, in light of all this color and sound and delight, subtlety still has its place. There are plenty of subtle techniques employed in the manipulation of broadswords, staves, and spears, certainly; but as an overall defining character, subtlety is not their main thrust (no pun intended!). No, this is where the perhaps less glamorous dagger resides; on the field of play, the dagger may not make as big of a spectacle - no big-circle blur of twirling; no extension of the human limb to superhuman dimensions, keeping the opponent several arms' lengths away, no tremendous snap and whoosh of a lengthy weapon's body. The dagger is up-close and personal - quick, quiet, discreet and efficient.
In Chinese legend, the dagger earned a particular place of infamy: it is said that the assassination attempt on the First Emperor of Qin entailed a poison-coated dagger covertly carried in the case of a rolled-up map. Perhaps it was only a matter of practical deduction that elected the dagger to this deadly mission - certainly there would have been no discreet way to get a sword, spear, or dart-carrier near the First Emperor of Qin! When presenting the map, the assassin, Jing Ke, grabbed the Emperor by the sleeve and plunged the dagger toward him - and missed. In the ensuing struggle, Jing Ke, with his time running out, threw the dagger - and missed again, embedding it in a column. Had he been more accurate perhaps, the history of China may have been drastically altered. The dagger may thus have earned itself the seedy connotation of skullduggery -- the weapon of assassins, of plots and intrigue. Even in the Western canon, the dagger carries similar connotations: the power-mad Shakespearean character Macbeth thinks aloud in a state of psychotic hallucination: "Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand? . . . it's the bloody business [of murder] that informs thus to mine eyes."
Fortunately, modern times find less bona fide emperors, kings and castles rife with intrigue than they do their much more complex and high-tech descendents, and the weapon of assassins and usurpers has been more peaceably relegated to the studies of the Martial Arts. Now, foremost, I wish to delineate here between the dagger and the knife. Whereas I make no illusions about the active threat of concealed blades in the modern world, the short, highly stylized, and often mechanically-augmented varieties of modern knives are not the subject here, nor are they the central object of the Shaolin form we shall be analyzing. By "dagger" I am referring to the more traditional, even classical version of the thing, a simple one-edged blade with a grip at its base, grasped and manipulated single-handedly. Moreover, the traditional Chinese dagger's overall length was gauged to be roughly about the length of its wielder's forearm.
So how can this classical weapon with its evil connotations be transposed to be the subject of artful study? How can the reputation of the dagger be salvaged?
To start, we can regard the dagger form as having a robust history, then approach it with truly careful technique. In the Northern Shaolin Longfist system of Kung Fu I study under New York City-based Master Henry Gong, the "Dagger Form" is presented as properly being called Sa Men Bi. This form - which can be translated as "Sand's Family Dagger", is an over-two-thousand-years' old form attributed to a family surnamed "Sand" who dwelt along the shores of the Yang Tze River. The form incorporates the dagger not only as a cutting weapon, but also a gouging, thrusting, and blunt-force-strike weapon - amidst a usual Longfist repertoire of extended-limb kicks, circular blocks and stance-turnarounds. The dagger is handled as an extension of the right hand, and most notably, is grasped in "reverse grip" -- the blade does not point forward and outward as in the way the broadsword is held, but instead has its dull side along the length of the outside of the forearm and its point next to the elbow. The pinky is at the base of the blade where the hilt would be, and the thumb and index finger encircle near the pommel. Moving the wrist laterally either tucks the blade flush along the length of the forearm -- "closed"
position", which offers the strategic advantage of it being concealed in the eyes of the opponent -- or brings it out at a ninety-degree angle to the forearm -- "open" position. The cut thus follows the fist.Now how does the form present the dagger in all its short-bladed glory? More importantly, as with any form: how can this presentation be optimized for not only physical effectiveness but also artistic merit?
Let's consider the concept of the dagger as an extension of the right hand. If it can be said that the weapon is an extension of the hand, of what is the hand an extension? The immediate and logical response would be: the arm, of course And the arm . . . ? An extension of the body. Here the extrapolations may seem to end; after all, the body is the core, the home base, right -- why further this path?
Because we can continue this path to the core of the core -- the spine. Okay; this makes sense -- the spine is the axis and support of the body. But even down to this level, we can go further: what is the basis of the spine's support, its true root? The answer is the lower spine -- the lumbar and sacrum vertebrae. This structure is the genesis of posture, the source of our being upright creatures.
We have a truly complete path now: from the tip of the weapon to the base of the spine. Thus it can now be said: the weapon is actually an extension of the lower spine. Motion that originates from the rotation of the lumbar vertebrae upon the sacrum in the lower spine moves the upper torso that moves the shoulder that moves the arm that moves the hand that holds the weapon. (Yes; it's true; the lower spine rotates upon its axis via the contraction of deep-lying muscles. It's not necessarily an immobile "support beam" passively riding along with the actions of the hips, waist, or trunk; in itself, it can rotate a maximum range of +/- 13 to 17 degrees.)
Put another way: energy generated in this region ideally travels the path described above to the tip of the weapon. It is necessary through intentional and attentive training to make this path as unobstructed as possible.
Master Gong aims to instill such training. His term for this motion that originates in the lower spine is Lower Spinal RotationŽ, or LSRŽ -- and this informs every movement. Now, of course, our four limbs, and the shoulders and hips, can originate movement in and of themselves; we have the musculature to do so. But their roots go deeper than that; the shoulders and hips (and their successive limbs) branch off of the spine, so why not consider the spine as their true Root, the Source of movement? If you want to laterally swing the boom of a crane efficiently and effectively, would you start by moving the boom-arm itself, or the base of the structure that holds it?
Applying this concept to Sa Men Bi, Master Gong effects applications beyond the mere cutting of a blade's-edge right from the outset. The opening move of the form -- a forward-moving direct thrust with the butt-end of the palm-concealed dagger -- can be effective in nudging an opponent with phoenix-eye-like direct strike to their gut, sure. The forward, "controlled toppling" of the body, taking advantage of "falling power", and the outward thrust of the dagger ensures something will happen. But what if in addition to the dagger-thrust and falling power you add the momentum gained from the rotation of the lower spine? This is not to be confused with a mere drawing-back-and-release of the right shoulder, or a shifting back of the hips and waist; in LSRŽ, the right side of whole torso structure is drawn back on the fulcrum of the lower back while the hips remain "squared" and forward. When full rotation is achieved, the right side is then released into counter-rotation, while the left side rotates back.
What, then, is the end result? The opponent is more than nudged; he or she is outright buckled -- they collapse forward from the waist, "giving you their head." (See Fig.5d) This is not a matter just of brute force; there is something truly mechanical going on. How does this come about?
Let's take a step back to the ready stance, before the motion of the form begins (see Fig. 1a). The posture is of course relaxed, firm and attentive, but most importantly, the arch is maintained in the lower back. This is the natural arch that occurs in the lower spine, manifested clearly when we assume the supine position such as that of a track-runner upon the starting block. Unfortunately, throughout human history it seems, this natural arch has been often countered or neglected; the spine collapses a bit and loses its full, lively extension. This arch is not extreme; there is no need to "stick the chest way out" like some kind of royal British sentinel! When in place, this arch lets the spine stand fully erect as it ought; this is the state that Master Gong refers to as "Being Tall."
From this posture, the lower spine is primed to rotate. Upon the initiation of the opening move, the spine rotates clockwise, drawing the right arm back and thus pulling the dagger into "chamber" while the body is let to controlledly topple forwards (an act of "falling power" -- see Fig. 1b). Though indeed the elbow flexes, this is not the whole of the movement, nor is the apparent backward movement of the right shoulder; via LSRŽ, the left shoulder is equally brought forward. It is most important to note again that it is not just the shoulder and arm muscles that are activated here; the spinal-erector, lateral, and other deep-lying muscles in the lower back that can rotate the spine upon the base of the sacrum and pelvis are also activated.
The completion of the opening move finds the lower spine's rotation counterbalanced: as the falling power finds resolution in the stepping forward into bow stance with the right foot, the spine then is rotated clockwise while the right arm is extended forward; the dagger-pommel is "launched" from chamber position in a straight trajectory for an effective butting-strike (see Fig. 1c). The rotation of the lower spine, which in effect brings the right shoulder forward, informs this strike from the root of the torso. So, this is not just an arm-strike! Energy spirals up the spine, through the shoulders, and is brought into focus at the pommel of the dagger. This is how the opponent gets buckled, and not just "nudged" into mild bemusement at the ineffectiveness of your attack!
This energy, this method of movement, can inform every movement in Sa Men Bi. The fifth move in the form is a strike to the right while the practicioner changes from a left-foot-forward bow stance to an open-on-the-left "40-60" stance (i.e., the weight distributed 40% / 60% per leg). Simultaneously, the right hand "opens" the dagger so it can be thrust point-wise to the right while the left hand blocks its own side equally (see Figs. 2a - 2c). Offensively, this is a stabbing maneuver toward an opponent on the right. How might this be informed by LSRŽ?
The motion out of the preceding bow-stance is largely informed by the rotation of the lower spine; though ultimately the hips modulate 90 degrees clockwise, they are not the be-all and end-all of this movement. By including rotation of the lower spine, momentum is added to the dagger-strike; at the outset, it is already in motion - it is not an "afterthought" of the right arm after the body sits itself down! After of course the eyes shift their focus to the "opponent" on the right, the lower spine is rotated to the right, having last been fully rotated to the left from the strike in the previous move, a butting-strike that finds the right arm extended straight forward. Both arms are already in motion. Of especial note is that the dagger is carried in a straight trajectory the other way now; it does not "describe an arc". The rotation of the body from the lower spine, combined with the inward flexing of the right arm can ensure that no energy is lost in the strike; the point of the dagger is traveling the shortest distance between two points in space. This directness of attack allows the most efficient route possible for energy generated in the lower back to reach the blade-tip.
At the same time, the left hand - docked in the upper chamber position beside the right armpit -- is brushed down the length of the right arm and is pushed outward; this can remove an opponent's grasp of the right arm or hand should they have survived the prior butting-strike. How does LSRŽ inform this move? The answer: equally with the right side. It is a prime tenet of Master Gong's that the left side ought to be just as powerful as the right, even if the attention-grabbing element -- the weapon -- is in only the right hand. The initial rotation of the lower spine to the right helps move the left hand out from its chamber position to its blocking position. This is not a snapping motion of the left arm; the left arm doesn't actually travel very far. But the turning of the body to the right from the lower spine, plus the energy of sinking power from going from a bow stance to a 40-60 stance, gives the left hand extra oomph - more than just an effective block, this could be a strike in itself!
Besides butting and stabbing attacks of the dagger, there is also, of course, the slicing attack. There's no need to go into grisly detail about the effect that a sharp edge of metal has upon flesh. But what if more could be effected in the attack besides what is basically surface-damage? With Lower Spinal RotationŽ, the slice can cut deeper - and a more powerful, effective blow is delivered.
A basic refrain throughout dagger form is the slicing low strike - right to left as if across an opponent's belly - which then returns for a slicing high strike, left to right as if across the opponent's throat (see Fig. 3). The turnaround of the dagger is brought about by the rotating of the forearm and thus wrist and hand. Now while the arm lashing out alone, dagger in hand, could certainly cut your opponent up in a not-at-all-kind of way, what happens when the momentum of the turning body is added behind it? Consider again the energy generated in the lower spine spiraling up and out to the blade in hand; this adds force behind the strike, putting the entire mass of the blade - not just its edge - to use. That's exponentially a lot more metal being introduced to your opponent! And thus . . . the slice cuts deeper, in turn delivering more applied force. The effect is that your opponent is once again buckled; the body crumples on the low strike, and feints on the high strike. The body rotating upon the base of the sacrum right to left for the low strike, then of course counter-rotating left-to-right on the high strike adds this extra forcefulness. The dagger becomes much more "alive" this way - it is utilized to its full potential, not just that of its edge.
Such study of the dagger under the Northern Shaolin Longfist system's Sa Men Bi form as taught by Master Gong has shed any dark and devious connotations of dagger-play for me. Instead, I regard the dagger as just as noble and artful a weapon as its relatively more grandiose cousins such as the broadsword and spear. Designed to be discreet, quick, and diverse in usage, the dagger deserves its rightful place in any student of the martial arts' study of classical weapon-play. And in that context, the student may very well come to understand how the even the First Emperor of Qin may have come to acknowledge its effectiveness.
Sources
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jing_Ke
2. Gong, Henry; Forever Young: The Secret Blueprint. Push Pull Press, 2002.
3. Niiler, Timothy, and Gong, Henry: "The theory of lower spinal rotation - How it serves as a style-independent description of waist power," Journal of Asian Martial Arts vol. 14 no. 1, 2005.
Published with author's permission.
